Favorite Dives

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  2011-12-01 Philippines Coron Island
  

  Hottest ever dive!! We arrived on the speedboat from Sangat Island and entered Coron Island in a small picturesque bay. We were the only boat so far that morning. We kitted up and then carried our fins and masks up a rickety looking set of steps going over the rocks.As we came down the other side we could see Barracuda lake. The lake had a tiny platform and set of steps to enter the water and was surrounded by steep granite cliffs. We donned our fins and masks and entered the water which felt instantly warm on my sunburnt legs (snorkelling is definitely dangerous). We descended down to 20 m- to an area of soft tannin mud and got the obligatory shots of us upside down with no head with them buried in the mud. By this point the water had reached a scorching 38 degrees C with the geothermal hot springs beneath the lake. We headed off to the spectacular cathedral like irregularly shaped walls. A small shrimp came off the wall and went on my hand which I tried to photograph. The thermoclines through the lake meant that you could have a cool head and toasty toes if you hung vertically. On the walls were also lots of shellfish like mussels and also some small fish that looked like catfish (never found out for sure what they are). This was a chilled out and really unusual dive. My profile pic is of me after we surfaced which shows just how warm it was as it caused our camera housings to steam slightly- something that never happened previously on the trip. By the time we left the water the lake was still pretty quiet but it was definitely nice to have had it to our group of 5.

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  2015-12-11 Iceland Thingvellir National Park
  Silfra

  Coldest and clearest ever dive! After watching the sunrise from the Hakio viewpoint we headed down to the Silfra Fissure, where the dive guide in his brief explained that the 100m+ visibility is a result of the water being filtered from the glacier through the porous lava rock over the last 1000 years. We kitted up in the car park (drysuit, hoods and mittens) and crossed the road to the steps leading down into the water. The guides from the centre were brilliant at helping with my kit as I had just recovered from a back injury with them helping me kit up at the bottom of the steps to avoid any lifting. As the air temperature was -5oC they also had thermos flasks of warm water at the ready to thaw any frozen kit (which included my BCD inflator button). After a quick weight check we descended down into the clear water- best vis I have ever seen underwater! It was also the coldest dive I have ever done though not as cold as I was expecting and the three fingered mittens provided went a long way to preventing my hands from being too cold (except for my camera button finger!) We stayed relatively shallow for the first part of the dive as there are some shallow sections to cross. We then went in single file through the fissure into the section known as the cathedral with it's walls of boulders on each sides. At a couple of points you could see the entrance to some caves. The best part was looking up at the surface from the bottom and it looking as clear as air at the snorkellers on the surface. We then came to an area with fine silt which we steadily ascended up before swinging left (to avoid drifting down into the main part of the lake). As we came up we came up into a basin with fine sediment on the bottom. The only obvious life was some fluffy looking algae though trout also reside in the lake. You could instantly see the steps exit point as you entered this area as the vis was so good. Upon exit I managed to freeze my mitten to the railing on the steps several times, and by the time we had walked back to the car park the end of my ponytail had frozen solid. It is by far the most spectacular topside scenery to surface to- surrounded by snowy mountains. We did this dive as part of the Golden Circle Tour: https://www.dive.is/diving-snorkeling-tours/diving-day-tours/dive-silfra-the-golden-circle-combo/ Combining the dive with the tour was a great way of seeing a little more of Iceland with limited time and the geysirs are very cool... Overall a truly amazing experience the whole day!

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  2012-09-07 Malta St Paul's Bay
  Tuna Pen 5

  Entered the pen with the most unelegant of bellyflops over the two booms. Dropped down and from 5m below the surface could start to see the bluefin tuna- each weighing 150-200kg and bigger than me! The speed of the tuna in these numbers swimming round in circles created a vortex current in the pen pushing me out to the net edges or downwards. Went and sat at the bottom of the pen and looked up surrounded by a ball of fish- incredible site. Fish just move around you as you swim through them. Got so close that I could see the yellow spines down their backs and the blue flashes down their sides. An amazing dive- completely different to anything i've ever done before! Could see the stream or sardines going down into their pen- fishery consumes 110 tonnes of fish a day- gained a small first insight into the scale of the tuna fishery/ industry!

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  2009-03-21 Belgium Stallestraat 333, Ukkel
  Nemo33

  A dive in the worlds deepest swimming pool as part of a weekend trip to Holland and Belgium. After a short time snorkelling we kitted up and went in. The pool is 33m deep and 33 degrees Centigrade so perfect for board shorts! The pool is more than just the 33m deep section: it has tunneled sections and air pockets where you can ascend in painted caves. At the very bottom of the deep hole marked as 33m and my computer read 34.8- so it is helpful to know it overestimates! This dive was good to do as it was different- and guaranteed whatever the weather!