Grand day out with South Bay Scuba
FAVOURITEKIT
My Greenforce
“ torch because it is easy to handle, holds its charge and it gives me just the right amount of light.
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CLUBLIFETIP
The old adage“ you only get out
“ what you put in” is so true. It’ s no good complaining behind the scenes; if you want things to improve, get involved and join the committee to have your say to influence club life.
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particular expedition-type diving. She is also very keen on boat handling and boathandling training, and she recently set up a snorkelling group at South Bay Scuba.
When I ask her to describe her activities it becomes obvious just how involved in club life she is.“ This year, so far,” she tells me,“ I have organised various dives including to the Clyde, where we keep our club RIB in the winter, an expedition to Kyles of Bute( on the Scottish west coast), many dives out of Hartlepool, where the club hard boat Condor is berthed, and I’ m planning an October trip to Oban and a club trip to Cyprus for 2026.
“ I have also set up a new snorkelling group and trained them, organised the South Bay Scuba Grand Day Out BBQ and social, and run a monthly fundraising raffle. So my involvement is quite wide ranging,” she says,“ Oh, and I organised a vineyard visit.”
When I asked how Anne got into volunteering, she says no one persuaded
VOLUNTEERINGHIGHLIGHT
“ her, it was her need to keep going diving that started her organising trips to places she wanted to visit.“ There was a need to help the club to continue and thrive because I wanted to go diving.” Seeing people get hooked, and enjoying herself, is her reward.“ I seem to have a need for adventure,” Anne explains when I ask what’ s behind her long diving career.“ Exploring and diving satisfied this along with making many amazing friends with a similar outlook to myself. Diving means always meeting new people as well as going to new and beautiful places. Often, you’ re quite remote discovering new dive sites: never knowing until you get in what you might see, will it be a stunning dive or a boring muddy slope?”
Her list of places dived, in no particular order, includes Cornwall, Dorset, Norfolk, Yorkshire Coast, Durham Coast, Northumberland coast up to North Berwick, further up to Moray Firth, Scapa Flow,
Advanced Ocean Diver is a fantastic course, as it builds on the skills of an Ocean Diver and allows them to really be ready to dive in the sea. It includes delayed surface marker buoy( dSMB) deployment, navigation skills and the use of SMBs for drift dives.
Ready to dive with hi-viz fins
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Summer Isles, Ullapool, Outer Hebrides, Small Isles, Oban, Mull of Kintyre, Loch Fyne, Rathlin Ireland, the Clyde, St Kilda, north and south Wales. Outside the UK, Anne has visited Norway, Cuba, Croatia, South of France, the Red Sea, Malta and Gozo and Sardinia.
A big regret is stopping logging her dives after about 50, she says.“ They would have been a great source of info on tides, slack water, water temp etc, etc, but I just didn’ t carry on.
“ My favourite, though, is the Clyde around Great Cumbrae and Wee Cumbrae. Oh, and Barra in the Outer Hebrides, for its remoteness. It is largely un-dived, with crystal clear seas.”
I ask Anne what advice she’ d offer a newly qualified diver or snorkeller looking for a club to join.“ Check them out,” she says.“ Look on Facebook and find the club’ s website, then arrange to meet some of the members. Chose an active club with enough members to be organising and supporting trips, and an inclusive policy for diving and training.”
After 40 years of diving, Anne says she’ s asking herself:“ Do I buy a new drysuit that really fits, or do I go down the snorkelling route?” Watch this space, whatever comes next, it’ s safe to say Anne is a sea sort of person. �
Become an Instructor!
Sports Divers and up( for scuba) and 16 + year olds( for snorkelling) can start instructor training.
Scan for more info
Tiptoe through the twin-sets
Or visit bsac. com / instruct 51