A move to the south is looming for your columnist, though inevitably her diving calendar will take priority amid the chaos
KIRSTYANDREWS
Making plans for Kirsty
A move to the south is looming for your columnist, though inevitably her diving calendar will take priority amid the chaos
January. Not a traditional diving mega-month, unless you’ ve got some winter sun ahead of you, and congratulations if you do. Personally I am hoping to make the traditional New Year’ s Day dip – see you at the harbour, Torbay BSAC. Otherwise, a month for planning and daydreaming about great dives in the 12 months to come.
In past years I’ ve pinpointed a couple of specific dives I want to do – and sometimes I’ ve managed to do them and sometimes not, but the planning experience has been all part of the fun.
This time I’ m hoping that by the time this column goes out I’ ll have moved house; moved counties in fact, and moved closer to the sea( hurrah for that). So hopefully that will bring with it more diving opportunities. I sense a chortle – how could I possibly manage to dive more, I hear some of you ask? Well, it’ s a goal and I’ ll report back.
There are definitely phases of our lives when we find it a bit tricker to fit in our diving ambitions. It’ s surprisingly easy to find you’ ve drifted out of the habit a bit, for any number of reasons. Maybe caring for children or parents or some other aspect of our lives just takes over for a while. Stressful experiences( like moving house, argh) don’ t allow us time to do the great things that remove stress( like being underwater, my happy place). Then we find, when we eventually get a window of opportunity to dive back in, kit needs servicing or maybe doesn’ t fit very well anymore. Or a weekend trip which used to come so easily now requires a fair bit more thought and planning. I say, go easy on yourself; life happens but diving is always there. Is this the year that you or your buddies come back to the sport? Great, if so, we’ re waiting for you.
With my levels of diving obsession, I doubt I’ ll ever quite get so far removed from the watery antics I love. I’ m lucky to dedicate so much time to diving, I know. The big
move southwards may mean I’ ll be focussed close to home for a bit, keeping an eye on finances and perhaps spending my free time on household chores as well as fun dives.( Again, I hear a rousing chorus of eyebrow raises among my friends and acquaintances reading this.)
Who am I kidding? I do have one big trip on the calendar for 2026 – I’ m going back to Shetland and I truly can’ t wait to get back to a place I’ ve loved to dive over many years but haven’ t visited since 2021. I’ m also organising the trip, so I get to plan where we go and what we do. There are a few favourite sites I’ m keen to revisit but I also want to explore some new ones. In between unpacking boxes, cleaning, dusting and painting, I shall be studying my charts and looking for enticing underwater topography. In fact, maybe I’ ll do the fun planning bit now and stick those boxes in a cupboard for a bit … as long as my dive kit’ s unpacked, everything else will be fine. �
Shetland scenes by Kirsty Andrews
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