Yo-Han Cha continues to vie with his fellow columnists for the unofficial title ‘ Britain ’ s busiest diver ’. Here , he looks back on a productive 2023
UKDIVING YO-HANCHA
Back to the normal-normal
Yo-Han Cha continues to vie with his fellow columnists for the unofficial title ‘ Britain ’ s busiest diver ’. Here , he looks back on a productive 2023
I
know that the lockdown restrictions lifted last year , but I feel like 2023 was the year when we finally returned to normality . It ’ s definitely had its challenges , but words like ‘ social distancing ’ have thankfully become a thing of the past . This summer I marked a milestone : my last COVID-19 trip was completed . This was a Red Sea trip booked by Greg Wood from Reading BSAC two years ago . His sales pitch at the time went something like , “ It should all over by 2023 , right ? And I need something to look forward to .” And on that sliver of optimism , I paid my deposit .
I don ’ t normally book my trips two years in advance , so to be honest , I ’ d forgotten about it . Thankfully I hadn ’ t double booked myself ( a miracle as it was at the start of the summer ) and I had just enough annual leave left ! And I might have gone a bit overboard this year with dive trips . I ’ ve found myself maxing out my annual leave and going diving on almost every available free weekend .
The Red Sea trip kicked off an amazing summer where I found myself diving in Scotland , the Isle of Man and England . I ’ ve been very lucky to photograph creatures like hammerheads in the Red Sea and nudibranchs of Eyemouth .
I ’ ve discovered new dive sites like Kimmeridge Bay in Dorset , where I found I really don ’ t have my eye in for stalked jellyfish . I ’ ve also dived around Lundy Island , where there may be a wreck that I ’ ll look forward to diving again . I made a conscious effort to try and explore dive sites around the South Coast of England ; it just makes sense , now that I live in Bristol . To that end , many thanks go to Alison and Paul Pettitt and Ryan and Sandra Stalker ( all of Isle of Purbeck SAC ) for having the patience and hospitality as I gatecrashed their diving weekends , time and time again !
Another sign of normality returning was me actually filling in some Seasearch forms . After an embarrassing gap of three years , I managed to return a couple of Seasearch Observer forms after jumping on a Seasearch weekend , diving seagrass
“ Time flies when you ’ re having fun and before I knew it , the summer was over ”
beds off Plymouth . These ‘ completed ’ forms were somewhat rudimentary , but just about acceptable . Of course , there was nothing stopping me from completing Seasearch forms during the last few years ; I ’ m putting it down to the change of headspace during the chaos of lockdowns .
Time flies when you ’ re having fun and before I knew it , the summer was over . The nights are drawing in and at the time of writing , I only have one organised dive trip left for 2023 . I ’ ve also just returned from celebrating BSAC ’ s 70th anniversary up in Capernwray where it was great meeting up with diving friends across different clubs , especially those that I haven ’ t seen for years . Diving ’ s fun but it ’ s even better when you do it with friends .
I ’ ve had a fantastic 2023 and I hope you all had a similarly positive time , despite the weird weather . I hope you found time to relish normal service , in whatever shape it happens to take for you . �
Yo-Han ( far right ) enjoying a Red Sea liveaboard trip with his friends at Reading BSAC
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