In short and to finish..
Well the last day about summed up the weak. A dreek (sp?) finish in a gale of wind.
It has been frustrating in many ways but mostly, if not completely because of the weather.
A week has it’s conception a long time before the troops arrive on the boat. Each time I visit somewhere I try to think who the ground would appeal to, would it be worth bringing divers here, would this group like what these others have enjoyed and so forth. Each thought goes into a mental space so that I have an approximate game plan before the group has even thought what they would want themselves. Then the planning starts, the simple logistics in the first instance, oxygen, fuel, general preparation and then the weather watching: what will the isobars do, can I get away with this or that.. what’s the tide….. So on and so forth. By the time they get here the week is reasonably set in my head, or rather the strategy is laid out. If they want to do this we can go there, if they want to do that we have to be aware of that and so on.
And then the weather put a kibosh on things.
I was confident that we would have a bonnie first day to get into the diving in the flow, a couple of moderately windy days Mon and Tues, then, when the high pressure hit wed, we would be off and round the week to a close with an extended trip to new pastures. Except the weather never broke. It just got worse.
Don’t get me wrong. The diving in the flow is superb, but it is a question of expectation. If you are expecting to be somewhere else, where you are just seems somehow less. And then frustration sets in whilst time runs out. That frustration is with me now as I type but as I look back through the photos it eases: I hope the troops had a good week, they looked as if they were enjoying themselves. And let’s face it, it is Scapa Flow and you have to go a long way to beat that.
……………now a text to say they have used the last of the teabags. A dive boat without teabags. My reputation will be tatters.
June 5th, 2006 at 10:29 am
Hi Bob,
Looking at your blog site on the magic box. I knew the weather would change but it wont be half the fun… Thanks for ensuring a cracking week with safe diving.
Look after yourself and hope to see you again.
Ray