Random Jottings
Another winter project......
Following on from my back operation in 2018 recovery has been a bit slow so with diving dried up due to UK winter conditions it has been time to start hitting those weights.....
But to what extent? I remember years ago, 2010 I think it was when I was working on the Indian Sub-continent that I reduced my weight to the 90kg mark and it was damned cold when I got back to diving in the UK as I had lost all of my 'bioprene', so the target this year is going to be down to a steady 95kg.
So how am I going to get down to that level, well I have gone and joined a local gym, which has a national footprint and it's going well so far, but first who have I decided to use?
https://www.snapfitness.com/uk/gyms/darlington
The problem with some gyms is that they are full of 'meat-heads' hurling large amounts of metal about and whilst this was me in my early 20's when I was actively playing Rugby at quite a high level here and now I have to be very, very careful about lifting too much weight if it is acting in a compressive fashion.
The main great thing about this set-up is that you can just go in and 'do your thing' with weights that are suitable for what you are trying to achieve, super!
The next advantage for a guy like me who wants to visit at 'odd' times is that they are open 24/7 so that means I can call in at 'silly o clock' before I set off to work on a Monday morning, sure you may be the only person there but so what?
Will losing a bit of weight help me next diving season? Who knows, I have already adjusted my dive kit configuration to minimise weight acting through my shoulders and spine so no longer do I use a weight harness I now use a belt so that the weight is applied at waist level below the site of the operation. I am hoping that it will allow me to start using 12l tanks for my general shore diving in the summer so I can get back to 90 minute dives!
Oh and as an aside next dive is at Ullswater looking for more old bottles, and then off to the Wishing Well!
Dive safe
RichW
Latest Photographs


Mid-way along the site is an area of angular boulders which go further up the wall (?) they appear new, with very little life attached' but have been there over 30 years. Look carefully and you will find crustaceans among the jumble.
The bows of SS Breda, or at least the very front of the cut down bow section after she was wire cut to 28ft.
Not a good shot but one of the rebreather chaps next to the rudders, these stand about 6m proud of the bottom of the vessel and are intact despite the explosive forces used to remove the phosphor bronze propellors which were located very, very close.
And the business end of the same gun, in this case a crab has set-up shop but most of the time they are home to conger eels!
Starboard side and the wreck is slowly disappearing on a flooding tide...
The propellor from SS Abessinia, due to the absence of a shaft was it lost 'mid-salvage' or was this the spare cast iron part?
The seal eventually lay on the bottom and wanted to have its photo taken.....again....
As is my wont a scenic shot of the bows.
A Hermit Crab (Pagurus bernhardus) had set up shop in an old whelk shell, te problem was that it was far to small and spent most of the time looking out of a hole half way down the shell!
Common edible and tasty lobster (homarus gammarus) the area is home to a multitude of them!
A pretty little light, one of the guys thought 'deck light' but with a solid back and close to another two broken lights I would think a bulkhead light of some description, date late victorian to pre WWI.
This is a shot from the back showing that there is no path for the sunlight above the deck, it is blanked off
A Lobster (Hamarus gammarus) this is a Blue Fiends view of a diver, I got my buddy to keep its attention and snook around to get this photo, he was off in a shot when the flash fired!
A box full of non-ferrous bits, probably about 2kg of bits destined for a wooden box full of similar bits and pieces that I have in the shed.
Not the greatest but a Sea Comb, probably a Sea Gooseberry (Pleurobrachia plies) or at least that is what I have always called em when anyone asks! I like watching the little bits down the side change colour as they move, a very interesting little critter, I should take a bit of matt black plastic to try and get a photograph of one that is clearer.
Part of a shoal of lesser sandeels (Ammodytes tobianus) there are huge bait balls of this foodstuff through the summer, some of which are attacked from above and below. These fish were quite happy to stay relatively close, they obviously didn't see a diver as a threat.
Sea Hare (aplysia punctata) you get loads and loads of them on the south side of the point feeding and breeding!
An 'A' frame located adjacent to the stern of SS Mistley, not surprising bearing in mind that she was a steam trawler.
A very scenic dip with dead mans fingers (Alcyonium digitatum) covering hard rock with boulders in some of the larger gullies.