QUESTION TIME
Q I believe UK visibility can be low, how do I find my way around?
A UK visibility can be low, but it can also be fantastic and you’ re unlikely to get lost. You might not know exactly where you are, but as long as you keep with your buddy you can still have a fantastic dive.
So most importantly whatever the visibility stay close to your buddy and keep in communication with them. That means that you’ ll be able to show each other all the exciting things that you see on your dive and you’ ll be able to chat about them over a cup of tea on the boat and make all the other divers jealous.
If you do want to stay on a particular site and see particular things, then make sure you listen to the dive manager’ s brief and follow their instructions. If they say keep the wall to your left, or drift with the current, then do that. Or if you’ re on a wreck look at things as you swim and try to remember landmarks on the seabed.
Ultimately, most of the time you can’ t get lost in a way that matters; once you need to come up, send up a delayed surface marker buoy( dSMB) and ascend slowly to the surface. Once you’ re there
signal to the boat, or work out which way you need to swim towards shore. If you’ ve surfaced any distance away from where you should have done you might have to put up with some stick from other divers, but that’ s all part of the fun! Louise Whitehouse, National Instructor
Q Is there anything worth seeing in UK waters?
A You’ ll be pleased to hear that my answer is an emphatic yes. If you go to any BSAC club, you’ re bound to find a member who will tell you that in their opinion, British diving is the best in the world. To be honest, it’ s a very subjective call … but there’ s something about the sheer variety of experiences to be had in British water that makes its advocates especially proud of their home waters.
In the first instance there are shipwrecks; not ancient galleons( wood rots away in salt water, so ancient shipwrecks are hard to find) but there are plenty of metal-hulled vessels from the two World Wars. Some of the wrecks are still surprisingly intact, but many more have become debris trails, where the innards of the ship have been laid bare by time and tide The one thing we’ re lacking is shipwrecks from the modern era, because GPS technology and the rescue services are so good at
preventing shipwrecks that they are a rare occurrence these days.
What about marine life? You may be surprised to learn that our coast has reefs dominated by corals, anemones and sponges. We have cold water corals, not the reef-forming stony coral of the tropics but individual‘ trees’ of soft coral that appear in shades from a stark white to the deepest red. You will find fish on every reef, from the rock-dwelling tompot blenny to sleek pollock and seabass that hunt in open water. We even have sharks, from the immense basking shark to the super-cute small-spotted catshark – they are all quite harmless. Finally, we have the friendliest animal in the sea, the grey seal, at sites all over the UK. Believe me, there is an incredible world to discover. Simon Rogerson, Editor, SCUBA magazine
Do you have a question about scuba? Contact the BSAC Team on 0151 350 6201 or email info @ bsac. com
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