LEARNINGCURVE
Dive Manager notices and briefs now included an additional Covid section typically covering :
■ Bring and wear a face covering ( and use it ) – no face covering – no dive !
■ Maximum of 6 people in the boat
■ Hand sanitise before getting on the boat
■ Load and offload your own kit
■ No spitting into masks to de-fog them The changes did on occasion lead to some amusing little moments ! Wearing of face coverings made us stand out a little more than usual as we manoeuvred between the gin palaces and yachts in the harbour . Even the Harbour berthing masters commented we looked like a bunch of pirates out on a raid . However , that may be the case without masks , thinking about it ! However , we recommend a black / grey Special Forces look for maximum effect !
A great alternative use was found for the boat fenders . They were re-purposed to enable divers to clip on their kit to the boat before exiting the water . This way , divers get themselves out first and then pull their own kit out of the water . Social distancing was easy to maintain . Boat crew and coxswains were only too willing to help encourage the use of this one , especially where twinsets were involved . You do have to remember to brief the team on the ‘ lift your own kit ’ rule , though we had one member who missed the earlier club wide email announcements and probably thought we were being jolly unhelpful .
For those who needed a little bit of help getting out , some verbal encouragement was provided initially , followed by ensuring face coverings were in place before assisting divers onto the boat .
Other recommendations in the guidance aligned well with how we do some things anyway . For example : Running shuttles to keep the numbers per boat manageable , is a technique that we commonly deploy for diving out of Freshwater Bay . In between waves , common contact points could be wiped down .
In practice , we found it helpful to have someone with the role of ‘ Covid Monitor ’ in charge of policing the guidance ; this
was usually the Dive Manager or other senior divers on the boat firstly leading by example and politely reminding people what to do .
We also found that working following the guidance sensibly rather than trying to push the boat out too far also led to a voyage of re-discovery , literally doing just that . We started to look afresh at nearby dives reasonably close to shore that the old guard in the club hadn ’ t dived for years or that many new members ( including myself ) had never dived . We worked shallow-to-deep and slow-to-fast , and re-discovered a sense of adventure and discovery without needing to push the depth limits or the guidance . So , onto some of the dives that we did ...
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