Diving - My continuing Adventures underwater
2025 begins
My first dives of 2025 came in early January.
Phil, one of our new intake in 2024, had progressed to Sports Diver and was keen to get some dives in and asked if anyone was interested in a visit to Wraysbury.
5 of us (Tom came with a member from Woking and Tomek and Konrad were there, too) turned up on a wet Sunday morning.
Thankfully the air temperature was a mild 11C as it had been (and would go on to be) in low single digits in days before, so it was relatively comfortable getting ready, although I did resort to the changing rooms to change into my drysuit!
It wasn't a great start to the day as I left my dive computer at home, but I had a watch and a depth gauge and knew I'd be safe enough in Wraysbury for the time we were likely to stay in.
We dropped in from the pier in the car park and found decent 3-4M vis.
I quickly found our way to the Taxi and then to one of the boats, from there I could see the nose of the 737, which was my intended target, so I was pretty happy with that, aided by the good vis.
We swam around the plane and then on for a while to the lifeboat, which we swam through, although on exiting it, I got confused and we swam back to the plane!
From there we swam around, hoping to find the 'graveyard' (a collection of wrecks), but we failed to.
Eventually, we surfaced and found ourselves some way north of the shop, so we dropped back down and swam into there, surfacing near the slip behind it and exiting from there.
There were plenty of crayfish around, but I don't think we saw a single fish on this dive.
Between dives, as we ate a bacon sandwich and drank tea, we caught up with Konrad and Tom and Konrad mentioned that they'd seen 3 pike on their way up to the 'cave complex', so I gave into Phil's suggestion of a second dive, even though everyone else just did the one.
We walked down the slip behind the shop and headed to the bus, which was in excellent vis (there were very few people there to disturb it) and after swimming around it, we headed along th edge of the lake, passing the Scimitar and reaching the pit.
You could see the bottom of the pit clearly from the top, so we dropped down into it, Phil recording 16.6M, but I don't think he put his computer right down on the ground and I think the bottom had reached 17M+ at this time.
Along the way we did, indeed, spot 3 pike, 2 very close up, so that made the second dive worthwhile - There was even a biggish Perch in the pit!
We carried on along the edge of the dropoff and finally reached the caves, which we navigated, before heading back, passing the portacabin, which I hadn't seen in some time and then finally exiting via the slip again, 30 minutes being enough for a second dive in 6C water and I was starting to get cold.
Thankfully, the notably warmer air quickly warmed us up, you could feel yourself warm as you walked out of the water, and after kitting up we headed home where I had a long warm shower!
Early february saw me back at Wraysbury (It's close to home and winter is always the best time for vis there) for a dive with 3 like minded club members.
These two dives turned out to be the coldest I've ever done with the water a consistent 4C!
I wandered down to the pier in the carp park to check the vis and could see clearly to the bottom. It's not deep here, 3-4M probably, but if the bottom is clearly visible it's a good a sign.
John and I kitted up (Caroline dived with Phil Heath) and then walked in down the slope by the car park pier with the intention of visiting the plane, the lifeboat and the 'wreck site'.
The water actually hurt to put my face into as I checked the vis beneath me, but luckily I soon got used to it once underwater.
We headed out over the small boat near the pier and to the black cab, now beginning to look very sorry for itself.
From there I could actually see the nose of the plane and we swam over to it and through. Oddly, the vis was worse in the plane than in open water, so we quickly moved onto the lifeboat (again, visible from the plane).
We swam around and then I dropped inside and swam through the lifeboat, watchinfg out for Pike inside!
From there I headed what I thought was North (having remembered to go that way from checking the map before the dive) and we came across a container which we swam through.
As I exited it, I spotted a huge Carp with a swollen belly and some other large fish, possibly Tench, swimming around.
A Tench was relaxing, untroubled, it seemed, by us on top of the container, so we lingered there for a few moments before moving into the 'wreck site' where a number of small boats are piled randomly atop each other.
As we moved into the site, I almost immediately spotted a large pike hovering next to one of the bigger wrecks.
I moved in closer to get some video footage with my new Insta360 camera, which I was trying out for the first time.
Some video footage from the first dive.
We also saw the large Tench around again and so stayed a while here before heading onward.
Eventually, we came to a boat resting on top of a ridge and off to one side was the 'Die Hard' Taxi (actually just the front half used for static shots in the taxi for the film), which meant I had an idea where we were, but I was trying to orientate myself when John, who had his compass, pointed in the direction to go, so we set off that way.
We eventually found ourselves at the top of the pit, with good enough visibility to see to the bottom, so I dropped in, keen to see if I could match Andy's 18M record from a recent visit.
Sure enough, although it was silty at the bottom, so I can't be sure I found the deepest point, I did get 18M.
From there we headed on, around the bus and then out via the slip behind the shop.
We had done 43 minutes on the first dive, the temperature had only risen to 5C a couple of times and John's suit had leaked a fair bit, so I thought it fair enough to do just one dive, especially as I was still pretty much dry, even down to the merino gloves inside my dry gloves, but after a bit of a break, John said he was happy to go back in, so we got a fill and decided to do a quick dive up to the 'Caves' and back.
I guess the first dive readied me for the shock of the cold water as it seemed less shocking this time and we soon reached the bus, which we swam around and then headed along the bank, towards the Scimitar, passing the pit and then finally reaching the caves.
We spotted Caroline and Phil returning from the caves as we heaeded towards them.
Vis was so good that they actually looked different to me and it took me a moment to recognise what we'd reached.
We did the usual circuit, but then, instead of returning the way we'd come, I'd dropped down the slope on the right side of the boxes that make up the cave and headed that way.
After a while, we found the Portacabin, which I swam into, finding it's still full of furniture.
After that we returned past the Scimitar and the now almost completely corroded remains of the Triumph Spitfire and then, after passing the bus and alongside the confined water training area, we reached the slipway at the 23 minute point, ready to call it a day.
My dry gloves stayed dry on both dives and, although my suit has a tiny leak that always leaves my right knee damp, I had only felt cold in my feet and to a degree in my hands (I was very grateful the dry gloves performed!), so the dives had actually been quite enjoyable.
I was a bit disappointed with the footage from my new camera as the display looked excellent underwater, so I guess I need to experiment with it a bit more, but overall, despite the record cold temperatures, it had been an enjoyable couple of dives.
Towards the end of February, 5 of us (Myself, Phil Heath, Andy, John and Dave Roseman) made a Friday trip down to Vobster.
Visibility there had been destroyed towards the end of 2024 due to a landslip, but reports were that the problem was over and Phil was keen to get some depth progression done prior to his first ocean dives as a Sports Diver.
The rest of us were just keen to do some diving somewhere a little deeper than Wraysbury.
The first dive saw Phil and I jump off one of the platforms in the schools area and descend to the top of the tunnel, a few metres away from the Ford Escort.
From there we swam onto and through the plane.
Vis was pretty good, on a par with recent trips to Wraysbury.
We passed through the concrete tubes and then descended down the outside of the crushing works, before swimming out to the Sea King helicopter which was just visible from the bottom.
We swam around and through the helicopter in good, unspoilt vis, before turning around and heading out past one of the small yachts and to the now completely flattened remains of the caravan, which you could still swim through not so long ago.
I thought I headed back towards the shop side of the lake at this point, but must have lost my bearings completely and when we found ourselves on a green looking vertical slope, I thought I was near the swimmers entry, but on surfacing we found ourselves on the far side of the lake, near the free diving platform!
We were both low on gas and struggled a little to maintain our safety stop, holding onto the wall to maintain the depth.
Because we were low on gas, we also had a long surface swim across the lake!
Some video from the first two dives at Vobster
Andy joined us for the second dive and we again dropped in from the schools area platform, past the edge of the pit and wheelhouse and past the Jacquin II wreck.
From there we descended down the line to the deep section where a small boat lies, the objective to get Phil some depth progression (25M being reached on the previous dive and 30M on this one).
We didn't linger at 30+M and ascended back to the Jacquin, where we all swam through the wreck and over to the wheelhouse, which we swam through.
At this point Andy indicated we should go up the tunnel (he only had a 10L tank!) and so we swam over to the edge of the crushing works and then entered the tunnel.
It was very dark initially, but as we swam up, we could see light at the end of the tunnel.
At the top Andy pointed straight up and we could see our platform above us, so completed a safety stop there and then ascended and exited to our platform via a wooden ramp here.
Andy, Dave and John left after their second dives, but Phil and I had planned to try and do a third and he said he hadn't seen the Jesters.
So, we dropped in from the platform, around the pit and the wheelhouse and descended to the caravan remains and followed the line to the small yacht.
From there I trusted my memory and we found the second wheelhouse, which we swam through and from which we could make out a number of the Jesters.
We swam over to them and around them for a bit before ascending up the wall and finding ourselves on the top of the crushing works.
Phil had said he wanted to practice his buoyancy control on a platform, so we dropped down the inside of the crushing works, out through the hole in the bottom and them passed the helicopter, which was surprisingly difficult to see in much reduced vis compared to our first dive. We quickly swam through it, before heading past the wheelhouse and ascending up to a 6M platform where we did a bit of buoyancy practice.
As I was getting a bit cold, we finished our safety stop by swimming over to the top of the tunnel and then exiting by the steps leading to the covered area near the exit between the schools area and the shop.
We had had 3 good dives in chilly, but not bitterly cold, water with generally decent vis.
I was much happier with the footage from my new Acepro camera on this trip, although I discovered I needed a wider mount to allow me to fit my light alongside it.
My dry gloves stayed dry on all through dives, which no doubt helped me not feel too cold, and it was good to get some decent depth dives in so early in the season, but 3 6C dives was plenty!
Next up was a 3 hour Ocean Diver training session, teaching new club members to dive.
Fortunately, given it was 0.5C outside, this was training in an indoor swimming pool and it went well with all our students completing their drills with few problems.
Deep in Vobster
I was back to Vobster a couple of weeks later (on a busy Saturday) with 7 other club members for a bit of recreational diving.
I did both dives with Phil Heath, who was keen to go below 30M again to gain confidence at that level as he only learnt to dive this time last year and qualified as a Sports Diver at the end of 2024.
We dropped in at the entry in front of the shop and then descended down, in very poor vis, to the 6M platform.
Initially we lost contact, but Phil arrived at the platform after a few moments and we descended into the 25M pit as he'd asked me earlier if I'd seen the car there.
Vis at the bottom of the pit was actually very good, but ascending back to the top and swimming over to the Jacquin II wreck it was down to a couple of metres again (I found out later the lake's Mussells were in full spawning season, which was causing this).
We swam past the wreck, to the line descending to the deep area and swam down to the small boat there, where we found a group of rebreather divers.
We swam around at 32M or so for a few minutes, to give Phil a bit more experience at that depth, before ascending back to the top and swam around for a while before we found the remains of the caravan.
As on the previous visit, I went the wrong way! We headed out across the lake, but this time I realised and we turned around and headed back to the near side of the lake and ascended up to complete our safety stop in the shallows above the top of the tunnel, where we we accompanied by a shoal of decent sized Perch.
For the second dive we decided to find one of the few sites within Vobster that I haven't seen, the boat on the North edge, more or less opposite the shop.
We dropped in in front of the shop again and worked our way down to the boat and then swam out, mid water for a while, until Phil indicated we should descend (I suspect he was disorientated in the poor vis, but it was good experience for him).
We did so and reached the cliff face on the far side of the lake.
I knew the boat was at approximately 12M, so we swam up to that depth and found a ledge running at around that depth.
I turned right, not really sure which direction we needed to go, and we passed some large fallen rocks, presumably unused quarried stone.
The landscape here was very different to the side we usually dive, but not massively different from that up near the upturned truck, that Andy and I had visited towards the end of 2024.
After a while, I decided we'd swum too far, so we turned back and when in the opposite direction from the point where we'd arrived.
I was getting doubtful we would find the boat when a shadow appeared ahead and quickly formed into the shape of a boat's stern.
The boat is probably around 10M long with a small wheelhouse slightly forward of the middle (and set in the centre laterally) and an empty engine bay to the rear. The hull looked to be wooden and in good condition.
We swam around the boat and peered into the small wheelhouse (really only big enough for a couple of people), before swimming down to return.
We found ourselves in 34M of water, the deepest (and darkest!) part of Vobster and somehow I got turned around here and we ended up back at the far side's cliff face!
We were both getting fairly low on air by now, so I decided we'd have to surface and swim back, which we did after a safety stop.
It was good to find the boat, but I was disappointed in my navigation on the return.
All told, though, despite the poor vis, we had a good morning's dive (we were out of the water around noon!) and decided that it was murky enough to forego a third.
Team photo after our dives - L to R : Piers, Kim, Seadhna, Ria, Me, Phil, Claire, Dave
The others agreed they'd enjoyed their dives and we all left in various cars to make our way home.
I had hoped to try my new camera out in photo mode, but the vis was so poor, I didn't bother!
