Zodiac diving in progress
Candidate’ s perspective
By Leon R Smith, Advanced Diver and Assistant Instructor Trainer
The decision to relocate one of the largest and most complicated events in the BSAC Diver Training Programme 2,500 miles from the UK was an ambitious challenge. As a candidateled event, we were all jointly responsible for arranging the necessary accommodation and obtaining access to suitable dive sites for preparation and the practical exam.
We also needed to procure all the equipment necessary to facilitate the kind of‘ adventurous diving’ required to meet the 12 assessment criteria for‘ First Class Diver’, including an echo-sounder, VHF radios, and a handheld GPS. However, the chance to navigate RIBs around the wrecks of Abu Nuhas and have our marine life surveys interrupted by curious dolphins at Sha’ ab El Erg was too good to pass up! Planning began more than a year in advance, once we had confirmed
Chartwork in progress
Leon swinging at Roots permission from the FCD Chief Examiner. This continued right up until a few days before, as we were able to acquire some offcuts of scaffolding pipe locally to put together a home-made decompression trapeze! Along the way, we picked up local charts and compiled a database of suitable sites in the area, which were plotted onto Navionics software loaded onto tablets.
The unusual nature of the event attracted considerable interest, with a total of ten candidates eventually making the trip to Egypt along with eight National Instructor examiners. Our base of operations for the week was the liveaboard MY Big Blue( run by Pharaoh Dive Club) operating out of Hurghada. This provided space for planning and briefings, as well as catering and gas fills. However, the diving itself was mainly undertaken using three small RIBs with up to six divers in each, so not unlike the situation would have been for club diving in the UK.
Some of the candidates were able to meet up before the exam during various UKbased preparation events. We also joined in with others in face-to-face planning sessions and meeting online for regular zoom meetings. Working documents were shared online and regularly updated with risks assessments, kit lists, and task allocations.
Some of the candidates and examiners travelled early for some sightseeing and pre-diving on location in Egypt to perfect their buoyancy and trim at Roots Red Sea camp near El Quseir. As well as dry-running some measured survey techniques around the poolside, we also met up with former BSAC Chair Clare Peddie, who offered an impromptu marine life survey masterclass.
Excellent personal diving and dive leading skills were a prerequisite, however our first few attempts at project planning and execution between ten different experienced and highly-qualified divers resulted in scenes that would not have been out of place on TV’ s The Apprentice. But after a few days we settled into an efficient unit ready to face whatever the examiners( and the circumstances) would throw at us.
Working as a team, we were able to overcome changing sea conditions, mechanical issues( including a slowpunctured RIB), a‘ man overboard’ situation, and numerous emergency scenario drills- generally involving BSAC’ s National Diving Officer Sophie Rennie cooking up a whole variety of medical mishaps and diving incidents. We certainly put the‘ adventure’ into‘ adventurous diving’- taking the best of BSAC out to warmer( but no less challenging) waters.
Valley of the Kings visit
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