Yo-Han Cha helps two friends return to diving after a layoff – will parenthood dim their love of the underwater world?
YO-HANCHA
Getting parents back in the water
Yo-Han Cha helps two friends return to diving after a layoff – will parenthood dim their love of the underwater world?
It’ s been nearly seven years since I moved down south. It wasn’ t easy to leave my friends in Manchester behind... but thanks to going on dive trips together, we haven’ t lost touch. Two such friends are Katie and Sean Heneghan from Burnley Sub Aqua Club( Katie was the friend I have to thank for introducing me to my fiancée Claire). They hadn’ t been diving for a while due to recently becoming parents to a very cute and lively Ezra; diving, understandably, took a back seat. However, they were both keen to back into diving, so at the start of the year we made plans for a weekend in Plymouth in September. We were hoping that this would give them both sufficient time to get some practice in Capernwray before jumping into the sea. As all of the Heneghan family would be coming down to Plymouth, we deliberately tried to keep the plan as simple as possible. I would dive with Katie on Saturday and with Sean on Sunday, with parenting duties being fulfilled by the one not diving. My job was to organise the Plymouth side of the trip, which all went smoothly. In Deep Dive
“ Katie and Sean were figuring out if they could still fit into their drysuits”
Centre managed to find room for me and a buddy for the weekend and it was all good on that front.
Meanwhile Katie and Sean were figuring out if they could still fit into their drysuits( they could!) and realising that all their kit now needed servicing! They both managed to shake the rust off in Capernwray, so both of them were dived-up for the weekend. Their biggest challenge was how to fit all their dive kit and all the baby travel luggage into their car. Apparently, it was tight, but they just about managed. It must’ ve been close though, as Sean was contemplating trading his twinset in to go sidemount like Katie, so that they would only have to take one set of cylinders.
Mother Nature must have known that this was a special weekend for Katie and Sean, as we had nothing but blue skies and visibility underwater was excellent. On the Saturday it was so good, we managed to get to Eddystone where I foolishly promised Katie I’ d find her an octopus. After 45 minutes I found her a small one, but it was still an octopus! We then headed back to the Elk, pausing to admire some dolphins along the way. The Elk was covered with life and Katie got very excited about seeing the numerous conger eels hiding in its nooks and crannies.
The next day, I swapped Katie for Sean and had to squeeze his twinset into where Katie’ s sidemount had been. The wind was slightly stronger on the Sunday, so we didn’ t venture out quite as far; our plan was to dive Rosehill and the Scylla. Sean had last dived the Scylla five years ago, so was very happy to hear that he was going to get to dive it again.
He was evidently less bothered about conger eels, as he couldn’ t see the one I was showing him with my torch light on the Rosehill and was confused as to why I was pointing out a goby for him! The viz on the Scylla was the best I’ d seen in ages; Sean stuck his head( just his head) into every hole, taking in how much had changed since the last time he had dived it.
All in all, it was a successful weekend of diving. It was great to go diving with Katie and Sean again, albeit on separate days to accommodate parenthood. Now, Sean is back in love with his twinset again, so they’ ll still have to manage a 3D jigsaw for their next diving trip. �
Katie Heneghan Sean Heneghan
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