Winter October 1, 2007
Posted by chris in : Uncategorized , add a commentWell we have an offer on the Peterborough house and so we will soon be back in London. I’m busy packing everything we own into boxes and wondering what the hell to do with it when we move. The dive kit alone would fill a Transit. At the moment we are looking to buy a house in the Epsom area as a compromise between commuting and London house prices. Its also not too far for Brighton, Newhaven and Eastbourne dive boats. So, weather permitting see you there!!
The end is nigh… August 13, 2007
Posted by chris in : Uncategorized , 1 comment so farWell its nearly the end of the month and so its nearly time for us to leave Luxembourg and return to the UK. Kelly’s job has turned to complete crap and both of us now need to re-start our careers. So I guess it is inevitable we must return to London. I have to say this is not something I want to do or I am looking forward to.
I have promised myself another boat as a “treat” to take my mind off the dreadful reality of the tube and the choking traffic and its disgusting stink that is life in South East England. The trouble is what sort of boat and where to keep it? The more I think about it the less sense it makes. Its cheaper and easier to take a couple of spots on a charter boat.
So the depression builds. London, no boat and the crap food and overpriced everything that is England. Stupid stickers on your tanks and grumpy shops arguing about filling things. Regulator service costs that make it more sensible to just buy new kit. Shit vis and crap weather.
On the up side we will be a bit nearer to some real diving and at least the English charter skippers don’t stop in late September and put the boat on land until April. I hope to get to meet some of the people we’ve made friends with through YD and through the e-club. Plus there are old friends in London from the last time that we need to have beer and curry with.
Its going to be a big change. So far its a big disappointment. I always thought when my dad died I would go travel. But instead we are turning the clock back and facing the misery of living in London again. Shit.
BSAC OWIC June 11, 2007
Posted by chris in : Uncategorized , add a commentThe Open Water Instructor Course (OWIC) is the second half of BSAC’s instructor development program. It builds on the pool work and teaches you to instruct in open water. Once again it was organised by our regional coach, Laurent and we were looking forward to seeing him again. This time however, I ended up with National Instructor Brian and Kelly with NI Jeff. So new faces and us working apart for the first time in a long while.
After a short lecture in the morning we set off to the lake near Heidelberg for the practical training. By the time we got there the air con was running hard on the car and the outside temp nearly 30. The lake was surrounded by Germans of all shapes and sizes sunbathing and swimming plus a couple of groups of divers already there. We were warned to take everything we needed as the kiosk closed for lunch and if you left something in the car you couldn’t get back in. So in boiling heat and drysuits we lugged everything through the gate and onto the bank. Job number one - jump in and cool off.
The first lesson was to be compass work. Great. In 30C heat with a kit bag over your head walking out in a drysuit…. Brian demonstrated the lesson for us to see the correct teaching techniques. Sadly the guy was a bit nearsighted and missed the fact the distant object we all had to take bearings of was a topless sunbather. She was about 5 degrees South of Brian’s intended object but oddly enough all three of us ended up with the same bearing to walk towards.
First up of us trainees was Lukas. His lesson was AAS. His English wasn’t brilliant and you could see the stress was making him struggle a little bit more at the same time. Brian was good and calmed things down. After Lukas’ brief and dry run we entered the cool water - a relief from the baking sun. The lake bottom was silty and we soon had vis down to a meter pulling and tugging at each others octopus and generally making a bollocks of things.
At the debrief Brian was quick to reassure us and point out what the issues were. Trying to do too much in the available time was the big sin. I was next, would I learn from this and not make the same mistake? No. Of course not.
I got the oro-nasal rescue breaths and unconscious diver tow. Laurent had demoed the rescue breaths on the IFC so it was gonna be easy. Err no. After a few moments Brian intervened and “my” lesson soon became his. As it turned out Brian was a paramedic and so all three of us got a fantastic lesson in extending the neck properly and the proper way to do this critical skill. If you extend the neck properly the “casualty” cannot swallow. Its instant feedback if you are doing it right. It is really difficult. But the light came on and at the end of the session all three of us got there.
The last lesson was rushed as the sky had darkened and the expected thunderstorm was clearly visible in the distance. We rushed through DSMB deployment and all the “sports diver trainees” suddenly had a skill level a bit suspiciously high. Nonetheless the inclusion of a dry run made us all realise how vitally important that part of teaching is. Your slate is your friend, the dry run your buddy. It had come together and we had all learned huge amounts about teaching, diving and about ourselves.
Back in the classroom for the debrief before some welcome beer and the evening’s barbecue and a recap on what we had learned. What makes a good instructor? Think, they said, of someone who impressed you and why. I thought about the people that taught me to dive. Only two have ever really impressed me. Laurent on the IFC and Brian, that same day on the OWIC. 20 years of diving and it has come to this - I have ended up a bloody BSACer.
BSAC IFC May 8, 2007
Posted by chris in : Uncategorized , add a commentStereotypes, they say, are made to be broken, or is that rules? Whichever, the stereotypes were broken by the weekend’s BSAC Instructor Foundation Course (IFC). For a start of the eight of us and two instructor trainers only I had any facial hair and not a full beard anywhere in sight all weekend. Brian, the branch secretary and our host did have a well-trained beergut though!!
The course was at NATO Joint HQ in Germany. As you drive up to the gate there is a machine gun and a very bored squaddie looking at you. But the security chap was a lot nicer than anything I have ever met at an airport and our UK passports were glanced at and in we went with a friendly thank you.
Once inside I could see where my tax was being spent, the dive club is a superb facility at the side of the base’s swimming pool, complete with 4m dive pit. The guys say the MOD want to shut the base down and move back to the UK. That would be a bad thing for the divers there I’m sure and for us as this facility is only a couple of hours drive away.
It was all very “English” and Brian soon had the kettle on and as other folks turned up we got to know one another and break the ice. There were four students from the NATO branch and four of us that had come from elsewhere including two very pretty young women one of who was already a PADI OWSI doing the crossover. As the weekend progressed it turned out the other young woman (the daughter of someone on the base) was also from a PADI background. So of the 8 people there four were PADI.
We split into two groups (I got the missus and the two other women were in the other group - hmmph..) and we would be working with the North European Regional Coach, Laurent, a French guy living and working in the Netherlands, who spoke better English than me. The pool was open to the public in the afternoons so we had a quick academic and then set off for our first pool session. We struggled with our unfamiliar recreational gear. I guess its about 5 years since I last wore a stab jacket and octopus rig. Laurent demonstrated a CBL for us then we each took it in turn to do a demonstration and mimic as if we were with real students. Then we moved down into the 4m dive pit to repeat it. At about 2.5m there was a thermocline and I began to regret only having a pool suit. By the end of the exercise I was visibly shivering and everyone was frantically checking OK OK? The shallow water soon warmed me up again though and then out onto the poolside for some more exercises.
The afternoon was academics with the squeal of kids in our ears from the swimming pool - now full of people enjoying the wonderful sunshine. There was some very interesting scenery to see in the coffee breaks… The end of the day came really quickly and we set off back for the hotel in town out past the machine guns again. Sadly, it was a noisy night and we didn’t get much sleep - the next morning was a real drag getting out of bed. Thankfully the Holiday Inn managed a decent bacon and eggs breakfast and we set off back to the base for day two. No-one had done much work for the presentation it seemed - the previous day had drained everyone and the “homework” had, by and large been eaten by the dog. One of our group, Carl, had done a first class effort with a DVD clip of wreck diving and a PowerPoint presentation. Sadly, none of it worked as we couldn’t get the laptop to read the disc and in the end he had to wing it as well.
Our second pool session was a 20 minute lesson each and Kelly and I decided to wear drysuits this time. A bit of overkill in the pool but for the long session it was so much better. It all went well and we managed another CBL some AAS exercises and even my surface duck-dive went OK despite not having done one in about 15 years.
Back to the classroom and we had our academic presentations to do. As with the practical lessons it was a mixture of peer review and input from Laurent. I was hugely impressed with Laurent - he really knew his stuff and gave you really constructive and useful feedback without pointing out too much that you had screwed up. We chatted about diving in one of the breaks and then I really felt sorry for the guy - he spends more time in the pool than the sea and you could see a wave of homesickness spread over him when Kelly and I were jabbering about our recent wreck dives in the South of France.
All too soon the thing was over and we were shaking hands and getting our little stickers for the qualifications books. We had made good friends in the short time we were there and all hoped to meet up for some diving and social weekends. I’d like to go help out with their branch training some time and get some practical experience if we can, although there are some complications as they are MOD. I hope we can work round that.
This was the first ever BSAC training I had done and while it wasn’t as “polished” as some (but not all) of the commercial training I’ve done it was really good. I can’t fault Laurent and both Kelly and me really enjoyed the weekend and felt we had learnt loads.
I hope we can put some of our new skills to use soon, meantime many thanks to everyone from two very new Assistant Diving Instructors.
Back to the Lot January 29, 2007
Posted by chris in : Uncategorized , add a commentI was looking forward to this trip as we had the whole of the week off and decided to head down to the flat after the diving. If the weather was nice we might get a dive in the Med too. We stopped over at the Ibis Friday night and were the only people there - I don’t think the Dordogne is all that big a tourist destination in winter.
On Saturday morning we set off to the hotel in Gramat and managed to miss the turn again. Like last time we were going to be late. However, Pat had Oli map-reading so they were hopelessly lost and even later than us. They had finally twigged they were going in the wrong direction when the road signs were showing Bordeaux as the next big place!
After a late breakfast we set off for St George. With our new canister lamps this was a much better dive than last time. It really proves the point that you need good lighting for this type of diving. The viz was good and on the second dive we found a pike sitting at the bottom of the entry slope at 30m. Quite why a predator that hunts by sight would sit in the total darkness beats me. Perhaps they don’t feed much in the winter? The water temp in the cave is fairly constant and warmer than the river and entry pool, but then that would speed up the fish’s digestion and make him need more food?
At the end of the day we set off to take the tanks to André (www.gonflage.com). His set up is truly impressive and he is a very amiable chap too. I did this time manage to resist the cold beer in the fridge though.
On Sunday we headed off to St Saveur. I had liked this cave last visit and was keen to see how it was with the new lighting. So far nothing had gone wrong and I was not living up to my reputation for canning half the dives. This was clearly a good time for a problem therefore. So after dragging the kit down the hill from the parking and kitting up I found I had left the manifold isolator closed. Twat. Open it up. 90 bar. Great. Sit this one out then. Kelly did the dive with Pat and Corrine who had joined us to finish off her course started in Doubs. She had bought kit and done loads of practice and was a different diver to last time. They tell me the viz was fantastic.
The afternoon dive was Truffe. We topped all the tanks up with the portable compressor, but this is a shallow dive so 180 bar was fine and doesn’t take too long. The entrance is a tight squeeze that shit me up last time. This time the entry pool was like grey chalky gloop full of leaves swirling about in the water. We followed Pat in as he wanted to do the blacked out mask drill with me. Somehow it felt harder to get in than last time. I guess looking back just the pressure of the exercise again, but it shit me up again. I gritted my teeth and got in.
The mask drill was easy enough - you just follow the line making sure not to get too positive and not to let go. In a cave the line is your life, so it’s not a drill to be taken lightly. Once Pat took the blackout off he left us to repeat the drill with Corrine and Carmello who were waiting in the entry area. The squeeze in was still very much in my mind so once they had set off I headed out. Poor Kelly, a 20 minute dive watching me doing a drill. As I squeezed out I could feel a touch of repressed panic. Of course this makes your chest bigger as you take in too much breath and so it’s harder to get out. The sky was a very welcome sight.
Next day we set off to do Landenouse. The entry pool is accessed by a ladder and there is nowhere to park. After a look round (the viz was superb) Pat thought it would be better to do Trou Madame again. Shit. I wasn’t looking forward to the humping of kit up the rocks, but this was to be my line running exercise and the end of the course. I had to do it. Luckily the water level was up from last time so the first part of the dive where we had carried the kit last time could now be swum, much easier.
We arrived at the site and Kelly and I decided to walk up and have a look. As I got near the top of the rock scrabble Kelly began screaming. I thought she had fallen and broken a leg - a constant fear for me on this site. I set off down towards her mindfull that if I hurt myself there would be two of us needing to go to hospital. After a couple of meters I could see her and she was fine. She was pointing at the rocks. As I got closer I could see what it was.
A young wild boar had fallen from the cliffs above and was injured. His back legs and pelvis appeared to be shattered, but the front of the animal (where the teeth are) was working fine. He was not really keen on our being there and was snapping at us but unable to do anything as the back half of him was not working. The only action was to kill the creature and end its misery and torment. As we were surrounded by big rocks that seemed the best weapon. I picked up a rock of about 5 kilos and hurled it with all my strength at the animal’s head. If you have ever killed a pig you will know they have a very strong skull. I had subdued him a little but he was far from dead. At least now I could get closer. A second rock hit a bit more accurately and he was clearly on the way out. The poor fellow looked up at me with doleful eyes knowing the end was near - these are delightful animals and this was not a pleasant experience for me.
The third rock did the job and his eyes greyed over and his little trotters ran their last as the front brain died leaving the back brain to run on autopilot. Blood slowly oozed from his snout and mouth coating the rocks around him in his death-throws. Then nothing.
What a shame. I would have loved to eat the chap but we were in a hotel and couldn’t butcher him. He had died for nothing. Hopefully he made a meal for the local foxes so he didn’t entirely go to waste.
The dive was OK and the reel running went well. Pat shook hands and then left us to repeat again with Corrine and Carmello. I ask Kelly what she wanted and it was out. Three days of air diving and stress had taken their toll and she had a headache. We exited and dragged the kit back to the car past the poor piggie. It was drizzling with rain - we couldn’t even barbecue the chap on site….
Last day and Emergence du Ressel. We awoke to snow and freezing conditions. Horrible. When we got there the Célé river was brown and huge logs were flying past in the torrential current. No way. Cold wet gear and all that? But Pat, like a kid, is not to be discouraged. They kitted up and persuaded Kelly to. I decided to do shore cover duty.
At the entrance to the cave the current was too strong and Pat canned it. Everyone else now had to de-kit and hump the kit back to the car. I allowed myself a little smile at my wisdom. Ressel will have to wait ‘til next time.
Happy New Year December 27, 2006
Posted by chris in : Uncategorized , add a commentBest wishes to everyone for the new dive year. I will be using the blog a little to promote the new “virtual” BSAC branch if this gets off the ground. Please come and join the debate on Yorkshire Divers if you haven’t already.
Click on the YDeSAC page for more info.
Caves of the Lot November 20, 2006
Posted by chris in : Uncategorized , 1 comment so farAfter the outing to Doubs it was inevitable we had to have another go at this diving underground thing. After all the Dordogne is supposed to be one of the best places in the world to do it!
We were based in Gramat at the hotel “relais de gourmands” near the train station. If you need to stay somewhere its highly recommended as is its very fine restaurant, however, the restaurant was not open either Sunday or Monday night, a PITA if you turn up late hoping to get something to eat…
Instructor Pat had arranged to meet at the hotel on Saturday morning at 8.30 (much to my annoyance – why so bloody early huh?) Thankfully when we arrived breakfast was laid on and after several coffees things seemed better. Everyone else had (as usual) driven through the night while Kelly and I had a pleasant night’s kip in the Ibis Hotel about 40km away. Pat was overly enthusiastic as ever and running about like a 20 year old instead of acting his age (a year younger than me – like kinda old man…) He had spent the “night” (well from 4am) asleep outside…. The Belgian Paras are obviously well ‘ard blokes J
After grabbing some cheese, ham and red wine for lunch we set off for the first dive. This was to be the Source de St-Sauveur. We were joined on this trip by Oli, another IANTD instructor, but a cave virgin. Oli had a GPS unit in his Merc van and so we all followed him. After stopping to look at the map a few times we eventually found the place. Map 1, technology nil.
The source is down a road with a no-entry sign on it. You then go through a gate, also with a no-entry sign on it. About 400m down a dirt road you arrive at a little parking area. On another gate was a sign in French and English “cave diving is temporarily suspended at this site due to high levels of silt. Parking beyond this notice is prohibited.” Hmm… not a good start. We walked down to the entry point. There were three vehicles parked there, one French another UK registered and a Belgian car. A group of divers were in the water with a collection of stages and scooters.
Cave diving lesson 1. Never, under any circumstances whatsoever, take any notice of any signage, official or otherwise. Road signs apply only to other people.
Kelly and I were first in. We started kitting up only to find the left valve knob on my twinset had been broken during the journey. I swopped it out for one off a stage but now we were a bit late and the time pressure stress was building up. Entering the water I found one of the zip ties had broken on the helmet mounted light. De-kit and back to the van. By now I was well stressed. Breathing like a train I started the dive. Pat in front, me in the middle, Kelly at the rear. I like to have a few breaths off the backup after a couple of meters and this time it felt wrong. I had replaced the bungie with some thick surgical tubing and it made the 2nd stage feel funny in my mouth as the tubing pressed against my lips.
Pat was annoyed with the kit faff and was trying to make up some time. I was being rushed and his lights were soon disappearing into the darkness and I was even more uncomfortable trying to keep up.
At 23m there is a constriction, maybe about 50m into the system. I took one look and turned round. I signalled to Kelly to carry on and to Pat that I was canning the dive. I barely glanced back as I returned up the line to the daylight. At 4m I made a safety stop and laid on the bottom of the entry pool watching the little fish. What a twat I thought. It was my fault – the kit should have been checked earlier. I should have carried a spare knob in the toolkit and I should have made at least one test dive with the kit after fitting the new tubing to the backup reg.
Pat and Kelly passed the constriction and then after a while turned back. On the way out she did her blacked-out mask drill. We had done this in the training dive in the lake but Pat wanted to do it in the cave environment as well. I was going to have to play catch-up for the rest of the trip.
After lunch we were to dive the site a second time. Pat decided that he would take me on my own and everyone else buddied up for a pleasure dive. His patience had returned and he decided to deal with my apprehension and take it easy on a no-drill, just for fun dive. He need not have bothered - I had made my mind up to go through the constriction on the safety stop of the last dive, but I guess it was the right thing to do from his viewpoint.
We set off again down through the murky water of the entry pool, past the little fish and tree branches. The cave entry looms up like a sinister black void, a point of no return, the last thing you will ever see. What ever persuaded anyone to go in there in the first place beats me. Crazy. Once inside the white limestone reflects the torchlight and the atmosphere changes. The viz improves as you enter the clear spring water flowing out. Beneath you is a gravel floor sloping down to the constriction at 23m.
Pat went through and turned to watch me. I was through the constriction in a single fin kick. With my stomach touching the gravel I passed through easily without the tanks touching the rock at all. The other side the passage is large, maybe 3-4m in diameter. The floor changes to pure white limestone and it is surprisingly light, almost “airy”. The passage drops very slowly to 70m in the distance. The plan was for me to turn the dive as I hit thirds. My no-deco time was fast running out and I turned a little early but we had made a good 100m penetration. With the current now pushing us out the exit was far quicker than the entry. At the constriction I still had 4 minutes no stop. My early turn was over-cautious.
Day one had passed well and I had made one dive out the two. The pattern was set.
Sunday morning was the Fontaine du Trouffe. The entry is a small pool at the side of a dirt track. Once again it is necessary to pass the no-entry signs in order to get there! The start is a squeeze and Pat had, once again decided that I would go first. (Why oh why oh why?) I followed him down to the entry point in the clear blue water. It took him a minute or two and juggling the bailout he sort of went in sideways. I stuck my head in and soon found that this wasn’t going to work. The only way in is fins first. I turned and began to slide into the tiny aperture. About half way in Pat held my leg – I’m sure he was only trying to guide me in the right direction but to me it felt like I was being pulled through. I popped out like a cork and canned the dive. Kelly slipped though effortlessly as I watched her from the surface. Again I found myself annoyed at myself.
I watched the others as they each managed to get thought the squeeze. Even Oli who like me was no fan of small spaces and had been equally as nervous as me the day before.
I was left outside the cave as everyone else was having a great dive. Pat’s missus Sophie and their dog were surface cover so we chatted for a while. Although she is an accomplished tec diver she doesn’t do caves. Ahh…. a sympathetic ear from a pretty young woman. As she and the dog wandered off up the track it struck me how stupid I was. I should have dropped in again and just practiced the squeeze a few times before the last buddy pair had left. I had been worried about getting out and knew that Pat would stay down to oversee everyone leaving me to exit on my own. But with the knowledge I could do that it would have not been an issue. After all, all the other blokes were bigger than me.
About 20 minutes later bubbles began to emerge and a torch light flickered the other side of the hole. I could just make out a yellow helmet. It was Kelly. She was on her own and as I expected Pat was running exercises with the others. It was my chance. With her watching me I returned to the water and once again backed into the squeeze. Kelly had said keep to the right of the hole and I could now feel this was the correct way in. The tanks were scratching on the rock above me and the drysuit inflator pressed into my chest but a gentle push and I was through.
I exited the way I had come in and the exit was much easier. Smiling to myself I entered the cave again, this time Kelly followed me and we passed the second constriction into the entry chamber. Big OK signs all round. I looked in front of me. Bugger. The backup reg was hanging down loose and not under my chin as it should be. Kneeling on the bottom I asked Kelly to watch me and put the thing back on. I took off the helmet and then pulled the reg over my head. Brilliant dick-head, now the mask is over my mouth not my eyes and I have no gas. In front of me is a bloody great squeeze, I’m in a cave and cannot see or breathe. Twat. I pulled the mask back up a bit and replaced the primary reg.
The mask skirt is all over the place now so the easy answer – take the thing off and put the necklace over my head. Now put the primary back in my mouth and re-fit the mask. At first I cannot get the mask to seal and it refills as quick as I clear it. A bit more jiggling and its sort of OK. I toy with the idea of taking the gloves off but the water is too cold. The seal isn’t perfect but it’s OK to make the exit. I take the helmet back off Kelly and put it on my head just as Pat arrives. He shakes hands and makes a big OK, pleased that I have got in the system. Then asks if I want to do the blacked out mask drill with him. I decline as water is still flooding the mask. The three of us exit.
I’m all geared up now for the afternoon dive but a venue change is suggested and we head off for the Fontaine Saint-Georges after some cheese, sausage, ham and wine…
Saint-Georges is a very big entry pool. There are large fish, even a couple of nice sized trout. Again parking is easy and the dive a short walk from the car. Perfect. Kelly and I are to go first and do an OOG exit on the long hose. There is a constriction at 29m after which the cave turns upwards. Kelly and I agree the constriction is to be the turn point for us.
The rock in Saint-George is dark unlike the other dives. It is clear our lighting is inadequate and the atmosphere is not pleasant. The passage is wide but not very high and the drop is very fast. At 25m Kelly has had enough, her tanks are going a bit adrift and she feels spooked. She signals to Pat and we head up while he waits for the others.
On the surface she is now the annoyed one. But we soon have the tanks re-jigged and the set up is much better. She buddies up with new boy Greg for the OOG exercise, but its too much faff for me. More catch-up for me later….
Monday is another day of maps, disputes and GPS as we search for the Trou Madame. This is a shallow system stretching a couple of kilometres into the rock. I had read about this cave earlier and was hoping that we would not dive it as it involves a lot of carrying kit. The cave is the emergence of a river at the head of what is best described as a boulder stream. You walk (well scrabble) up the boulder stream and then into the shallow water at the head until it is deep enough to begin the dive. Today the water was lower than usual and this meant dragging the twinsets through a very low dry passage. It would have been much easier swimming it.
Kelly starts the day with a migraine and decides that an hour’s sleep in the car is needed. I just look at the logistics and can the thing point blank. After some food everyone begins the marathon task of porterage and kitting up. Kelly and I help out with lamp duty and watch the guys depart. We decide to suit up and have a look at the shallow part of the pitch. Without scuba gear it is possible to wade at least 120m into the system making us about 180m from the outside world.
After that Kelly goes back to sleep. The planned dive is about 2 hours and going in as far as the third air pocket. After nearly 3 hours Sophie is a little worried and I decide to sit in the cave and listen out for activity. My main torch is already flat from the morning so I use a battery powered backup. To conserve batteries I decide to turn the torch off while I wait. It is pitch black, it makes no difference whether your eyes are open or closed and the only sound is the occasional drip of water from the roof falling into the pool. It is easy to imagine things in the darkness – all of a sudden it is a cold lonely place to be, my grip on the torch tightens – it is my only route out. As I sit there my thoughts turn to Penny Glover, what a sad way to go, cold and alone in the utter darkness. I turn the torch on and once again can see the now familiar pool and entry point.
After a while I can hear bubbles. Then voices. It is Pat and Greg, they are discussing an exercise. After a second or two the voices turn back to bubbles and then silence again. I leave the cold of the cave and go report to Sophie that all is well and they are nearing the end of the excursion. Kelly is asleep in the car curled up in a ball. I walk along the track for a while in the stunning scenery of the region and then for a while at the side of the water. It is full of life, birds and insects dart about and the water gurgles over mosses and water plants. Ferns draw their moisture from the spray, their roots perilously clinging to the tiniest of cracks in the bare rock. It is a stark contrast to the inside where there is only bare rock and virtually nothing alive at all.
Soon everyone is back and chatting excitedly about the dive. They have been nearly a kilometre. Kelly and I talk about buying some lighter tanks to do this kind of dive, Pat sells carbon composite 300 bar tanks and I wonder if this might be a sensible way to go. The twin 10 Fabers are just too heavy for hauling over his kind of terrain for an old git like me. I wish I was 20 again, I grew up on a farm and would have taken this in my stride. I guess 20 years of business lunches and working in an office have taken their toll.
Tuesday morning and Kelly’s migraine has cleared. It’s the last day and we head for the Emergence du Ressel for our final dives. Kelly still needs to do some reel work to finish and I have that as well as the blacked out mask and the OOG exit. It will not be possible for me to finish today.
The site requires a scrabble down the river bank with the kit, but nothing like the day before. After three days of grey and drizzle the sun comes out and it turns into a beautiful day, one of those fine days of autumn that rival anything the summer can offer.
The cave emerges into a river about 20m downstream of the entry and egress point. The river is icy cold but the water in the cave about 12 degrees like the other caves. Again we are first and Pat gets Kelly to do her reel exercise on the way in and me to do the OOG exit on the way out. As Kelly ties off the line she drops the torch but carries on. I recover it and stick it in the bellows pocket of the drysuit. After 40m Pat is happy with the line laying and we go in a bit further just for fun. We turn after about 40m and head back out. At the reel we begin gas-sharing and we swim out. I take the lead as I know Kelly is only on her backup torch.
After a few minutes we are blinking in the strong sunlight and back on the surface of the river. The guys are there ready to start their dive. Pat is happy with both exercises and we agree to go back in and recover the reel after they have been in for a few minutes.
We let the guys go off on their dive and then return to the cave. It is like the earlier ones a pure white limestone and so it feels bigger and lighter than it really is. The strata of the rocks are at an angle and the passage is an odd shape. It’s big enough that it would be easy to lose the line in poor viz. Kelly and I go back inside about 100m where there is a huge area of boulders that have fallen from the ceiling. After a good look round we turn and head out again, meeting some French divers on their way in. Kelly reels back in and I wait behind her watching the line slowly recover. For the first time in the four days in notice that my breathing has dropped back to my normal open water level, I think about it for a moment and try to breathe slow and deep. Kelly’s errant finning as she struggles with the huge reel annoys me – at last!! – a normal dive moment. I smile to myself.
All too soon the daylight shows though and in front of us the green murky water of the river replaces the crystal clear water of the cave. I look at the computer to decide if we should make a small stop but already we are just 2.2m deep. We swim along the bed of the river to the exit point where Sophie and the dog are sunbathing and reading a book (well not the dog reading of course). Kelly de-kits in a hurry and rushes off for a pee leaving me to chat to Sophie. “What’s it like”? “More rock” she smiles – “not truk lagoon then”? she and I are agreed that this is not our preferred diving. “Its good practice for wrecks though”. We agree. She looks at me “if you can do this then you can do anything”. I nod my head and at last figure out why I am here.
We go to the Ardeche in February and hopefully I will do those last two exercises…
Doubs October 6, 2006
Posted by chris in : Uncategorized , add a commentWell at last some diving to write about!! We spent the weekend in France diving in caves. I managed a few pics with the camera but overall the quality was crap so bear with me. I need to buy a new camera and the budget for that is limited right now. Anyway you will get the idea I hope.
The drive down was tiresome as we were near to the Swiss border. About 4 hours. At least Kelly had the afternoon off. We stayed in the Campanile (a cheap but acceptable French chain) and found a nice Chinese restaurant nearby. The town, called Pontarlier, was quite nice and worth a look round and handy for the short drive in the morning to Mouthe where our first dive was to be the source of the river Doubs.
The entrance to the cave was via some nasty rocks covered with green slime and in heavily running water. the previous night’s thunderstorms had raised the water level and the river was a challenge even without the heavy twinsets and equipment. Its also a popular tourist site so an audience was guaranteed.
The rocks threatened to break people’s legs if great care was not taken.
However, we were given plenty of time to sort out our kit and Kelly and I were the second team so we had plenty of chance to watch the more experienced people.
Its a short distance from the car park and the trolley made it fairly easy to get the kit there. Parking is free and there is a public loo and a café although it had closed for the season. The area is also a Ski resort and ski school so there were some ski-lifts to poke around while we were waiting.
The previous night’s rain had stopped although the forecast was bad and the day remained grey and miserable. We got our first dive about mid morning and set off with the instructor, Pat. He showed us where the lines were and off we went. The first passage is large and easy (just as well) the crystal clear water makes it a pleasant dive and after about a couple of minutes you arrive at an air pocket.
Puffing and panting from swimming against the current its a welcome chance to get your breathing under control and to let a little of the stress subside. Its also the point at which the next part of the dive starts. Beyond this is a descent to 50m with a big gallery at the bottom.
Due to the rain we were unable to get past this point - the current was just too much. But that was fine for the “baptism”. We swam back and forward along the passage three times getting used to following the line and being in a new and weird environment. The white limestone of the passage reflects the light and makes the thing seem much better.
The maximum depth was 7.9m and I estimate the passage was about 20m long, although it seems much more the first time you do it with the sound of your heart pounding in your ears.
Lunch was chaotic (as it always is with the Belgians) and Kelly and I elected to do the second dive while everyone else was titting about then eat after the dive. My little camera is only rated to 15m so this was the ideal chance to take a few pics. The flash is built-in and the pics were burnt out.. However I managed a few images. Here’s Kelly on her way out.
Sorry about the helmet all you DIR fans - this is Yurrup!!
The next day was another morning dive in Source de Doubs to give everyone a chance to pass the sump and descend the pitch. As I kitted up I managed to rip my cuff seal, mainly as I was rather tired from a poor night’s sleep. The morning was blown for me and Kelly went off to make the dive on her own with Pat. I hid out of the rain with a spare cuff seal, some Evo-Stik and a face on.
Kelly passed the sump following Pat down. We trainees were limited to 30m but Pat pressed on down to the bottom sorting out the line for the more advanced people. At 30m Kelly turned and headed back. Alone and under thousands of tonnes of rock, in the dark… No mean feat for someone that doesn’t like dark places. She emerged elated and about 3cm taller!
At times like this the moment of greatest joy is when you see daylight again….
Its a better sight than me
Or even Kelly:
The afternoon’s dive was canned due to the bad weather and we retired to the Irish pub in Mouthe. A couple of Murphys and all was well with the world. I can’t wait for the smoking ban in France though….
Monday and the last day. The best left til last. We headed off to Doye de Gabet. This cave was in the middle of a river and yes the rain had been running. The current was strong and the cave exit could easily spit you out into the river and down the rapids and into a ravine. I doubt that this would have been a survivable event.
The entrance is to the left of Pat (seated) and the middle point of the water just above Chris’ (the Belgian one not me) head was very fast moving indeed. Pat is sat on a rock and the pic doesn’t really convey the true force of the water. When Chris was washed up the rocks on exiting it needed all his strength and Thierry - a big strong bloke also - to stop Chris getting into bother.
After a good chat the two guys set off. I decided to sit this one out - wimp. The hauling of heavy gear up and down to the site was just too much for an old git like me. besides the vis was rubbish.
It was disappointing not to do this last dive and complete the weekend (or the course) but sometimes in diving you have to go with what feels right. We are underground underwater again in November, this time in the Lot. At least that will finish the course and hopefully the weather will be better for that event.
Day at the lake September 18, 2006
Posted by chris in : Uncategorized , add a commentThe new wing is here and so the weekend was testing time. We spent Saturday morning messing about doing weighting and general kit faffing after my friend’s visit from Australia. She wanted to have a short dive with us so we lent her a drysuit (too big) and split one set of gear in half to make two single tanks setups.
All that needed to be re-configured and checked over.
Sunday we decided to just do a gentle dive to enjoy the reasonable vis and fish life at this time of year. Kelly wanted to do a couple of OOG drills as well and we agreed that we would “spring” these on one another without warning at moments of boredom.
I am very happy with the new wing (Custom Divers TDB) and the dive was pleasurable in the warmish, clearish water. There were loads of Perch and a couple of Pike. The smaller Pike has taken up residence beneath the boat pontoons and hopefully will be a feature there until the water cools. At one point he swam behind Kelly and was chasing the little Perch she was disturbing, using her as his own little hunting station.
The OOG drills were OK but the 1.5m hoses are too short on anything but a stab, so I need to get some 2m ones. This coming weekend is the practice dives for the cavern course then its off to France for the real thing. At last some diving to write about. I’ll get a film for the camera!!
Washout 2 September 6, 2006
Posted by chris in : Uncategorized , add a commentOur week in France started windy and hot. Too windy - the vis was not promising. The dive shop suggested we joined the “advanced” dive Saturday morning. Hopefully one of the wrecks we have been trying to do for a while.
We thought we would have a go off the beach meantime but the water was too cold for our shorties. Last year it was 24C.. Oh well.
On Saturday morning we got up and left the flat at about 5.00 am and began the drive towards Marseille. It was misty and cold, at one point the car showed outside air temp as 13C (it was 35C the previous afternoon).
At the dive shop at 7.00 am it was still cold and a bit misty, but the wind had gone and as the sun broke the mist it looked like a decent morning. We were both tired, grumpy and uncomfortable after having got up at about 9 all the rest of the week’s holiday.
“What’s the dive?”
The skipper smiled “the big rock with the bear cave”. Hmm.. again? One of the most boring dives I can think of…
“Sorry…..”
We got back in the car and went home.
