The club trips have provided a great opportunity to learn about and get involved with choosing dive sites, understanding weather conditions, and planning dives – all things that I feel were lacking from my SSI Open Water qualification, despite being so important. It has also allowed me an opportunity to seek feedback and advice from much more experienced divers.
I had mostly been diving abroad until Cornwall and Pembrokeshire, and I’m surprised by how gorgeous some of our dive sites are. The shallower sites around Martin’s Haven had surprisingly good visibility, were full of sea life, and have actually been some of my all-time favourite dives – despite having had the privilege of experiencing some of Egypt and Thailand’s best reefs. We also had the opportunity to catch and eat seafood (where appropriate), which I absolutely adore as I love fish, and you don’t get much better/fresher than out of the sea and onto your plate in the same afternoon! Additionally, the UK trips are far easier to find the time and the money for than going abroad. That being said – we seem to be much more at the mercy of the weather conditions than some countries, with some dives getting cancelled/re-planned elsewhere. We also generally need far more equipment to stay warm, which makes gearing up on the surface a bit more complicated and tiring than just slipping into a 3mm wetsuit and BCD, especially when diving from the RIBs.
The community aspect is great too. Diving with the same people again and again helps you to get to know and trust one another, and makes the surface intervals as well as the time spent at the accommodation much more enjoyable. People are always helping one another out, chipping in on prepping food and clearing away dishes, and I’ve even been lent bits of gear that I might have forgotten, misplaced, or not yet bought. The upsides of the shared accommodation easily outweigh the downsides, such as queueing up to use the bathroom, and by the time we’re finished with a day’s worth of diving, bouncing around on the RIBs and loading/unloading the boats, we’re generally all too tired to even be bothered by the snoring!
All in all, the club trips have been a fantastic experience and I can’t wait for the next one.
