We had a particularly large cohort of new ocean divers this term – 19 to be exact. Two trips were ran to accommodate everyone, the first to one of our favourite shore diving locations, the coast of Pembrokeshire in South-West Wales.
Day 0 – Thursday Afternoon
We all slowly gathered in our beautifully tidied kitroom over the course of the afternoon, collecting dive gear and loading vehicles. Split between 3 cars and a van, a total of 16 people left campus at around 17:30 for the four hour drive to the coast. Spirits were high and we arrived at our accommodation after only 45 minutes of getting lost on the way. Everyone was split between 4 cosy holiday homes, and only two exec “had” to share a bed ;). Most people managed to get a good few hours sleep, although some trainees were kept awake until 3am listening to the exec fix dive computers whilst watching the shopping channel. Whoops.
Day 1 – Friday – St Brides Haven
After a refreshing 6am wake up we wasted no time in heading straight to Tesco for breakfast. Then it was on to St Brides Haven, chosen as the first site due to its gradual sloping shore, and ideal depths for early Ocean Diver lessons (3-9m). Everyone managed to get the first lesson completed, despite limited visibility due to the sandy bottom of the bay. This was everyone’s first proper dive; tight drysuits, thick gloves and hood, dive computers, waves, currents, bad visibility, all experienced for the first time in just 1 day! Two dives were planned, however the second was postponed to the next day when large waves started rolling in and divers were met with under a metre of visibility. Despite this we all had a good day on the beach and remained relatively dry and warm.
Dinner was bought on the way back to our lodges, and the evening was spent cooking, catching up on theory lessons and cleaning sand out of regulators! A brave few headed to the pub with Liam, and we definitely didn’t stay up until 3am on the shopping channel again.
Day 2 – Saturday – St Brides Haven
Day 2 saw a return to St Brides, the wind had picked up overnight meaning our other site would have to wait until tomorrow. Visibility was much improved, 2-3m, and everyone was excited to do some deeper diving, further out to sea. Unfortunately there were some minor leaks, and one trainee did get slightly trapped in their drysuit with several litres of Welsh seawater. Nothing a large knife and James Coe couldn’t fix! Almost everyone completed their second and third lessons, and plenty of marine flora and fauna was spotted, including lobsters, fish and crabs. Several fins were lost, found, and re-attached, and many baguettes were consumed during the surface interval. James, James and James, finally got to dive together as a trio, causing zero confusion in the process.
A dodgy drysuit inflater hose delayed one lesson until Sunday, allowing 2 exec to go get horribly lost on a dive together, resulting in a 500 metre surface swim. We all headed home for some quick revision before the theory test, followed by several attempts to agree on a film to watch, much wine was drunk and many people fell asleep part way through conversation (about expenses). One final hour of shopping channel was enjoyed.
Day 3 – Sunday – Martin’s Haven
The final day! At long last the conditions improved enough for us to visit everyone’s favourite site, Martins Haven. With a steeper gradient and a pebbled bottom, this site offered depth, 5-6m visibility and unique life to see! With everyone now familiar with their own kit, we might have managed to enter the water quickly if everyone hadn’t been distracted by impromptu pre-dive yoga. James (not to be confused with James or James) was the first to spot the seals, a welcome surprise at this time of year. Everyone completed their final lesson, planning and leading their own dives independently of their instructors. Divers swam through huge fields of kelp, spotting schools of fish, clams, seals, sea sponges, lobsters and crabs. We even found time to practice our missing diver procedures, when Dive Manager Ben incorrectly noted the time, leading us call the coastguard and send out support to divers who were completely fine! Big whoops.
Some ocean divers elected to return to the sea for their first ever fun dive, whilst others began packing away kit. We all arrived back at campus from 21:00-22:00, some cars headed straight home and others gathered for celebratory drinks and food.
Despite one (or two) feet first ascents, everyone was impressed with the trainees and how far they had come in just 3 short days. 8(.5) newly qualified divers were now ready to go dive anywhere in the world, making the trip an overwhelming success.
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