June 2009 - An Early Birthday Present...

Or is that a late Christmas present?!?! Graham surprised me with a new camera before our trip to the Great Barrier Reef (read all about it in the travelog). I had hinted that it would make a good 30th Birthday present, but Graham took the opportunity to surprise me as the diving in the GBR would be a good chance to practice! My clever sister did however point out that maybe it should be the late Christmas present that never materialised on Christmas Day! So we'll see what happens on the big day in October...

Here are some pictures that I've taken around Sydney to practice with the new 'brick'! It is a compact camera, but because it's a fancy compact it's not quite so compact as some others on the market, so I've affectionately named it 'the brick'. I think the trolley I need to carry it around is made up for with the results!!!!

June 2009 - Time to try the drysuits at last

When we were in the UK at Christmas we picked up a drysuit each which we had ordered a couple of months previously (see previous blog). Well when we got back to Sydney it was 40 degrees and the water still warm so there was no way we were going to suit up in them! Wetsuits all round and in the water ASAP!

Well, the weather has now well and truly cooled off and the water temperature has also taken a little dive. So it was time to unveil the drysuits for the first time since the UK and go for a dive to try them out!!!

We decided on a very easy, shallow dive at Shelly Beach, near Manly in Sydney. It’s a nice enough dive but we get bored very quickly when we don’t see cool little critters so don’t dive there very often, preferring other locations which seem to have more interesting marine life.

We added the low pressure hose to the first stages of our regulators (the bit that attaches to the tank) – because you are sealed in the dry suit you need a way to add air to the suit as you get deeper, otherwise you get well and truly vacuum packed with the additional pressure! We also increased the lead weight we take down with us to account for the increased buoyancy that comes with a drysuit.

The drysuit keep you dry but not warm, so we also had to buy some warm undergarments. It was a strange feeling to be diving in clothes!

All sorted, in the water, 10 minutes later we have to turn around to get out as Nic has a very wet left arm! So we were very disappointed – although we decided that it must have been her sleeve (you obviously wear normal clothes under a drysuit as you’re not meant to get wet!) that had gotten caught in her wrist seal.

The other thing was that we both had very painful feet because we thought we could get away with using the same fins as we do with our wetsuits. However as your feet are effectively bigger with a drysuit (due to the neoprene sealed socks and boots over the top) they didn’t fit properly. Back to the shop...

Well, today was round 2. We’d got new, bigger, fins for Graham and Nic was going to use Graham’s ‘normal’ fins. Back in the water at the same dive site – 10 minutes later we have to turn around because Nic is soaking wet. Not just damp, but soaking wet!

She gets out of her drysuit and literally pours water out of it!!! This is not dry diving at all!!! Notice there are no after photos as there were no happy smiles...

Obviously this is not a small problem with a seal! Luckily we get chatting to a girl who works in the local dive shop and she suggested that it may be one of the ‘dump’ valves which is used to vent the air that you put into the suit on the way down, on the way up!

Sure enough a quick twist confirmed that it was completely loose – no wonder poor Nic was soaking wet! At least there’s a reason for the leak and one that’s easily sorted – so third time lucky for the next drysuit dive! We’ll keep you posted.

Graham