As I begin planning my dives for the year, I’ve been putting together my own dive workup plan. Although I’m qualified to dive down to 50m (which was an experience in itself back in 2020…) I wouldn’t dream of jumping straight into the water and hit those depths. I wouldn’t even think to go twinset diving until I’ve logged a few dives with a single cylinder. This post is an overview of what I plan to do over 2023 to build my diving back up.
Kit Refamiliarisation and Skills Shakeout
First up is going to be a few retraining dives. I could utilise the pool with the club first, however primarily these will be out at Stoney Cove or Capernwray. Using an inland quarry for these dives provides a relatively protected training area, with plenty of support on site in case things go wry!
I mentioned in my last post I have a drysuit for UK diving. However, the associated drills such as recovering from an inversion, can get rusty if not practiced. I’m not going to go too deep my first few dives, around 15m, and I’ll practice some of these drills. I’ll also practice other skills such as mask removal/replacement and diver rescue drills, as these are life-saving practices!
Depth Progressions
Once I’m confident back in the water, I’ll start progressing my depth again. Over several dives I’ll work my way down to 40m, again using inland sites to my aid.
Stoney conveniently has a 22m ledge, with several wrecks scattered along it, and a max depth of 35m. Although quite dark and silty at its deepest, it’ll be good training for some navigation dives. Low visibility is something I’ll inevitably encounter out in the UK coastal waters! Vobster Quay in the Southwest is another inland site that goes down to 35m. This is a good option for when I’m back in Bristol visiting family.
For hitting 40m, however, I’ll need to push out to sea. My first few sea dives will be from the shore, while I get used to UK tidal waters. Only then will I venture out on boats to some interesting, deeper dive sites. As with the inland sites, I’ll start my sea diving off shallow and build up to the deep, dark 40m sites!
Planned Decompression
Once I’ve re-depth progressed back down to 30/35m, I’ll start incorporating some planned decompression dives. These will require more meticulous pre-dive planning, as well as additional gas considerations. I dive with an Aqualung dive computer, which isn’t designed to plan for decompression. To that end, I’ll use BSAC’s tables to plan some decompression diving, ensuring I manage my nitrogen uptake safely to reduce the risk of decompression illness.
Decompression dives are some of the criteria for my Advanced Diver qualification, so it’ll be good to have a double purpose to some of my dives!
Wreck Penetrations
Continuing on with the adventurous diving, I’ll get back into some wreck penetration. I loved exploring the Zenobia in Cyprus; seeing first-hand the history of these underwater wrecks is a surreal experience, and a personal highlight of diving!
The UK is home to hundreds of wrecks, many of which are visited by divers from all over the world! With such a rich naval history, we are so well placed for some incredible wreck diving. It’s almost a crime that I haven’t dived any of them yet!
Twinset and Advanced Decompression
Depending on how much time’s left in the year, I may get back into some twinset and advanced decompression diving. As I add to my kit setup, I’m looking to get an additional 7L cylinder to take with me for additional air on some of my deeper, exploratory dives. As long as I get the cylinder properly cleaned and serviced, I could fill it with gas with a higher oxygen content, which can be used for accelerated decompression. One to consider for sure!
A long post there! But that summarises my dive workup plan for 2023, to get back into the adventurous diving I love. It’s better to be safe and progressively build up to deeper, darker diving, if anything to build back up my confidence! Either way, this journey towards my Advanced Diver grade should make for some interesting blog posts…