Vobbie Santa dive

[Alsky72]

Hello,

Went to Vobbie today with the gang, I didn't hang around the scuba santas too much cos I have a claustophobia problem underwater which I thought could be aggravated by 160 thrashing santas

I know Alex got some good shots of the santas

Here's a couple that I got playing with snelly

Santa hat



Inflatable santa



Winter in snell's


Just below the surface

[Cussy]

Very nice shots. Looking at mine, I wish I'd followed you!
Rob

[ScubaDiva]

They look fab Alex. I can see how that many santa's would make you skittish!

[Alex_Mustard]

Very nice shots. Looking at mine, I wish I'd followed you!
Rob

Looking at mine, I wish you'd followed him too Rob - that damn slaving strobe of yours! Only joking, of course. I like the backlit look - I can pretend I did it on purpose (see below)!

Really like those Alex - much more productive than my Santas in fog collection!

Alex

[Cussy]

Looking at mine, I wish you'd followed him too Rob - that damn slaving strobe of yours! Only joking, of course. I like the backlit look - I can pretend I did it on purpose (see below)!

Sorry about that. Yesterday was a catalogue of disasters. Split my neck seal, so hired a suit. Had adaquate undersuit for a neoprene, but they only had membrane; so weight was totally wrong and I froze. The suit then leaked, so I gave up once the uncontrolled shivering got too much. Had left off the sensor cap on the strobe, hence the slave firing! And to top it all off the one strobe was accidentally on full, so shots aren't good up until the point I realised.

Oh well, it was fun! I'm going to print a check list on the back of the housing to remind me what to do!!
Rob

PS what really annoyed me was when I had the single cable, could I get the slave to fire?? Yesterday, any little flash in the water and it went off! ARRRGGGGHHHHH!

[ScubaDiva]

As long as you remember to look at the back of the housing before getting in the water.

[Alsky72]

That pic with the backlight looks quite cool though!

[Cussy]

The weekend really started on Friday. I had to take the morning off in order to sort my underwatre camera out and then at lunch time attend my works Christmas dinner. This was going to be an all day event, so I had to pace myself very carefully as my alarm went off at 7am Saturday morning in order to drive to Swindon for a day with the kids.

So I woke up on Sunday at 6am in Swindon and headed off to Vobster. I think my SatNav didn't like the cold as for quite a while it was playing up, but thankfully I got to a very cold Vobster at about 8:30. Once signed in a very nice lady told me to park my car right next to the Marquee and the waterside.

Although there were plenty of names on the list on Yorkshire Divers that I (virtually) know, Gareth Lock was the only one I have properly met, so I found GLOC and had a chat and a tea to warm me up. I wasn't sure if Alex Mustard was going to make it, but spotted his girlfriend and found him and Alex T (Alsky) and asked if I could dive with them.

So we started to kit up. As Alex is the consumate professional he wanted to get in the water first, so we wanted to be ready to go as early as possible. All around us loads of Santas started to kit up - plus the odd looking "normal" divers who must have wondered what they'd gatecrashed. I was having a lot of trouble getting my bioseal straight (a rubber thing I wear round the neck as I'm illergic to latex) and had to take the drysuit off. In doing so I ripped the neck seal - s#!t !! Panic - can't dive. So I went to the shop and had to hire a drysuit. Being quite lanky there weren't many on offer and so it would have to be membrane. I was wearing plenty of layers so thought I'd be ok.

Back at the car I got fully kitted up and ready and the briefing got delayed a couple of times due to late comers. Not being affraid of the last minute Alsky was having a bit of bother with his camera and it wouldn't fire his strobes. In all the confusion we had the quote of the day. As he was putting his camera back in a bloke points into his housing and said "watch out mate, your tampon has slipped!" Not every day 2 blokes can say that to one another!

We were given the brief and the obligatory photo call and so the Alexes and I entered the water knowing full well it would be quite a while before everyone was in. All kit was working and so the opportunity for a few self-portraits to prove I took part. A few shots from Alex and it became apparent I'd not put the slave sensor back on the one strobe I'd been using to take pretensious topside self-portraits on a couple of weeks back, so it kept firing and ruining his shots. I was also finding my weight was well off and that you need a lot more thermal protection under a membrane - twas chilly.



The masses enetered the water some time later, so we descended and hoped they would all swim by for shots. The highlight then was a large Trout that swam by Alsky and I, only for me to find out the damn fisheye wouldn't zoom - so no huge portraits possible.



The masses swam by, including the "chimps", and plenty of opportunity for some shots. Not many people wanted to pose and those that did looked rather unnerved by how close you have to get with a fisheye. The highlight was the Snowman (or woman) who was carefully guided round hand in hand by 2 helpers - utter nutter, but top respect!



The shots weren't working as the visibility was getting low as all the divers kicked it up - probably not helped by my poor weighting! I'd also knocked one strobe onto full power! After about 30 minutes Tim made the signal to say the 10 minute mass dive was up (30-odd minutes into our dive!) which I was relieved at as my thighs burnt from the cold and I was starting to shiver uncontrollably. I stayed for another 10 minutes to watch the Santas swim back to the egress point. A few posed for me!



On the surface it was like Santa soup, so waited a while to get out. I tried a few over/unders but by this point my hands didn't work and TBH I'd had enough. Got out and all of a sudden realised I was soaking. At the car I de-kitted and could hear my feet squelch. It was obvious I was very wet, but only waist down. Maybe I was so cold I lost bladder function, but a quick sniff test ruled that one out and I couldn't recall any warmth during the dive! I think a seam must have been dodgy on the hired suit.

All changed it was time for the raffle where I won diddly squat! I did, however, put a lot of faces to names.

Was a great day and really enjoyed it.
Rob

[Alex_Mustard]

They look great Rob.

Alex

[ScubaDiva]

a rubber thing I wear round the neck as I'm illergic to latex

S you claim, so you claim . . . he really only wears it cos he likes the feel of rubber against his skin!