Diving on the Nab Tower 26th July 2011

Diving on the Nab Tower is an excellent dive that can be done at all states of the tide and is a typical Solent dive. It has it all, with the life, lobsters, fish of numerous species plus the gloom/darkness.

I feel that this is an excellent dive for a wreck/20 metre experience for a novice diver. To explain this rather strong statement I have to explain the wreck. The magic is the underwater structure, which can be seen from the picture below taken during the building of the Nab Tower.

 

Underwater the Nab Tower is described as a wedding cake structure each step about 5 metres. So you can structure your dive anyway you wish, with the depth that you wish.  Diving with a ‘novice’ diver, ie one that has neither dived at the 20 metre depth or with little Solent experience, I have set out a very simple dive plan beforehand.

We are dropped off by the boat in the lee of the Nab Tower and surface swim to the Tower. We then descend to the first tier if ok proceed straight down to the second tier and so on until we get to the bottom, or fourth tier if you wish, at ~20 Metres.

The most important point of this dive plan is in the explanation beforehand that we only proceed if the ‘novice’ diver is happy and it is carefully reinforced the first rule of diving, that one does not do anything if you are not happy or confident with.

Equally the dive plan can be set out which tier is the bottom of the dive. The lead diver can equally stop and return to a higher tier during the dive if they feel that the novice diver is ‘under stress’.

We can then proceed around the selected tier until the tide stops you and return around the base then ascend up a tier. Each tier can be explored in turn and they are all different with their different types of life.

So finally one gets to the last 5~7 metre tier so the safely stop is the last tier, admittedly not the best tier but a lot better that hanging on a line in the gloom for three minutes.

I do not normally post my dive computer underwater profile but I feel that this time it explains the dive in the best way.

This dive was a threesome dive with my regular dive buddy Dan plus my daughter’s partner Josh. Josh comes from that ‘clear water diving land’ of New Zealand and is an Advance Diver and this was to be his first dive out of New Zealand!

I was glad that his holiday schedule over here allowed his dive to be the Nab Tower.

This dive on the Nab was rather unusual in as much as it was at a slack tide but I did not take that on board at the time during the dive. So we could have gone all the way around the Tower but we didn’t.

As you can see during the video the two diving styles are very different with Josh’s 1~2 metre dive style off the bottom verses Dan’s ‘on the bottom’ technique, common amongst ‘Solent Divers’.

This is definitely one of the most relaxing dives one can have in the Solent, one just has to watch out for the tide wall when the tide is running otherwise one could get swept away.

The Nab Tower is also the place where one can pick up lobsters and, as can be seen in the video, Julian is the diver who can always locate and catch a lobster on his dives! It was big enough that he sent the lobster up using his lift bag!!

 A really nice dive.

To view the video on the Youtube website click the link:

Nab Tower 26th July 2011

Evening drift dive on the Bembridge ledges 29th June 2011

Drift dives have become rather good over the last couple years. The main reason for this has been that I use drift dive as an opportunity to catch food the number of scallops seems to be increasing on the Bembridge ledges. The trick is to get to the right depth. Therefore I must assume the skipper must get rather fed up with Dan and I as we keep moving with the tide but making our way away from the Isle of Wight into deeper water to see the life!

As the way it is with all my drift dives the best bit is at the end of the dive when I am near the end of dive time (air-wise). As it was with this dive when near the end of this dive we came across a scallop bed!

Also a great sunset at the end of the dive!

or to watch the video on the your tube site click the link:

 Bembridge ledges drift dive

Diving the S.S. Shirala 25th April 2011

A really nice day with an easy pick up from the East Beach off Selsey by Simon Bradburn in his boat Stormforce 2.

I tried to film my backward role into the water, well I did really but it never really comes off on video, plus the descent down to the wreck. Rather mucky but due to the clear sunny sky was relatively good viz.

As I was sorting out my kit and starting my video Dan, my buddy, was obsesses with something. That turned out to be a rather large lobster! How does he do that!!

Near the end of the dive and at the top of the wreck there was a very large shoal of fish, made up of all sorts, Bib, Pollock to name a few.

On the trip back to shore the water over a low reef appeared to be very calm and flat for no apparent reason, tide etc the truth be told.

The flat calm waters made for a very nice speedy trip back to the shore.

Click on the link to see the video on the youtube website:
Diving the S.S. Shirala 

Diving the Bomber and a Bembridge ledge drift 16th April 2011

This was the first dive of the year in the UK, ok not a good dive but as some of you divers can guess, it was good to get back in the water.

Sadly the viz on the Bomber was very poor so only close up shots of a bit of metal could be seen. Dan had a very long fight with a lobster and a very big lobster at that. Sadly it was a female with eggs so it had to go back in its hole. This lobster had lost one of it claws but still give Dan a real fight!

The second dive was a drift dive over the Bembridge ledges again rather murky and a bit shallow to start with. Dan and I moved over to the East, not much of a tide running, to get to deeper water. The deeper water was a bit clearer, not much, but the bottom was far more interesting. The rocks had some rather unusual if not weird shapes. That made for rather interesting diving techniques with the drift not to get jammed in them.

Interestingly at the deeper depths we finally found some current for the drift dive, which was good. Sadly we had to end the dive as we were getting to the hour limit, well a bit over it.

  
To view the video on the youtube website click the link:Diving the Bomber and a Bembridge 

23rd February 2011 Diving in Hahei, New Zealand (day 2 diving)

This was my second day of diving at Hahei on the Coromandel in New Zealand and dive with two buddies Beat and Theo. Again a low stress relaxed diving under the watchful eye of Russ.

This video captures the process of getting the boat from the water to the trailer. Interesting!. Sadly I don’t have the boat launching process on video as that is fun, with the boat going in back end first from the beach. The fun bit is the girlies who don’t think about getting wet!!

Both dives are about the same area but one is in the reserve and the other outside the marine reserve. This was a dive where it was” a look and see dive” the first was delving in amongst the sea kelp to see the fish and the crayfish, the second very much a matter of following the line between the sand and the kelp to see the life. So many crayfish in one place! Is that a ‘nest of crayfish’ ?

 

To see the video on the youtube page click the link Diving in Hahei (day 2)

22nd February 2011 Diving in Hahei, New Zealand

I really enjoy diving at Hahei in New Zealand, there are two main factors, the life in the waters and the very relaxed no stress diving. Russ and Wendy run Cathedral Cove Diving are a very relaxed couple with a great sense of humour, Russ has a dry sense of humour but really cares about his divers. If the water is mucky he does not go out as it is a poor dive from his point of view so expect a minimum of 10 metres viz ( he has never dived in the UK Solent!!).

The diving is about 18 Metre, there are deeper places, but generally shallower, which is good for the light and life as well as the bottom time, a critical factor for me as I am rather an air hog.

Seeing the sea life is sort of hit and miss as you can see in the video, you have to look up close to see it, then you can be lucky and the stunning appears. Rays, Demoiselles, blue Mau Mau, Moray eels.

The video really does not do it justice.




But it is rather good click the link below to go staight to the youtube version

Diving in Hahei

19th February 2011 Poor Knights Island New Zealand Northern Arch and Crystal cave

This time there appeared to be a lot of divers on Dive Tutukakas main boat ‘El Tigra’ and I was placed on the smaller boat ‘Bright Arrow’ with a group of  experienced divers.

This was a very much relaxed affair and far more enjoyable than the previous dive at Poor Knights Island that can be seen by comparing my air consumption between the two days diving. equally I was able to take far more video this time around and equally my breathing is a lot quieter (nothing to do with the volume control set lower).

The underwater views of the Northern Arch are really beautiful with some of the divers just wishing to ‘hang’ in the water to take in the view. This time the approach to the Northern Arch was from the North side.

The second visit to the Crystal cave was also pretty good but I think that my dive buddies were know to keen on the internal gloom so we did not tarry there long. We did see a Ray afterwards which was very nice as well as a lot of the fish appeared to very friendly and happy to have a diver with a camera up close.

This time a very good days diving compared to the previous set of dives.

To view the video from the youtube website with some stunning underwater views click on the link:

 Poor Knights Islands

12th February 2011 diving off Poor Knights Island, New Zealand

Sadly I look forward to this dive for about a year before we go to New Zealand and it never works out well. This time it appeared to be worse as I struggle with high air consumption. I can hear it in the video of the first dive. I am not sure what causes it, maybe the jet lag, which at the time seems fine or maybe I am tired after the journey from Auckland to Tutukaka.

I dive with the dive company Dive Tutukaka and this time when out on the boat El Tigra. The first dive was at a place called Northern Arch although I did not have a very long dive 22 minute with max depth of 25 metres.

We have a pretty full on itinerary when we get to New Zealand and maybe this is the penalty. I was please to see that I had improved by the second dive and was able to really enjoy Crystal cave.

I have a feeling that the style of diving at the first dive being wall diving, for want of better word, does not suit me. I seem to like a bottom, and not keep worrying about keeping a controlled depth. Equally with my bad right leg I can only swim slowing so starting off with a surface swim is rather exhausting way to start a dive.

I also have a problem with the small 11 litre aluminium cylinders they use here. One small compared to my 15 litre. Two I find that aluminium cylinders are light at the end of a dive and have trouble controlling my assent. The dive people just cannot believe the amount of lead I need to sink. I guess that it because I bring my own wetsuit and it has twice the amount of thickness around my body. Then I guess I am getting use to the rest of the kit, BCD and DVs!!

A poor workman always blames his tools!

Anyway check out the video by the link below.

12th February 2011 diving off Poor Knights Island, New Zealand 

A rather slack time of 'Blogging'

Well I have been rather bad at keeping up this blog of my diving! 

Here it is now September and not a single dive posted. I guess that the trouble is that I had three weeks in February on holiday in New Zealand, with some diving I may add, and have never caught up. Anyway I have 3 weeks in Switzerland and France, no diving, a very quiet time and that has given me the time to sort out my diving videos. 

Sadly there has not been much in the way of an internet connection so no uploading of videos. Now on the last day in France I have and internet connection but not good enough to upload videos, so that will have to wait until I get home.