I have had knee problems now for some years, in fact my first operation was over 20 years ago and then I under went a couple of major operations in 1994, since then I had always known that the next step would be knee replacements but my surgeon wanted to get as many years out of the current situation as we could.
However in 2006 I had to go back for yet another arthroscopy but he still wouldn’t consider anything more radical. It was another 18 months before I took the decision to go back and have another go at him so in May 2008 I made an appointment to see if he could now look at further surgery. The appointment was set and he agreed that it was time, however he would make the decision on what sort of replacement I would have after he had seen the results of the MRI scan, a week later and before the results of the scan I asked if we could set a date and one was set for the following week, so 3 weeks after seeing him I was booked in. The results had shown that there was sufficient good knee on the outside to make unicompartmental replacements the best option baring in mind I would probably require more surgery in about 15 years, however I decided I wanted both knees done together but the final decision would be up to the anaesthetist.
Tuesday 27th May arrived and I booked into the hospital just after 9am, my surgeon started his theatre list just after 1pm but I didn’t know where I was on the list, time pasted slowly and I had been dressed in my gown since 2pm, I was watching an episode of Taggert and at 4.30pm the porter came to take me down, I never found out who the murderer was :) I was taken to the pre-theatre room where I was checked and given my name tag just to make sure they had the right person, then wheeled through to where the anaesthetic would be administered, as well as a general and on the advice of Mr Harper I would be having an epidural, which I thought was going to be quite painful but it wasn’t. At 5.25pm I lay back down on the trolley and that was the last I remember until I looked at the clock at 7.50pm in ITU. I had absolutely no pain, which wasn’t a surprise since I had been given the epidural, during the night I had a couple of units of blood and some antibiotics, it was a long night 
I was eventually taken back to my room at about 11.30am, my left leg was completely numb but I had already been able to do leg raises with the right. I was left in bed all day Wednesday and the epidural eventually came out first thing on Thursday morning. Clare my Physiotherapist arrived mid morning with a zimmer frame at least I would be able to get to the bathroom, with the aid of another nurse they had me on my feet but before I could take a few steps I was light headed and feeling a little queasy, so I was sat back down which was a little disappointing, but Clare would be back in the afternoon. Early afternoon Clare was back and we had a better go, now I had some independence – fantastic.
Clare was back again on Friday morning and asked if we should try crutches, I wanted to get going so off she went and the zimmer went with her, progress needs to be made and the zimmer was too much of a safety net. Having used crutches before I think I had a bit of advantage, so they weren’t a problem for me and surprisingly the knees felt pretty strong although bending them is the obvious problem. Try getting out of a chair without using your legs, even worse try getting off the toilet. I probably have an advantage over older people who undertake replacements as I have quite good upper body and arm strength, even so I don’t think there was another person on the unit who had both knees done at the same time and all the nursing staff kept saying how brave I was, I didn’t feel brave at all, I just wanted to get it all out of the way in one go. This way I get back to diving and exercise a lot sooner. I have a good couple of days doing laps of the corridors of Stafford Suite and by Saturday they decided it was time for me to go home, I had ticked all Clare’s boxes for walking and stairs, had a shower and no problems rising from chairs. So I am now at home and getting out for a walk when the weather is good, I was out for about 20 mins earlier which was good, although the worst time of the day is during the night as you just can’t get comfortable lying in bed.
June 5th, 2008
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Fiona |
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Yesterday I travelled down to the London dive show, not because I wanted dive kit but because I wanted to listen to Jarrod Jablonski give a talk on his recent world record cave dive with fellow WKPP member Casey Mckinley. Jarrod - CEO of GUE had attended the DIRx weekend last October but I had been unable to attend because I was away on holiday. So when I heard he was attending the dive show I decided to trek down and make a day of it, obviously it was great to meet up with friends and talk about diving, which right now is all I seem to want to do. Jarrod talked about their 26 hour dive which is about as far removed from my own diving as you can get, right now the prospect of spending 26 minutes in the water is daunting.
It is almost 12 months since I took my GUE fundamentals course and I have written about those experiences before, it is also almost 12 months since I was made redundant from a company where I had been for 12 years and ended almost 28 years of continuous employment, I decided I would relax during the summer and get in as much diving in as possible which didn’t really happen, the week day diving was now in the deeper depths and although I have been diving for 13 years I was now happier in the shallows learning and developing my new GUE skills, so the last 12 months have meant hours of diving inland sites with only a couple of ventures in to the sea.
In October I went on what was billed as the holiday of a lifetime, 16 of us headed for the Galapagos, we had spent two years saving and looking forward to it, in the end the holiday just didn’t press the right buttons for me and I really can’t explain why. I fell back to the old style of diving, ignoring everything about the importance of the team and minimum gas management I had learnt on my course, although I was able to dive the “right” gas that was about it, the dives were about spending as much time in “solo mode” and minimum gas on a couple of dives really did mean minimum gas.
When I came back I was able to do my fundies upgrade dive, I was very happy with the dive probably because I didn’t know it was happening, Clare Gledhill my instructor is very good at working out what is best for the student and not knowing something is going to happen is certainly the best way for me and I have since learned it is a trick she uses on other students. Since then I really haven’t been in the water that much which is probably due to financial constraints and also because I am not used to diving over the winter and really need to sort some different thermal protection out, as I haven’t found anything which works. This is where the frustrations have begun poor thermal protection means I am adding more gas than I should to the suit which then makes gas migration more difficult to manage, therefore the cycle of felling uncomfortable in the water begins.
I have become so frustrated with diving I just don’t want to do the one thing I need to do and that is to practice, a few weeks ago I was supposed to be diving at another get together, the alarm went off at 3am and for the first time I looked at the clock and decided not to dive, I tossed and turned for the next couple of hours and because I had arranged to meet someone I had to go anyway, I arrived and spent the day in the freezing cold talking and then we headed back to Gareth’s house for an evening of talking about more diving. We headed back to Vobster on the Sunday morning and I handed over the torch I was selling, and after a couple of hours of standing around I headed off back home, so 400 miles, 8 hours in the car and I had achieved nothing.
So what next? I took a decision last week, which will either be the right one or financially very silly, I have sold both my Faber twin sets, because I am sure these are adding to my problems if it turns out these were not the problem then I have just wasted quite a lot of money. I wasn’t sure when I was going to dive next, not having any cylinders makes life a little more difficult. I have been lucky enough to have received some kind offers of borrowing a set and going diving, once I have decided what is going to work then I will work out what I am going to do, if that means spending more money on yet another twin set then so be it, if it doesn’t come together I don’t know what I will do, because the thought of giving up something I have enjoyed for a number of years doesn’t bare thinking about, more importantly the friends I have made I don’t want to contemplate loosing. Just writing this upsets me to even think about it. I spoke to Richard Walker yesterday as he has been spending some time working overseas, but he is coming back to the UK soon and I don’t have the time to organise anything in the next couple of weeks, but this would have been just what I needed, to get away and spend sometime practicing my skills, so I can either do some training dives with an instructor in the UK or maybe what I need to do is find an overseas one – right now 5 days of practice would be great, until then Alastair and Clare have said I can join them next weekend for a dive – apparently no one is judging me, I just need to believe it.
March 9th, 2008
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Fiona |
Diving |
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It was almost exactly 12 months ago when I sat in on a GUE fundamentals class and then got in the water with Clare. The dive was awful, frankly I was embarrassed at my lack of “ease” in the water, Clare was effortless and I was a shambles.
Over the following months, I got to dive with some experienced divers who seemed to be more than willing to take a Muppet like me diving. I did my GUE-F course with Clare in April and continued with my “diver education” over the next few months. Some skills were a struggle and I still hadn’t cracked the valve drill with any degree of slickness.
Around July/August I decided to bite the bullet and buy a new dry suit, which Clare arranged for me, I went for the fitting and she ticked all the options boxes. When the suit arrived I felt much better about myself, surprising what a new bit of kit will do. So I had a couple of dives in it before my holiday, some time ago I had offered to be Clare’s surface support on a forthcoming GUE-F course at Capernwray Quarry in Lancashire, we had made a tentative arrangement to do my upgrade dive at the end of the course, subject to time.
I didn’t have much time to practice in the new suit, so last week I picked up a diving day with Mark Emery at Stoney, he hadn’t been in the water for a while and when I volunteered to buddy him he accepted. The dives went quite well, the first not so good but for me they got better. So I was quite happy that I would be able to give it my best shot if the opportunity for a dive arose.
I headed up to Capernwray on Friday, arriving just as the guys were all finishing lunch, so they were soon off for their first dive of the day having spent the morning doing the kit set up. After their dives we headed back to Capernwray House where they were staying for another lecture and video de-brief, then headed off to the accommodation which had originally been booked for another candidate who couldn’t attend and I got his room, we also had a nice dinner there, although it was probably a bit late in the day for me to be eating and I didn’t do justice to my shoulder of lamb.
I met up with the guys again on Saturday morning at Cap. House and they were doing valve drills and S-drills in the car park, as my kit was set up, Rob used mine as their sets were at Capernwray being filled. After their first dive, I was ready to go and had a short dive with Garf, we descended and ran through valve drills and S-drills and a rather nice ascent – if I may say so myself. After their second dive if was back again to the B&B for another lecture and de-brief, then out again and as the food had been good the night before we headed back to the Kings Arms at Burton in Kendal for more food.
I woke up on Sunday morning feeling rather delicate, was I nervous about my potential dive – I don’t know, but I really wasn’t feeling 100%. Rob and Marty worked through their exam and then went in for their dive; this dive is for practicing something you need to have another go at. Clare’s suit had been leaking throughout the weekend and she looked really cold when she finished the dive, so a combination of this and me not feeling very well, I asked if we could leave my dive for maybe next week at Guildy. Clare agreed and we would see how we both felt after their dive.
Clare had asked me to play “3rd man” as there were only 2 of them on the course; I hoped I wouldn’t let them down, as it was their course. Clare said it would be fine. We got kitted up and entered the water from the beach area, Marty was number 1 and ran through the GUEedge and Rob was number 2, they had put me at number 3, which was where Clare had thought they would put me, this was because I would probably end up being snaffled during the dive to make sure they were watching the lights. We descended and ran through valve drills, I was quite pleased with mine which made a nice start, we then ran S-drills round the team and then started the “dive”, I was immediately stopped round the platform and within a few fin strokes Rob signalled Marty and they both turned to see me hiding being the platform legs, OK probably not hiding that well. A few failures later, I won’t go into too much detail, as it wasn’t my course or dive; I’ll leave the guys to post a report.
At the end of the dive, Rob and Marty were gas sharing so that leaves me to put the smb up, which goes quite nicely, just as I have finished putting it up but before I have chance to clip off a double ender, I see Garf coming at me OOG, so I donate to him and we ascend – sorry Garf it could have been a bit slower, I had developed cramp at the bottom and was trying to cope with it even before the bag went up, so I wasn’t having the best of times – lesson learnt eat more than a chocolate brownie even if you aren’t feeling well.
On the surface I am gathering myself when Clare comes over and tells me I have just upgrading my Rec pass, I don’t quite understand at the time as I didn’t even know it was happening. I don’t have time to feel pleased with myself as I am immediately told to “get back down and help the boys get theirs”.
Back on the surface I am told my smb was text book, I guess watching Clare’s video at least a hundred times must have helped then. Please don’t knock me for feeling more than a little pleased with myself - it has been tough 2 years 
October 29th, 2007
Posted by
Fiona |
Diving |
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We started to plan the trip almost 2 years ago, we put a group together and then we had some problems, which meant a few people decided to drop out. So the search was on for people to fill the places. We thought everything was going to plan until 12 months ago when we had problems with the US agent who imposed a mandatory gratuity on to the invoice as they had had “problems” with European guests who where not used to tipping as much as the US guests. In the end we had no choice but to accept the additional imposed costs, we always knew that we might not get the service other guests would receive as the staff wouldn’t really have to try very hard. Then back in July just after we had paid the balance and after reading on Scubaboard there were problems with the National Parks Service and they had suspended all diving from boats, which apparently didn’t have the correct permits. This issue took weeks to resolve and some trips were cancelled, I looked into other locations so as not to miss out on a holiday.
Eventually and only a couple of weeks before we were due to fly the trip was back on, although we had no idea what the itinerary would be and wouldn’t know until we got there. At last it was time to fly and most of the group met up in Amsterdam and boarded the long flight to Quito in Ecuador. I think we had more take off’s and landings than I have ever done before.
We eventually landed in Quito and the transfers were done quite quickly and we were met by the local agent and pilled on to a bus which didn’t seem to have enough luggage space, we got to the hotel and checked in, well I say checked in because we didn’t actually check in as we were just handed our keys, no passport requested, no signatures. We met in the coffee shop for a few coffees to wake ourselves up with and then decided to head off to the cable car to the top of the mountain at 4200m, probably a bit silly having stepped off an aeroplane about 2 hours earlier.
The view from the top of Teleferico was fantastic, even though a little difficult to catch your breath, some of the group went on a little higher but I decided a nice large rock was far enough for me and I decided to wait for them to come down. We had lunch, a burger and fries and a beer, the beer was probably a mistake because when we went out of the restaurant, I felt quite dizzy and had to lean against the railings, it soon passed as we were all on our way down, again the view was spectacular.
The weekend turned out to be election weekend and Quito was “dry” so when we went out to dinner we all had soft drinks – bet that hasn’t been done on a dive trip before. On the Sunday we decided to take in a city tour, a trip to the Mitad del Mundo – Middle of the World (Equatoral line) and lunch.
The Middle of the World was the accurate one, not the tourist one which is in fact not quite on the equatoral line as the French got it wrong. For some reason, I quess we were out of the way, we could have a beer with lunch but again at dinner back in Quito, we had to make do with soft drinks.
We were then off to the airport even though our transfer arrived almost an hour late, which we were not happy with and I think the agent realised this and didn’t speak all the way to the airport, she didn’t even introduce herself. Passports were collected and our bags were scanned and even though it had been suggested we check in as individuals all our bags were whisked off and went as one group, no excess was charged which was a result.
Finally we arrive in the Galapagos and I am somewhat overwhelmed by being there and get a little emotional, silly me. We meet up with the guys from Deep Blue and Gary is taken to one side and advised of our itinerary, we get 3 days at Wolf and 2 at Darwin, I am happy – it could have been a lot worse. We are taken to identify our bags and they are loaded on to a truck, we have to wait for one of the buses to come back from the dock so we sit and wait for a short time. We are soon off to the dock and get off the bus to find sealions on the landing stage, they have no intention of moving so we stand around and are loaded in to the pangas (zodiacs) in two halfs, I find having to put on a lifejacked for a 5 minute trip out to the boat quite amusing.
We arrive on DeepBlue and as usual have to remove our shoes which I am surprised about I thought this was just Redsea boats. We sort our bags and are given a welcome talk but there is no mention of dive qualifications – which seems odd to me, given the conditions we will be diving in, even nitrox certs aren’t requested. We have a weight check dive and I load 6 weights on my kit, 4 on the belt and 2 on the STA in pockets, I thought this would be about right and I asked for another weight, although I soon ditch this on the other dives as I ensure that I suck all the air out of the wing for the negative entries. The water is cold and I surprised at how cold it is, so the check dive doesn’t last very long especially since Jenny finds a fin and is carrying it around so I decide we have had enough an ascend to the boat, Jenny uses the ladder on the back of DeepBlue but it looks very vertical so I opt to dekit in the water and exit via one of the pangas, which have ladders on – very civilized.
That evening we have a boat drill which is a first, although being told you should put your shoes on if the deck is burning when they are all in a box by the door is a little strange. The aircon in the salon is a little chilly on one side and for most of the week I prefer to sit outside on the upper deck despite the air temperature and windy conditions at times, fleecey hats and socks are the order of the day, even scarves were used at times.
The diving around Wolf and Darwin was quite a bit warmer and there were lots of big life, we had 31 whaleshark sightings during the 2 days at Darwin and lots of hammerhead, eagleray and shark action. The currents were strong and a lot of the dives were spent hanging on to the barnacle covered rocks, a good pair of gloves were essential. Water temperatures ranged from 16 degrees on the first dives to between 22 – 26 at Wolf and Darwin, but much colder in the south. I had recently read a trip report about the dive guides spending time in the evening talking about the Galapagos wildlife but we didn’t seem to have any of this and our lead guide spent his evenings in his PC room editing the trip DVD, I even found him to be quite rude at times but I guess like I said before you really don’t need to try very hard when the company have over £3000 in tips already, we wondered how much of the money the crew would see.
The food on the boat was OK if you weren’t a vegetarian although it lacked imagination especially since the head guy dressed like a proper chef. I would have been annoyed if I was a vege person as the food was very limiting. But worse was to come, after only a couple of days the boat ran out of diet coke, then some very suspect varieties appeared. Towards the end of the trip we did actually run out of softdrinks, which frankly is unforgivable when you consider how many times you stock for a trip. It appeared that nothing was going to be done to rectify the situation so I had a word with the one guide we did get on with and that was Luis, I put it to him that it was unacceptable and that as we were in a location with other boats they should go and seek out further supplies, to be fair they did but only 2 cases – not a lot between 16 people especially since most seemed to be going into the kitchen.
The last day we ended up in San Christobel and not Santa Cruz to the Darwin Research Station, I thought this was to do with the itinerary until the wife’s and girlfriends arrived on the boat, incidentally they didn’t seem to have to remove high heeled shoes. One of the wife’s turned out to the be wife of the owner and when she was advised we had run out of soft drink she was surprised as she had put 150 bottles onboard – wow less than one each per day. I thought these people knew what they were doing. All the crew associated with the dive deck were excellent and helpful, Erick was everywhere, so can’t fault them. Luis one of the guides was a really nice and helpful guide. I enjoyed my trip, apart from the niggles with the boat, I am glad I went but would I go back – no.
October 22nd, 2007
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Fiona |
Holidays |
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The Galapagos trip is now over and I had a night back in quito, 6 of us went to find some spicy food as this had been sadly lacking on the boat. We found an Indian restaurant which was OK and as usual cheap about $10 including a beer. Some then head of for another beer but Jenny and I head back to the hotel and have a coffee in the coffee shop. Jenny is off on a trip to Cocapaxi the next morning so has an early start, I stay out of the way until she has gone then go for a lesuirly breakfast where I am joined by Lou and Caroline who also decide to have a free day. We go back to the old town and have a quick look round then off to a park and walk round the handicraft stalls. Back to town and we have a nice lunch at the Magic Bean. Lou and Caroline come and wave me off, it’s sad to leave them but we are off on different adventures. The Taca flight from Quito to Lima is on time and quite good, I am met at the airport promptly but have to wait 40 minutes for the driver I am not happy by this time, I am taken to my hotel in Lima – the less said about the Hotel Carmel the better. I request a 05.30am wake up call then get an apology at 04.45am for getting it wrong.
Back to the airport in Lima and arrive to find out the plane will be departing early, exit taxes paid I make my way to the departure gate. On the plane AreoGal could take note of Lan’s inflight catering, which was very simple. I arrived at the airport in Cusco but had to wait for the agent as the flight landed early – not a problem as I am soon at the hotel and meeting up with my friend Lou. The hotel is like a lot of the hotels in Cusco hiding behind a door on a street like all the rest, once behind the door this is where the surprise happens, I walked into a lovely courtyard with the rooms on two floors, I am immediately given a cup of coca tea and checked in. My room is though another walkway in another courtyard and there is a small Peruvian music group playing and children dancing, we later find out this is a charity the hotel is involved in for single mothers. The children look to be having a good time, then room is nice although quite dark because of the “cell like” windows, but it has a big comfy bed and a decent bathroom. Soon we have to leave for our city tour which turns out to be more of a walking tour than I had imagined and the altitude takes it’s toll. At this point I should mention the hotel has a first aid station with oxygen cylinder, I didn’t need it but when we were checking out it was being used. The city tour was a long day and Lou visited the last location in the dark – I didn’t get off the bus as I didn’t think it was safe.
Back at the hotel we find Gary and Kathy have been also checked in and while Lou and I are chilling in my room there is a knock on the door, we have a quick chat and then head off for some dinner, we end up in a small pizza place and order a bottle of wine which we think they had to go and get from somewhere, the pasta meal is lovely and is about a fiver each. The one thing about Cusco is your money goes a long way.
Next day we are off on a Sacred Valley tour, which begins in Pisaq market, very touristy but we find the local part and have an empanarda (cheese pasty) and then find the cake stall, I have a piece of pineapple cake and Lou has banana. 
Then we are off to visit the Inca location of Ollantaytambo but it looks quite a climb to the top so I opt to stay around the base and wait for the others. Lunch is a very touristy affair and for some reason the group is booked into 2 restaurants, we are given about 45mins for lunch so we make our way back to the vague meeting point at the appointed time only to wait a further 35 minutes for the rest of the group. Organisation could have been better. Our next stop is Chinchero for a local market, which is small and set around a courtyard, I buy myself a silly Peruvian hat and a small bag which I can use for our overnight stay at Machu Picchu. Lou buys a bag and had already been talked in to one earlier in the day.
We meet up again with Gary and Kathy who have to wait for the local agent to arrive at 7pm with their kit bags for their Inca Trail trek, so we all head out for dinner after that, we were looking for a restaurant call Baco which had been advertised in the Lan brochure on the flight but couldn’t find it, it turns out we were only yards away. We go back to a restaurant call Incanto although seated next to the kitchen so being picky not the best table the food was good and again cost about 25 Sol or about $8 with wine. Gary and Kathy are off on their trip in the morning and we have to leave the hotel at 05.30 ish so we say our goodbyes and we wish them luck with their trek.
Lou and I are picked up from the hotel and taken to the station we have seats on the Vistadome train which is OK. We arrive at the station at Aguas Calientes and are met by Jonny our tour guide for our trip around the citadel, Jonny is Quechua and is passionate about his culture, he spent 7 years being a porter on the Inca trail, his favouite phase was “now pay attention” when he wanted to give up another piece of information.
We spent about 3 hours touring the citadel and I could have stayed longer but Lou wanted a loo break and some lunch so we head back down the mountain to the hotel, Lou plans to return the next day and walk to the Sun Gate but I decide the one day is enough as it is a steep entrance and the steps have taken their toll on my knees. Back at the hotel we find the spa and Lou has a massage and I have a foot threapy which the thearapist finds amusing as I have very sensitive feet. Dinner is at either 7pm or 8.30pm and we have opted for the 7pm sitting, I head down to the lobby where they are serving complimentary Pisco sours while Lou has her shower, I also have Lou’s as she doesn’t like them – Lou has a champagne cocktail. Dinner is lovely and served in a very nice restaurant, I have as starter of soup which is made with a local grain, but can’t think of it now and the main dish is an Alpaca steak and jacket potato, followed by 3 flavours of icecream, we have a bottle of wine which we finish with coffee next to a roaring fire in the lobby.
Lou has an early start so head off to bed, I have a lovely relaxing breakfast which is the best of the whole trip, I spend the morning around the hotel, chatting to other guests and reading a book. Lunch is another nice meal and then it’s time to head back to the train station for our return trip to Cusco. Next day is a free one in Cusco and I am shattered so spend another relaxing day, we are then determined to find the restaurant in the Lan brochure so this time we check the street map and know where we are going. We have a drink at another bar/ restaurant I can’t remember the name to now and then head off for Baco. The combination of rich food, a large Pisco sour and half a bottle of wine take their toll. It’s all over and we are back to the airport for our return flights to Lima and my long flght to Amsterdam, there is a mix up at the airport and I have to wait almost 2 hours for my bag to be returned to me as they took it to Lou’s hotel, it was supposed to be left with the agent in Lima so I didn’t have to pay excess baggage.
After travelling about 27 hours I am finally back home. A great trip to the Galapagos and then Peru but I am glad to be back home – it was a busy 3 weeks.
October 20th, 2007
Posted by
Fiona |
Holidays |
one comment
The holiday is finally here, we are off tomorrow and because of the National Parks issues in August I never thought we would get here. I started packing last weekend and I must have packed my bag at least 6 times since then, good job I have nothing better to do.
I had always thought a 20kg limit plus a 20kg sports package would be ample until I started packing – what the heck I have packed, the initial packed bag sees the dive kit coming in at 29kg – it was never like this in the buddy commando days. My first overseas trip was 10 years ago and everything had to be packed in to 20kg so why have things changed so much.
I have had back plate in the dive bag, in the clothes bag and even in my hand luggage, which now weighs an absolute tonne so it’s back in the clothes bag. So we have checked in online – well almost as there was a problem and I can’t now check in for the main flight, I am sure it will be fine at the airport.
September 27th, 2007
Posted by
Fiona |
Holidays |
one comment
Last week my new DUI TLS350 dry suit arrived and I was keen to try it in the water along with my new Scubapro regs just to make sure everything was OK. I arranged to dive with James from DIRx and then I got a phone call to say that I could dive with Rachel while the candidates on Clare and John’s fundamentals course were doing land drills.
Clare had a quick look at the suit once it was on and said it looked fine, so I got kitted and headed for the water with Rachel, we headed off to the platforms and did a valve drill. I think Rachel then asked which way to the other platform but I misunderstood and we headed off back to the entry point, just before the exit we went through another valve drill, sorry Rachel I should learn to keep still.
Back on the surface Clare asked if I would do a bit of surface support for them and then when they had finished their dive I could jump in and she would have time to do a short dive with me, sounded like a good trade to me so headed off to the far end kitted and armed with camera and log sheets. As soon as the guys surfaced I kitted up and even had enough room in the suit to crouch down and put my fins on, something, which would not have been possible in the old suit. For some reason on the surface I had a bit of trouble leaving the surface, I always feel like a small puppy when I dive with Clare.
We descended to the platform and I was asked to do a valve drill and that successfully completed I did the S drill and a bit of buoyancy practice, I am still moving a bit put apparently not as bad as I thought I was, I have a habit of reaching out for my “safety blanket” which needs work to correct. Clare then asked if I wanted to put up a delayed smb which I have found to be my best skill, I made doubly sure I checked above me before deploying, although thinking back I don’t know why I unfurled the smb before attaching it to the spool, just another one of those nervous moments I guess. Anyway I was feeling quite pleased with myself when Clare threw me an out of gas drill, I don’t think my brain works correctly because when I got to donate with the right hand I am not bringing up the secondary reg with the left but waiting for the right to be free – odd I know but I have always been very right handed. We do an ascent while sharing, which should have been slower, but we get there with an attempt at back kick on the way – that’s me not Clare.
Back on the surface we have a chat and Clare tells me I just need a little more confidence in myself and we plan a date for my fundamentals re-evaluation dive, the date is a course scheduled for the end of October at Capernwray. I will struggle to get some more “proper” diving in before then but have a whole 10 days of holiday single tank dives to practice the back kick.
I don’t know if I will pass – but I am going to give it a damn good go, the important thing is diving is starting to be fun again.:)
September 12th, 2007
Posted by
Fiona |
Diving |
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I have recently returned for a lovely week in Cornwall. My friends Lou and Caroline moved down at the beginning of the year and were renting a house before finding somewhere permanent to live. In July they moved in to their new home in a lovely little village not too far from Truro. I haven’t been working since the end of April so I was invited to stay for a few days.
I travelled down and the next day Caroline was off work and we had a “ladies who lunch” day, after taking cylinders in to the dive shop for fills as we were diving that evening. Dive kit sorted and Lou arrived home and we set off for Falmouth Marina, I don’t think Gary of DiveAction could have had a mooring further away and it was a hike just to get the kit on the boat made even worse by having to return the marina trolley’s to their home by the marina building, why is it always low water when loading boats :(.
We had a nice run out and chatted to people I had heard of on the forums but never met before, we kitted up and jumped in and down to the reef, it was a drift dive and unfortunately during the dive my smb must have caught on something and I had to let go – I was not a happy bunny. Thank heavens when we got back to the marina some trolleys had been left and we were able to get the kit off in one go and best of all the pontoon was now higher and flat :). We had a pint of Doombar in the yacht club bar, there was a party going on and a lovely local choir was singing traditional songs.
Saturday morning and we headed off for a shore dive at a spot I was assured was a lovely bay. After walking out about 100m and still only being knee deep Lou called the “dive” Caroline had already given up and was almost back at the slipway. Lou and I couldn’t see our feet in the sandy water and I fell over only to emerge looking like a sea monster covered in green seaweed.
We packed up and went off to Padstow for pasties and ice cream 
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Lou and Caroline bought a lovely painting from a small gallery and we headed home, we finished off the day with a lovely meal at Chantek in Truro.
I had been to Cornwall last year during a dive trip to Porthkerris and had thought I would take a trip to the Eden Project 
but didn’t get round to it, so I had planned to go this time while Lou and Caroline were at work, but lucky for me they decided we should go on Sunday and we had a cracking day, the weather forecast wasn’t good for the afternoon, but it was glorious all day. Cornwall seems to be one long round of cider and pasties which were great, Caroline had a go on the zip wire and Lou and I watched, claiming dodgy knees. The afternoon was finished off in the little village of Charlestown obviously with yet another pint of Doombar 
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Monday and Caroline and I had another “ladies who lunch” day as Caroline had some errands in Truro and we took the tanks back in for fills. Walking round in the sun we just had to have an ice cream – well you have to don’t you. Tuesday wasn’t a good day and it started raining in the morning so I planned to go to the National Seal Sanctuary at Qweek, not a particularly great place to visit but I suspect that might have been because there were no little seals and just the older ones who live there all the time. I had promised myself a trip to Roskillys so headed of for lunch of pasty followed by ice cream; you see there is a pattern here, I just had to buy some take home packs – it would have been rude not to.
Lou’s Mum and Dad, Brother and his girlfriend came round on Wednesday evening and we had a lovely BBQ with Rosikilly’s ice cream to finish, it was almost time for me to leave I had diving plans that weekend but I had a great time and hopefully didn’t outstay my welcome. It was great to see Lou and Caroline again it had been too long but hopefully our next meeting will not be too long off.
August 18th, 2007
Posted by
Fiona |
Holidays |
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Almost two years ago I was part of a very excited group who met up at the dive show in Birmingham to meet up with a specialist diving tour operator to try and organise a holiday of a lifetime to the Galapagos. We met the operator and informed them what we wanted and as they could provide the trip we wanted we signed up and were given a couple of weeks to get a full charter and pay the initial deposit, this was back in October 2005 all we had to do was sit back and get organised.
As we were going such a long way I decided I would extend my trip and visit Machu Picchu in Peru, I did my research and found a travel agent who could organise the trip for me, MP is a popular destination so I had to commit to certain aspects of the trip quite early on. I had decided to stay overnight at MP and so chose a lovely hotel close to the site, I can’t tell you how many times I have looked at their website as I looked forward to the trip.
In the summer of 2006 we were informed there would be some changes to our booking and we had to pay what should be a discretionary staff gratuity up front before our trip, some of the group weren’t happy with this and were given the option to cancel, they did and I bet they are glad they did. The rest of us agreed reluctantly as another couple of hundred pounds wasn’t going to make too much difference. We then had to find a few more people to fill the boat, we managed eventually which wasn’t too difficult as the BBC were running some programmes about Galapagos and the region.
So yet again we sat back and waited, constantly checking the same websites and dive forums for trip reports to whet our appetite, July 2007 came round and we paid the balance for the dive portion of the trip, then on July 12 came a bombshell, I read on one the US dive forums that most of the boats had been confined to port as they weren’t operating with the correct permits. We contacted our dive operator for more information and where informed that they had been notified of the problems but these would soon be sorted out, our quest for information has been constant. We are told something will happen and then it doesn’t so we wait again, then I read that the President of Ecuador has lifted the “illegal” sale of shark fins IF caught accidentally – yeh right so it seems he has declared open season on the sharks we are hoping to see. I certainly don’t want to see dead sharks lying dead on the seabed and I don’t think any diver does.
We heard that the boats could operate the southern islands only but then we hear that the boat we are due to be on has floated the current regulations and headed for the islands of Wolf and Darwin anyway, now they have been spotted and reported, jeopardising any future trips. We gave our dive operator a deadline for information on a go no go but they have once more come back and asked for an extension, we have no choice but to comply. I was due to pay the balance of my trip extension today (15th) but because they were not able to extend my payment date for a few days I have decided not to pay the balance and therefore have cancelled that part of the trip I was particularly looking forward to, not least that I was going to meet my friend who lives in Oz after the dive trip and continue our trip together.
I can’t explain how upset I am about the whole situation, the trip of a lifetime has turned into complete and utter frustration, the most frustrating aspect is the lack of accurate information we are getting and I seem to have more contact with a complete stranger on the other side of the Atlantic who is also in the same “boat”.
August 15th, 2007
Posted by
Fiona |
Diving, Holidays |
one comment
Although I eventually managed to successfully do the valve drill on my course, I seem to have struggled ever since and these have been a source of frustration. On a recent weekend away I had the chance to dive with Alastair and we got talking after the dive. He mentioned that he also had a few problems with them and sorted them by just practicing while at home 
So over the last couple of days my kit has been set up in the lounge and every so often, yesterday was every hour on the hour I went through the drill for about 10mins. I have no problems but that doesn’t mean I won’t have problems again when I am back in the water, although I need to sort my trim a little while trying to stay still. I don’t think my suit is helping, mainly because I do fill it and maybe it is a little more difficult with a rear entry suit. This week I am going to be measured for a new suit which hopefully will solve the problem together with some muscle memory exercises.
July 16th, 2007
Posted by
Fiona |
Diving |
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