Duo-Divers

It was a bit of a damp squib to end 2022 but its been a memorable old year, but first nuts and bolts from todays dive

I decided on Lady Hole as I was diving just after top of the tide which means no South Side, no Knacker Hole and no Dell Point, there was a southerly wind swell so that meant no Powder House and the swell was a bit bashy to clamber up on the North Side so to be blunt there were no other options!

The vis was a very milky 2m, maybe patches of 3m of vis but that was torch assisted!

I headed down the left side of the site, my thoughts been anything interesting would be easier to see on that side, rather than the southerly (right) side of the site where although you have a bit of a reef wall it can be a bit wishy-washy in these conditions.

Heading onto the kelp it was noticeable that there were still some crustaceans holed up in the area with wiggy lobsters and velvet swimming crabs present in numbers, I guess that they will be safe and sound through the winter as those boulders have been there for ages so won't move in a big easterly swell, plus the position on a slope means that the area doesn't tend to sand up even when there is lots of sand being washed about.

As expected in such vis there were no signs of any fish, however there were a few anglers about so I guess that there are some round fish out and about.

The funniest part of the dive was getting into the water, anyone who knows my health issues knows that my back is shot, there is quite a bit of titanium in there, well it had to be titanium as stainless steel would mean that I need a wooden weight belt when diving with my twinset, yes I can manage to haul a twinset onto my back but can only manage a few yards before needing to fall into the water.

Anyway, as well as loads of opioids I am trying some 'complementary' stuff so have just bought a copper bracelet which fits onto my compass hand, it seems despite my skepticism to be doing some good. But what I didn't realise is that there are a couple of magnets in it, so in I go, check out the compass and south is always the direction I was pointing, for a minute I thought that the pointer had come off the mounts but after a dawning of realisation I swapped compass hands and everything was just fine, doooooh. 

So that's the sunset on 2022 as far as shore diving goes and with Calypso out and hopefully scheduled in for some TLC over the winter my only chance of late boat dips will be either from Duo-Diver I out from Redcar or I shall try and sweetheart the ancient diver. Other than that its time to help out at the local fishing ponds by decrypting and then a few dives in the Lake District, probably Ullswater as its free and always a chance of 'treasure', be that bits from the lost yachts which sank when Storm Desmond flooded them or old bottles and the like, plus tourist trash from the boat piers. Oh and I have always pencilled in a dip around the area that the steamers were hauled out many moons ago, you never know. And finally I could revise the wreck of PS Enterprise which apparently was an undimmed wreck when a couple of chaps happened across the wreck a few years ago, odd that as my old man and I took lots of stuff from her some forty years ago!

Sun setting on a good 2022 shore diving season

So a summary for the year, well it's been my best year ever, or at least on record for lifting non-ferrous to fund my dives, infact I didn't just break my record I smashed it, somewhere around 400kg better than my previous best year. With some marks to dive out for weights next year I reckon on another good one in 2023 as long as my back holds up!

I also managed a record number of cold water dives at 125 for the year, with time for some more cold diving in the Lakes I could be up at 150 for the year, I must say that the cold water has also helped with my back, although the dive I did when the braces jammed open was more than cold it was ghastly, though I must say the cold of an hour in the water helped significantly but trudging back to the car with my legs full of water was a bloody drag!

So that's it or probably it for my vis reports for 2022, although if things are steady and pick up later on then I will of course keep you all posted!

Dive safe

RichW

Weight this dive - 4.1 kg

Weight this year - 1244.2 kg