Halton Ocean

Seems to work well.

Though with his boyancy control I would have recommend something larger, Hindenburg maybe?

Line em up. Splash em.

Its a turkey shoot really. The skill lies in capturing the exact point of punter/splash impact on film.

Whats the difference between a weasel and a stoat?

A weasel is weasely recognised while a stoat is stoately different.

Think I need a few more punters to keep me more occupied.

All the boys dived the Markgraf this morning followed by a spilt wave Brummer/MG in the afternoon.

I have said it before and will say it again (probrably on Wed by the look of the forecast) that a good day at this time of the year is worth 2 in the summer. The sun is low on the horizon with that warm yellow light whilst the sea is clear and getting clearer but still warm from the summer (12degC). Tommorrow, however, things are set to change.

It was even warm enough for Timothy to get changed on deck.

Abo failed the initiative test. I guess he washed his mask off in the water.

The Royal Navy steamed past…

followed by a basking shark that defied the camera. It just turned it’s nose up and disappeared.

Gentle start on the MG/KPW split wave as some of the boys hadn’t dived since this week last year. It is wise option to ease back in the water with something a little more gentle after such a long lie off.

Another split wave this afternoon: Karlsruhe/MG

Well, I was down the boat but the troops never arrived. Not till later that is.

No one to burst out of a van. Guess it’s getting late in the season.

We left early this morning, gone from the pier at half six when it was still dark. Only me and another awake so we steamed thru the dawn and the breaking light down to the Barrie. Shot line on the wreck popped up just after I threw my one in: sods law.

Fogs in now as we are sat at Lyness waiting for the troops to have lunch and get ready for the F2.

What a grizzly day.

Early start to catch the Barrie which then got binned, so we headed to the Markgraf.

Off to do the F2 this afternoon.

KPW then Brummer today.

The weather has changed for the worse.

The boys in Longhope have got a new toy to play with..

That’ll be a bunny with drawers more soggy than a teenage snogger on the back seat of his brand new Seat Ibiza with his first bird, and probrably a grin to match. Think I will go to Burray ’till the novelty wears off.

Flat calm and sunshine: the troops don’t know how blessed they are!

Markgraf then Tabarka today and an end to spiderman and fairy cakes. Must remember to shed a tear later.

Koln then Goby.

Another flat calm day.

These days, in the internet age, it is easy to think of your local dive store as a throwback to the Jurrasic age where people actually walked into a shop, asked for what they want and then paid by handing over leaves of paper. However, below the surface lies a level of expertise that cones from years of experience and the school of hard knocks: it is this that it is easy to forget about when you tap that visa number into the interweb.

Cracking weather today. Beautiful blue sky and not a breath of wind. They say the vis is good too.

Dived the Dresden then the Karlsruhe.

The boats are thinning out a bit now as winter approaches but the John L is still going and I shared the wreck with James.

Swapped Kingsbury for Cardiff. I wonder if someone, somewhere will complain.

The anniversary of the Royal Oak today and the Royal Navy were up to raise the white ensign on the wreck.

We dived the Koln then the Tabarka

KPW then Goby.

High quality crew today.

Why are there no blue divers on the Halton?

Because all Halton divers are happy divers!!

These two bucked the trend.

Windy today so just dropped on the Karlsruhe.

A and B jumped in and went diving. D jumped on C and E followed so turned the boat around and picked them all up without any submersion and less a pony bottle. Ho hum.

Koln then Tabarka. They are going to get deja vue this week. Can you predict deja vue? I wonder.

So off they go, merry smiles and skips in the step.

“see you next year”

“you’re the best”

“great diving”

Then you see they start to sneak back into the water on OTHER boats. No shame. No shy deferential glances. No guilty falters. Oh no. They’re off, cavorting and gamboling with other operators all round the country, with butter not melting in their mouths.

Dive tarts, the lot of them. See if i care.