Landlocked Mermaid

Lately, my diving trips have been plagued by bad luck, bad buoyancy, and bad brain. Now, bad luck is beyond my control and I'm working on the bad brain already; so it's time I have a look at my buoyancy problems. Because when I fix the brain, I'm still not going to have successful dives if my buoyancy is all over the place.  Buoyancy is really important when diving. You wouldn't think so because you're trying to get below the water not stay on top! (Hahaha, I'm trying to be funny there.) But, once under, you don't want to be scraping along the seabed because that reduces visibility. Nor do you want to be floating up to the top because that gives you the bends. Which is bad. You want to be neutrally buoyant - resting in the water, neither sinking down nor floating up. I struggle with this. I am positively buoyant. This means I float. If I was negatively buoyant, I'd sink and have different problems. For me, the issue is getting under the water in...

Capernwray Over the last six months, Chris and I have been training for our Sport Diver course with Shrewsbury Sub Aqua and BSAC . The Sport Diver qualification means that we can dive up to 35m and lead less experienced divers. It takes the knowledge we learned on our Ocean Diver course and takes it to the next level, as you probably could have guessed! It began back in January with...  Ready to learn! BOOT CAMP Over the course of a weekend, back when it was faaarrrr too cold to dive in British waters without a drysuit, myself, Chris and about four or five others learned everything there was to know about Sport Diver theory. We covered six modules over the two days. It was very information intensive, but a good way to learn as we could discuss the more difficult bits with less of a time constraint than when we learned before the practical session.  The modules were taught by members of the club, sharing their expertise and experience which makes ...

This bank holiday weekend I ventured to Deep Wales for a dive weekend with Shrewsbury Sub Aqua Club . We stayed at Tyn Ros again, using it as our base camp for dives at Abersoch and Porth Ysgaden. The plan was two dives on Saturday and Sunday, and one on Monday. Thanks to real life and work, Monday was never on the cards for me and my partner. But Saturday and Sunday were fair game for us! The club boats @ Porth Ysgaden The plan for Saturday was two dives from Porth Ysgaden: one over Big Rock and the other on the other side of the bay. Unfortunately, the sea had a different plan for me. On the first dive, we were supposed to descend the shot line on Big Rock. Being in a semi-dry (read, two wetsuits functioning as), I was slated to go in the water last, so I spent the least amount of time cold and wet on the boat. By the time I went in the water, the current was really running fast. It wasn't slow for the other divers, particularly, either. After rolling off the boa...

A few months ago I started my Diving Bucket List . Since getting Fifty Places to Dive Before You Die (by Chris Santella) for my Birthday, I have been adding to this list. The book is compiled of sites reccomended by diving experts across the world. I've been dipping in and out of the book over the last month, and here are the dips I want to take! The Diving Bucket List Continued.. Channel Islands, CA Kelp forests. Photo from Horizon Charters   The kelp forests look amazing. And like you'd be diving around Finding Dory - follow the shells!   There are a few places on my America wishlist and California is one of them. So this would be two birds one stone for me! There is plenty of life around this area too, which is always a drawing point for me. Gotta see them fishies. Lord Howe Island, Australia Balls Pyramid. Photo from Outdoor Australia Quite often when I talk about diving abroad, people assume I want to go to the Great Barrier Reef in A...

It was the AGM last Tuesday for Shrewsbury Sub Aqua Club . Next month, I will have been diving (or rather learning how to) for a year. Where has the time gone?! Most of the meeting was about budgets and the business side of things. But part of the meeting was to decide the new committee members, vote on who'd volunteered, and finalise the new committee. There were a few positions changing this year. I was considering volunteering for them but without knowing what the positions entailed, I was a little hesitant. Instead, myself, my partner, and a fellow from our Ocean Diver course were offered the chance to be general members of the committee. This was confirmed at the AGM. I am very excited to be involved because it means I can learn a little more about the committee roles and what they do, so that next year I can make an informed decision about which I would like to volunteer for. Being a general committee member also means I can give back to the club which has given me a...

This weekend just past was spent diving! So instead of Marine Creature of the Month, you are getting all the details!  We stayed at Tyn Ros again, with aim to dive Abersoch and Porth Ysgaden. The rough plan was for two dives on Saturday and one on Sunday. There was a wreck dive, low tide dive, and drift dive on the cards. However, they were all subject to weather conditions. Suffice to say, things did not go exactly to plan. But that's life for you. There are loads of these sorts of pictures at Tyn Ros. On the Saturday, we headed down to Abersoch to gear up and get in the water. There was a bit of a breeze, but due to positioning along the coastline the sea was in better conditions at Abersoch than at Porth Ysgaden. The word "lumpy" was used to describe the other side. We got into the water a little later than planned. After the boats had been launched, it became apparent that we'd need to leave it an hour or so to get the best out of the water. So we...

I have been looking forward to this Bank Holiday weekend. We were going diving. The original plan was to go to Anglesey and do some wreck dives near Holyhead. I was very excited for this - wrecks are a new facet of diving I am eager to try. But, unfortunately, the weather had other ideas. With there being so muh glorious sunshine early in the summer, I took it as gospel that it would be sunny this weekend just past. As we well know, that was not the case. And the weather in Anglesey was set to be much worse. Like stormy seas, big waves worse. And considering that I felt queasy when it was still, it was probably a good thing the plans were changed. Rather than trekking a long way for a dive with poor visibility, the decision was made to go to Capernwray - as it is much closer and less affected by rainy weather. A quarry filled with submerged vehicles sounded like the much better option. Anglesey will have to wait. The wrecks aren't going anywhere. I hope. The...

This weekend saw my first sea dive, in the Porth Ysgaden bay. No, I don't know if I've been saying it right, so I can't tell you how it's said. I normally just resort to "somewhere very Welsh". Naturally, before hitting the water, I needed to get some gear. Over the last couple weeks, my partner and I have paid our local dive shop, ScubaTeks, a number of visits. You may have seen on my instagram me testing some of this in Lake Dearnford. BCD, regs, fins, gloves, mask and weight pouches. We now have 90% of the stuff we need to dive, with many thanks to ScubaTeks and their very helpful staff. We were well looked after and got the gear best suited for our skill and needs. Once we were all kitted up, we were ready! (Aside from a few things the club so kindly let us borrow.) Porth Ysgaden is deep into Wales. We stayed at campsite near Abersoch the night before. The gentlemen who owned the campsite has been diving for a long time. There were picture...

In case you missed it, I have been learning to dive since March with Shrewsbury Sub Aqua Club , a branch of BSAC , at Shrewsbury Quarry Swimming Pool. In a rash vest I bought especially. So why do I want to learn to dive? Well, I am a self proclaimed mermaid and what kind of mermaid can't explore the deep? It's more than that, though. I have always loved swimming, despite swimming slower than a Greenland Shark, and have always wished I could see what lies beneath the water. Underwater nature documentaries were always my favourite, as they are a window into that world. But I want to go through that window and see for myself! So, I have learned how to scuba dive. I chose to learn with Shrewsbury Sub Aqua Club as they are my local BSAC branch and I felt like I was in good hands learning with BSAC. The combination of theory, practical and 8 nice long weeks to learn it all over seemed like the right fit for me. And I didn't need to take massive amounts of time off...