Saturday…Chilly Dip

No, not the sort that you eat with Nachos, but another major milestone in “getting my life back” – my first open water dive for over five years!

The dive was proposed last week at a sheltered site close to Portsmouth Harbour, and I spent some time getting my kit ready last night. It has been carefully stored, and I had checked it earlier, but it was still a little painstaking simply because I haven’t had to prepare it for a long time.

It was very cold this morning – air temperature at about 1C, and the water at an estimated 4C, so it was drysuits and a good assortment of thermal clothing.

There were one or two kit problems, but I eventually jumped in, together with buddy Dave. It was very strange at first. In some respects it was like being a novice diver again, worrying about the techniques of buoyancy, and controlling breathing, and remembering where all the bits were, but after about 15 minutes, everything settled down and I started to relax as earlier training came back to me.

I was in the water for about 30 minutes, 27 of which were submerged. On exit, my hands were blue under the wet gloves, and I used a lot of air (a function of the cold water and my nervousness) even though the deepest we went was 6 metres but… it was great to be back in the water.

I still need to do some pool self training to refresh the drills, but I think if I can get back in under challenging (in terms of the cold) conditions, I should be OK to progress to deeper dives this summer.

And a big thank you to all at the dive club for their encouragement and patience!

Onwards, and upwards (and downwards!)

7 Responses to “Saturday…Chilly Dip”

  1. Julia on 22 Jan 2011 at 6:47 pm #

    Well done for your chilly dip. Keep warm now.

    Julia xxx

  2. Richard on 23 Jan 2011 at 5:45 pm #

    don’t get too close to the fire you’ll get chilblains.

    Good luck

    Richard

  3. Terry on 24 Jan 2011 at 11:46 am #

    How lovely to hear of your progress with diving again. Keep up the good work.

  4. Gillian on 25 Jan 2011 at 8:53 pm #

    Bought champagne to celebrate to go with dips, oh, and I bought nachos as well ;D

    Hope it all went well

    Cheers

    xxx

  5. Peter on 26 Jan 2011 at 11:13 pm #

    Chilli nachos would have been most welcome to dispel the cold! Still exhilarating though!

  6. Liz Newton on 30 Jan 2011 at 8:56 pm #

    Just done some more catching up! It sounds as if you had a great holiday and now you’re diving again too!
    We’re still waiting for a proper catch up though!
    Lots of love,
    Liz

  7. Trish (onk/heam nurse) on 04 Feb 2011 at 8:20 pm #

    Peter I think your amazing your whole journey you have been so positive, a real inspiration to one and all.

    May you continue with many years of diving and nachos munching ..lol

    Take care and all the very best for the future.

    Kindest Regards
    Trish x

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