Welcome
We ’ re properly into summer now , and all over the UK , divers are re-emerging from off-season slumbers to re-enter the water . Of course , many of you will already have done so , and the elite few may never have paused , but now is the time when most of us begin the mass migration back to the sea .
I ’ ve always been jealous of diving friends who live by the coast . With long hot summer days , they can choose when to get wet . Good conditions and a favourable tide beckon , and all you have to do is meet at the boat after knocking off work a couple of hours early . What a life !
For the rest of us , a visit to the coast is a bit more of a mission . Accommodation must be booked in advance , as do hard-boat spaces if you ’ re not bringing a RIB . Parking fees sometimes rival the GDP of a small nation . Then you arrive and it may well be sunny , but you ’ re still at the mercy of wind and tide . Ah , I ’ m not complaining really – if you get blown out you ’ re already on a classic British seaside holiday . There ’ s always solace to be found in a cream tea .
But there comes a time when you just want a guaranteed dive , at a time and date that suits you . And for landlocked clubs , that usually means the local inland site . Lakes and flooded quarries have been the mainstay of UK diver training since the early days – we make jokes and refer to them rudely as ‘ puddles ’, but in truth they are a crucial thread running through the tapestry of British diving history .
In this issue , we meet Milton Keynes Sub Aqua Club [ Club Focus , page 29 ], whose members have unique access to a former brickworks pit in Bletchley , now transformed into a nature site and known as the Blue Lagoon . MKSAC holds the licence for all diving activities in the lake , which comes with strictures on dates , times and access . Over the years , the members have placed a variety of attractions in the 18m-deep lake , including cars , a Cessna cockpit and a bus .
It ’ s quite a resource for the divers of Milton Keynes , and reminds me of a few stories I ’ ve heard about dive clubs that own , manage or have unique access to their own lake . If you are a member of a lake-owning club , please get in touch with me at the email below and tell me the story of how it all came about . I ’ m sure everyone would like to learn more about the responsibilities that come with owning your own dive site .
Simon
Rogerson – Editor simon @ scubamagazine . co . uk
Cover photo : South Coast cuttlefish by Dan Bolt
3