Last minute trip to Wraysbury
07 December 2008
Photos by Joe Hesketh
A few photos from Wraysbury last Sunday where seven of London Branch stood around in the cold and then went for lunch. Two even got in the water!
Created with Admarket's flickrSLiDR.
Posted byUnknown at 11:59 AM 0 comments
Cave Diving In Cozumel
11 September 2008
Trip report by Alex Soubeyrand
Cozumel—the island of swallows in Mexico—is world famous for being the favourite diving spot to a late red-hat-wearing French scuba diver. It has it all: beautiful reefs, high speed drifts and big colourful exotic fish.
It is less known as a place for cave diving, however this tiny and friendly island makes for a nice alternative to the Yucatan mainland. It has about 18 known caves and many more are waiting to be discovered. Unfortunately most of those caves are difficult to access and sherpas as well as path-cutting through the jungle are a necessity. Fortunately a few are easily accessible and like most of the cenotes in the Yucatan, they have no current and are pretty shallow all the way through.
One man who knows the island and its cave systems inside out is German Yanez Mendoza. German was my instructor in overhead diving and he became a very good friend. He has been an active explorer and cave discoverer for many years both on the island and on the mainland. Apart from spending most of his time underwater teaching cave and technical diving, he also teaches Ecology at the University of Cozumel and participates in many scientific researches. I hadn't seen him for a year when he picked me up from my hotel a few weeks ago and I was really happy to shake his hand.
Systema de Paraiso (aka Cenote Aerolito)
Cenote Aerolito is such a wicked cave! It is just off the main road, and a few miles south from St. Miguel. The cave is about 17 km long with a max depth of 25 metres and has been intensively explored. If you are allowed to breathe more than 1/6 of a set of doubles, you will have a great time diving the many, many circuits and jumps of this ever changing system. For instance, the one which leads to the Sulphur River: at the 5th double arrows following the main line there is a short jump to the right. A few frog kicks later and the cave is transformed—at the halocline level the walls are strikingly marked as if painted in white. All the water in contact with this white layer is in permanent state of ebullition and bubbles up. It is absolutely fantastic to witness! At other parts the Halocline stays so thin that the sensation you get swimming from one layer to the other is mesmerising! Beware of the temperature drop though!
As the cave is connected to the sea, there is a slight tide in the cave. At times it is even possible to use it and drift slowly back to the entrance. Or, you could also choose to swim gently along the permanent guide line until you hit the Botanic Pit. Here the cave drops down 10 metres vertically to the next level with a very dramatic effect. The walls change in colours and aspect and the floor looks like it is made from wood shavings.
Another remarkable feature of the cave is its unique fauna: there are massive white caterpillar-like worms crawling on the rocky floor, many star fish and also scallop look-alikes with long thick eyelashes which react to artificial light by jumping around like clockwork jaws. There is so much to see in this cave…
Cenote KM1
The entrance to this cenote is reached after a five minute hike from the main road along a pig trail through the tropical forest. It is imperative to have an early start in order to not fry alive in your dry suit. The visibility in this cave I was told is not so good. To give you an idea, imagine your best UK dive, multiplied the viz quality by 10 and you are still far from it… This cave is part of the Quebrada System. There is a fair bit of navigation to it (Ts, jumps and gaps), however it stays shallow all the way. I recorded a max depth of 9 metres. It is a bit like diving the Swanage Pier, but in a cave system. You can enjoy it for hours…
Cenote Xkan-Ha
If you leave Cozumel's one and only main road at Rancho Buena Vista crossroad and know where you are going, you might notice another smaller path on the left. If you decide to engage on this bumpy track and drive north 5 to 10 minutes, you will then reach a sort of clearing in the middle of nowhere. This clearing is in fact a spiritual place used for Mayan ceremonies. There is a basic block with a series of hammocks, a big hole in the ground to heat volcanic stones and a fantastic ancient Mayan sauna known as a Temascal. The sauna is a small round structure, with low ceiling and a hole in the floor right in the middle to receive the burning hot stones. Once it is ready, participants get in, relax and clean their body and soul. After the ceremony, they can then regain strength by cooling down in the cenote. A few metres away from the Temascal, a wooden path leads to the sinkhole. This place is sensational and I really got spirited away by its atmosphere.
The cenote is not open to divers, however on this occasion we were allowed to dive in as we were to help a group of students from Cozumel University. German would collect water samples and I was given the task to monitor the temperature at different depths.
Because this cenote is deeper than most caves in the area, we quickly accumulated decompression. I spent most of it reflecting about the dive. I have always had difficulties in understanding how a vertical hole could be classified as a cave. To me it seemed to be just another open water site—maybe restricted but open. I could not figure it out. While off-gassing, it was evident that I was wrong: the hole is shaped like a funnel, with its small end at the pool and its wider one at the bottom. So a direct ascent to the surface is not always possible. There is a thick layer of tannic acid at the surface that prevents any daylight to penetrate beneath it. Even at 3 metres below the surface, I could hardly see the outside light. It is a cave environment only with no cavern area. My torch was unable to pick up any walls around me, I realised how disturbing it would be to get lost here. As a safe guard there are two lines set at different depths. Each goes around the circumference and joins the main line.
Unfortunately, all too soon it was time to leave this wonderland and its hidden treasures. I would like to thanks German for the opportunities and the great fun.
Posted byUnknown at 12:59 PM 0 comments
Labels: cave diving, cozumel, mexico, trip report
Freediving in the SETT
18 May 2008
Video by Joe Hesketh
As those of you on the London Branch mailing list probably remember, a few of us recently went to Gosport to the Submarine Escape Training Tower (SETT) to do a weekend’s introduction to freediving course run by deeperblue. From London Branch were Morgan, Hannah, Tobias and myself. For the rest of you, here’s what you missed…
The whole freediving experience was amazingly peaceful and relaxing and I hope I’ve managed to capture some of that in the following short video.
For those who can't view Vimeo, a lower quality version is available here.
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Labels: freediving, portsmouth, SETT, video
Christmas Dive 2007
01 April 2008
Photos by Joe Hesketh
Created with Admarket's flickrSLiDR.
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James Eagan Layne Video
31 March 2008
Video by Joe Hesketh
I finally managed to edit something together from the Plymouth trip and, as promised, put it up on the Web. I don’t think Howard Hall need be worried just yet, but hope everyone enjoys the results.
A lower quality version is also available on YouTube.
Posted byUnknown at 12:21 PM 0 comments
Southern Africa Holiday Highlights
08 January 2008
I'm uneasy about the practice of attracting sharks to divers by feeding them. The main argument against this is that it changes the sharks feeding habits but the process is also very undignified. However I signed up for the shark dive anyway, persuaded by the promise that there was no direct feeding, only 'chumming' (putting blood and oil in the water, not big chewy bits).
A tiger shark and I
Mozambique is becoming a playground for the South Africans. More accurately, for the white Afrikaners, many of whom are based in Johannesburg area. I was in Inhambane which is actually about 1,000 km west of Johannesburg but that doesn't stop the South Africans driving all the way there (or flying their own planes there, in the case of two different blokes I dived with).
The attraction of Mozambique for me was to try and see manta rays and whale sharks. The mantas are fairly common and are in permanent residence, while the whale sharks turn up in the summer to hoover up the plankton.
After a couple of reasonable dives on the house reef we went out to Manta Reef the next day. The South African style of diving is as a large group with everyone on the RIB staying together and led by a divemaster (who has an SMB). This is very restrictive to the free-roaming British diver, especially as every other diver encountered only had PADI OW or AOW. The advantage is that staying together does reduce the risk of divers surfacing away from the boat cover.
Surprisingly our shoal of divers didn't seem to bother the mantas, as one turned up five minutes after we got wet. It looked more like it was flying than swimming, with its huge wings flapping slowly and effortlessly. This propulsion was very effective though, as it moved quickly and with amazing grace. It made several runs, back and forth across the same cleaning station, although for my money it was having dinner, not a wash and scrub up. After awhile it moved to the edges of our visibility and we averted our attention back to the reef. As soon as we did this it was back again, apparently liking the attention.
We managed a second dive on Manta Reef two days later. This time it was even better with two of them gliding together. They were also much bigger—the largest was 5 m. Despite the size they were as graceful as the smaller one and flew together in synchronisation.
Between these amazing dives we stayed on the house reef. This reef had lots to look at but paled in comparison to watching mantas. It rapidly became frustrating that the dive centre was unwilling to go out to the "far reefs", despite being only 20 minutes away on the RIB. A concerted effort by me did see one further success, when they acrimoniously agreed to take me out to Pandane Reef.
Pandane Reef usually has strong currents present and post-dive we guessed the tide was running at 3 knots. I have only done a handful of drift dives before and none of them had a current as strong as this. If the manta dives were like a Sunday afternoon drive in the country, this was like Friday night street racing. We ducked in and out of the current, mostly along the base of a wall. Shoals and individual pelagic 'game' fish (trevally, barracuda, jacks) were whizzing about all over the place. It was alive and you knew bigger true game fish such as marlin and wahoo lived there and couldn't have been far away. A shoal of two dozen devil rays also passed overhead, silhouetted against the surface light.
To finish the dive off we dropped down through a vertical entrance to a large cavern. Inside all was still and a large green turtle was having a kip. By then our no-stop time was almost done but as I tried to leave the cavern a sudden powerful inflow of water not only stopped me in my tracks but forced me down onto the bottom. After a mild panic attack the current fortunately ended as abruptly as it had started and I whizzed out and started the ascent to the RIB.
This was the last dive of 2007 and also the best one of the year. Some more drift dives are now in order I think… Portland Bill on a spring tide anyone?
Posted byUnknown at 11:43 AM 0 comments
Labels: mozambique, photos, trip report
My Life As a Dog
29 November 2007
Trip Report by Alex Soubeyrand
Ivan Petrovch Pavlov was a Russian scientist who brought the world the science of conditioned reflexes. He experimented with dogs, studying the relationship between salivation and digestion. By applying stimuli to the animals using a bell, he was able to make the animals salivate whether they were in the presence of food or not.
From Wikipedia: "The phrase "Pavlov's dog" is often used to describe someone who merely
reacts to a situation rather than use critical thinking."
The trip to the Red Sea was fantastic: good diving, excellent weather, excellent food, good atmosphere… as far as I am concerned, it was a success.
The introduction above about the Russian scientist comes from the common practice by live aboard guides and crew to signal their customers that it is time to dive or time to eat. They do so by ringing a bell. The same kind as last order bells used in pubs. I can tell you that Pavlov was right, as after only a couple of days the bell absolutely took over my behaviour and dictated my life. For the rest of the trip it was either time for diving or time for eating.
On Monday 29 at 06:22 it was time for diving and the dive was taking place on the Rosalie Moeller. The Rosalie Moeller lays upright at a maximum depth of 53 metres where she reaches the sea bed, with her upper deck at a depth of 35 metres.
I was to buddy with Jim on this dive and it would also be the first time we have dived together since I joined the club. We dropped down the shot line and after five minutes, we were hovering on the upper deck. The visibility was alright, like on a good British dive and after exchanging OK signals, Jim signalled towards the stern. We followed on the port side, swam pass some kind of cabins and dropped down one level through a large opening to an agreed maximum depth of 38 metres.
We continued our dive with a short swim through and regained the upper deck a few yard from the stern. Before turning back towards the shot line Jim started to wrestle with an abandoned line. We swam back on the starboard side, passed the shot line, swam some more toward the bow and then agreed that time was up. And so up we went on the shot line decompressing for some time before it started to rain divers.
This was a short, no fuss dive, and still, it remains one of my favourite. I am not exactly sure why. Maybe it is because it was so early in the morning and we were the only group of divers on the wreck. It seemed that Jim and I were the only divers on the stern side. All was silent and still, but for thousands of resident glass fish.
I must also mention a few words about our last night at Sharm El Sheikh. We were dumped in a not very nice all-inclusive resort specialised in holidays for Italians and Russians. As non all-inclusive, non Russian and non Italian, we were kind of outcasts to the staff and had to fight our way for just about everything: food, taxis, rooms, drinkable water… It was a cold shower after six relaxing days.
Maybe I am exaggerating a bit and the situation was not that bad. I believe I was to some extent affected by the "The Beach Syndrome". Let me explain: at one point in the film The Beach, the hero, after having spent time cut from the world on a paradisiacal island, gets back to touristy mainland Thailand. He observes with terror how awful life in society seems: loud music, strong flashing lights, horrendous traffic, noisy-shouty-drunk young adults and pollution. Add to this cheesy buildings and this is actually a good description of Sharm town.
To cut a long story short, after dinner we wanted to get to the Camel Bar in downtown Sharm. As you would expect, we had to bargain for a cab with the guys at the reception. Thanks to an inflexible George, the price dropped from 180 Egyptian pounds to 50. This is a very important detail: for the way back to the hotel, we found someone that asked straight away for 50. We should have known better but we just agreed: I quote George: "You know what my friend? I will give you 50!" and we got into an old blue Peugeot.
The engine was turned off and after two minutes of waiting that turned into five minutes which then turned into ten we understood that our young driver was actually waiting for one of his mate to bring "benzene" (petrol) to the car as the tank was empty. Why we didn't at that point jump out of the car, I am not quite sure—maybe the few shots at the end of a beer-drinking session helped. When the mate appeared with a five litre container of the precious liquid but no funnel and the two of them improvised with a rolled up magazine our impatience turned into laughter. We also started to notice other things about that car: the seat belts clips were bolted on the side windows? The rear mirror was hanging like a swing in a park! And it was starting to smell so bad of petrol inside that even George abstained of smoking.
After a few attempts to pump the petrol to the engine, the car finally started up and off we went. We were heading in the wrong direction though, so when we mentioned it to the driver he answered in broken English a response that we did not get at first. What we understood straight away though, is that, the same way we are advised to in English buses, it is not recommended to speak to the driver. Ahmed—our driver—would speak back to you and he kept on talking without looking where he was going, at full speed. Keith, who was sitting in the front seat, kept on saying, "Don't ask him any questions!".
To say that we were scared would be lying (once again, the few shots at the end of a beer drinking session helped) but certainly there was some anxiety within our nervous laughs. We got home eventually saint et sauf after a few more stops at local petrol stations.
Thanks to Richard and Morgan for having organised the trip.
Posted byUnknown at 12:13 PM 0 comments
Labels: photos, red sea, trip report
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