Sunday Catch Up

Sorry again for the late blog last week, and we’re one day late again this week because of Scuba Fest!

Although Monday was supposed to be spent pumping lots of tanks after the previous weekend, Gary was late getting out of Basildon Academies that morning after mentoring some of the students! As well as this, Janie had the day off and Gary had to return to the school in the afternoon for the After School Diving Club, so by the time Gary arrived back at the dive centre, he had a very busy evening sorting paperwork!

On Tuesday, Gary was able to put all the kit away from the weekend before a great night in the deep pool in Basildon. That evening we had DSDs, Open Water courses and Dry Suit courses all taking place at the same time, as well as four new students from Anglia Ruskin University, who were all having their first taster of scuba diving! All four enjoyed their time with us in the pool and we are looking forward to starting their Open Water Courses soon! We also had Fernando join the dry suit courses, as he was testing out his new dry suit ready for the weekend!

By Wednesday, there was time to start pumping the tanks from the weekend, but now also with the tanks from Tuesday’s pool night! However in the afternoon, James from Scubapro came into the dive centre to discuss new scuba gear and we bought fifteen new regulator sets for the dive school, as well as a few other pieces of equipment for the shop! Up until now we have used Cressi regulators and have had a very good experience with them, but we felt it was time to change, as we are no longer a Cressi dealer and we therefore cannot service the regulators in-house.

South Woodham Ferrers pool night on Thursday saw Gary back in the pool with the SEAL team, who are improving brilliantly! Rhonda, Dave and Gill were all with their open water students, whilst Jamie was with a DSD student, who he also worked with on Tuesday night. Although the student got to the bottom of the deep pool on Tuesday, they were not comfortable in such depth and so we suggested trying out SWF pool to see if they still liked scuba diving. This seemed to work much better and they will be retuning next week for another try dive!

Friday was spent getting everything sorted for Scuba Fest in Cornwall, which included kit checks and tank filling. After a nine-hour journey that night and arriving at 1am, everyone enjoyed some sleep before waking at 6:30am for the first weekend dive! We were diving at Porthkerris, but as easterly winds were coming in, we ended up meeting the boat at Falmouth. Gary watched everyone board the boat in mist and rain, as he stayed behind due to suffering a migraine. Everyone retuned an hour and half later after a great dive seeing three types of rays, Gurnards and some very big barrel jellyfish! There was then a two hour wait for the second dive to a small wreck, which was in the bay as the weather beyond there was still rough. Everyone then went to The Shark Fin Restaurant on Mevagissey harbour front on Saturday night, where we all enjoyed great food and service!

On Sunday we went down to Porthkerris for a couple of dives: a drift just off shore and a pinnacle called Penwen! Both were great dives and we saw lots of life under the sea including Barrel Jellyfish, Ling, Cod, Dead Men’s Fingers, Jewelled Anemones and one thing that was great to see was lots of Pink Sea Fans! Back at Scuba Fest, Gary popped in to see PADI, Fourth Element, Suunto Atomics and the other companies who were attending, and it was great to catch up with old friends! In the evening everyone spent the night at Gary’s van for an indoor BBQ, as it was raining, but all had a great night with friends and a few drinks.

Gary would also like to say a big thank you to everyone who made the long journey down this weekend, especially Richard, Tony, Fernando, Joe, Gill, Rhonda, Sharon, Holly, Russell, Paul, Graham and their families!

Next week we are in the deep pool on Tuesday night, South Woodham Ferrers on Thursday evening. If there are also any staff who are able to come to the centre on Saturday, we would very much appreciate your help sorting the rest of the open water kit in the containers!

Belated Sunday Catch Up!

Sorry for the delay!

We had an exciting week started by a visit to Bristol on Monday and Tuesday, for a seminar with Fourth Element & Suunto! On Monday we were shown the new under suit for Fourth Element: The Arctic Expedition. This suit will sit between the Arctic and Halo 3D and it comes in a 1 piece and 2 piece for both male and female. As well as this, we talked about new products that Fourth Element hope to bring out in the near future, which all sounded great! In the afternoon, we then spent some time looking at the Argonaut Dry Suit. This suit comes with many different options including latex or neoprene seals, boots or socks and Si Tech neck and wrest seals. To finish Monday off, Andy Tolbert spoke about his time as a film diver on the many nature films he has worked on, which everyone found very interesting.

On Tuesday we looked at Suunto’s range of watches in various colours and were also showed how the computers worked (i.e. changing settings, etc). We then spent some time talking about how different dive centres worked, and at this point it became obvious that each centre has different ways of working and that there is more than one way to achieve what is needed. As well as this, we then spent time with the New Eon Steel – the first fully customisable dive computer, which looks like a great bit of kit! So look out for the full reviews coming out in the dive magazines soon.

Here's a review from Janie on Fourth Element's Arctic Drysuit:

If you’re a diver, you’ll know that it’s not a question of “if “your drysuit leaks, it’s “when” your drysuit leaks. And if you’re as clumsy as I am, you’ll almost certainly get wet. I tried my new J2 top and leggings this weekend for the very first time. In the past, I’ve used a weezel and I’ve experimented with Fourth Element Arctic’s. I preferred the Arctic’s for warmth but still felt a bit uncomfortable. I then realised that I was committing the sin of wearing cotton under the under-suits. I was bound to feel cold! So when trying these base layers in 15 degree water, I was hesitant even though I was wearing an arctic top as well. After getting out from my first dive, I found the inevitable...my drysuit had leaked. But I didn’t feel cold. The outside of the J2 top was soggy, not drenched but still quite wet. However I didn’t feel wet. Now for the bit that I had been dreading, I felt the inside of the panelled top and it wasn’t wet due to the wicking ability of this product. I’m very impressed with these base layers, if they can keep me warm and dry, they can do the same for anybody! Not only do they look pretty (in blue for ladies) they feel great, AND they actually work! If I had to point out one fault, it would be the indents that are left on the skin after removing the products, much like when you sleep in a dodgy position and wake up with a lovely pattern on your arm. But it’s well worth it, I could actually enjoy the day rather than verging on hyperthermia (I may be exaggerating on this part-but I do get very cold). I would definitely recommend them to everyone, for warm or cold water diving. Fourth Element has done a good job with this product.

Back at the dive centre, we had a very busy Tuesday night in the deep pool! Rhonda was with the Rescue Course, whom are all doing well, whilst James was teaching a Reactivate Course (used to be Scuba Review). Peter was running a couple of DSDs, which went well and we have one student returning with their partner this week! We also had Graham going over knowledge reviews with Steve and then getting in the pool to go over his skills.

We are also now getting close to the first Red Sea liveaboard of the year and some of the guys are getting in the water to practice their skills as they are starting to get very excited!

Thursday we were back over to South Woodham Ferrers for the Seal Team and Writtle College, who were going though confined dive 2. We also had some DSDs in the water and they are also bringing their partners back this week to have a go too! This is something we have found over the years, that when one person starts diving, often partners want to join in too and this then gives people something to do together. Diving together then opens up new holiday destinations, new social groups and a way where you can do as much or as little as you want.

Whilst all this has been going on, we have had two of our Dive Masters away in the Red Sea doing there Instructor Development Course and Instructor's Examination, and I am pleased to say that we now have two new instructors! So well done Ian Herbert and Carole Vickers! We are looking forward to working with them as instructors, but at the same time we will miss then as Dive Masters, both of whom where very good!

We are in the deep pool in Basildon this Saturday 7th March in the afternoon running an Open Water course, so if you want to jump in, do some training or do a tester, just call the centre!