Vigilant Divers

I am pleased to be able to announce that my friend, PADI Master Scuba Diver Instructor, Rob Willsher and his wife, Julie, have opened Vigilant Divers, their new dive business, in Anguilla, British West Indies.

Operating from beautiful Road Bay, they have a thirty feet long Boston Whaler, 'Vigilant,' which can cater for up to four divers.

Rob, formerly with Dougy Carty at Special D Divers, is offering a range of PADI Certification and Speciality Courses, as well as guided diving in some of the most beautiful dive sites in the Caribbean. Anguilla is known as the 'Wreck Diving Capital of the Caribbean' as it has an abundance of wrecks sunk to become dive sites. They offer the diver a multitude of diving experiences, from the very easy sixty feet dive to the 'Cathley H' to the more challenging, deeper wrecks, 'MV Commerce' and the 'Sarah' at eighty feet.

Rob has been mentioned several times on this blog as he was my diving instructor. He took me from a raw, and very frightened, new diver, through my PADI Open Water, Advanced Open Water, Rescue Diver and Master Scuba Diver Certifications. He is professional, assured, experienced and unflappable. With Julie as Boat Captain, any diver will be in good hands as she has years of experience of working on and around boats.

I wish Vigilant Divers every success and will blog more on this venture in the future.

Andark diving...

Well, it has been a long time coming, but it is time for the Legg family to have a little fun. We seem to have been taken up with moving country, working, getting settled again, working, doing up the house, working, and oh, did I mention, working?

Well, today we have taken giant strides towards having some play time. We were driving home after a trip to find a coffee table (successful) when we noticed that there was a dive shop on the road we were travelling along. Not only that, it was having a special sales events, so we stopped and popped in.

Oh boy, were we glad we did! Andark Scuba Diving and Watersports Specialists have a deceptively unpretentious premises, which, when viewed from the road, looks a little like a shed with blacked out windows. Little does one realise that this reaches, Tardis-like, backwards and incorporates a well stocked shop and a huge training pool and classroom area. We met the staff, both dive trainers and highly competent shop staff, and were very impressed with what we heard and saw.

We left armed with leaflets on the Andark Scuba Adventurers Club, their Sunday diving programme, the courses available in the pool, the latest Andark diver's newsletter and with a receipt for a 7mm full length ladies wet suit, which is now on order.

All of a sudden our horizons have been opened and we are full of excitement about the prospect of diving again. There are more courses available through PADI now and I have been browsing these on the Andark website. We are going to get our equipment serviced, book refresher courses for us both as it was August 2008 when we last dived, and then off we will go to see what the chilly waters in England have in store for us. More on this in future posts.

Master Scuba Diver

How could I miss it?  I spent months working for it and picked up lots of bumps and bruises along the way and then, when I reviewed the year forgot to mention it!  

I am speaking of my Master Scuba Diver Award.  

As readers of this blog and my column in The Anguillian will remember, I started scuba diving in Anguilla in 2007 when my friend and dive trainer, Rob, asked me to try diving.  He knew I loved swimming and snorkeling and thought it was a shame I did not dive.  I thought about it. My son dives and I had always associated diving with youngsters, which was daft as several friends dive and my son was initially introduced to diving by one of them, who is several years my senior.

I will always remember my first dive.  I hated it.  I did not want to tip backwards off the boat into the water and then when I finally plucked up the courage to do so, found the water so choppy it really upset me bobbing about in it.  Then there was descending!  Well, that was another challenge.  Rob took my hand and we went down together.  Then he found himself with a Penny attachment as I would not let go.  If he had let me go I would have ascended and never dived again.  As it was, we stayed down for over half an hour and in the end I could appreciate all that I saw.  It was beautiful, teeming with life, flora waving majestically in the current.  

Unfortunately when we were on the surface again I had to do some drills.  One of these was to take my buoyancy control device (BCD - looks like a sleeveless jacket which holds the air bottle and equipment) off and put it on again.  I nearly drowned myself and had to be rescued by the ever vigilant Rob.  After that it took lots of tears, counselling from my instructor (poor man) and some stiff words to myself to make me carry on.  I hate to be beaten by anything and this was not going to get the better of me.

I carried on and waded my way through the rest of the PADI Open Water Certification course. That was my goal.  Complete the course and then walk away.  It had not beaten me.  The problem is that I really do like the marine life.  I was asked if I would like to dive off Anguillita, the tiny island just off Anguilla.  I bravely said I would and got hooked!  I loved it. Anguillita is my favourite dive site, as you never know what you are going to find there.  I have seen reef sharks, turtles and tarpon to mention just a few of the myriad species there.  So then, of course, there was no stopping me.

My instructor, who freely admits he did not think I would complete the Open Water course, found himself being pestered for further training.  I wanted to do the Underwater Naturalist course.  He taught it as part of the Advanced Diver qualification, so I took that.  

For this I had to do a night dive, deep dive, wreck dive, the naturalist dive and a navigation dive.  I had to learn lots of new skills and conquer my fear of being in the water at night.  A lot to take in and I was absolutely terrified of the darkness.  What was there just beyond the torch light?  I now this is irrational.  I was perfectly happy to go on a deep dive and sit doing my drills at 80 feet without a thought of anything apart from what else I could see while I was down there.  

One day I sat and thought about my diving.  I decided I really wanted to go all the way and become a PADI Master Scuba Diver.  This is the highest non-professional diving qualification PADI offers.  I think Rob thought I was mad when I announced this to him.  It was only a matter of a few months since I would not let his hand go and now here I was telling him I wanted to be a Master Diver!  

After assuring him I was not bonkers, we decided on a plan.  This changed once or twice but essentially I worked through the courses I needed one by one until I  had got there.

I took an Underwater Photography qualification while I was in Miami at the end of 2007 and then took a first aid course back on Anguilla to prepare me for the Rescue Diver Course, the huge hurdle I needed to get over.  

This course is really tough.  I am not just saying it.  It really is.  I still have the scars and I am sure that both Rob and Dougy, his partner, still have some too.  (Particularly poor Dougy as I dragged him into the corner of one of his boat's engines on one of the rescue scenarios.  It really hurt!  Sorry Dougy.) We did the course over four days, which I was glad about as I do not think I would have been able to do it any faster.  I was exhausted every day after the gruelling scenarios and trying not to get drowned as I 'rescued' Rob or Dougy, or both.  I was really pleased to have passed, particularly as Rob and I had had words during the course.  Stress, it really gets to you.  I needed to get it right and he would not pass me until I did, which is exactly as it should be.

I needed five speciality dive courses and had two, the Underwater Naturalist and the Underwater Photographer.  I then took the wonderful Boat Diver qualification.  This was really fun!  I got to take control of the boat and found how difficult it is to steer, particularly at speed. I thought the other passengers were very good not to panic when I sent the boat into a huge circle and could not pull it out again!  Luckily Claudelle, (aka Punky) the lovely Boat Captain was there to rescue me (and the others!) and set me right again.  It taught me a valuable lesson.  Do not underestimate the Captain's job.  

Next I took the Deep Diver and Night Diver qualifications to complete the requirements of the Master award.  Once again, I loved the deep diving.  I was already qualified to dive to 130 feet, after the Advanced Diver Certification.  Now I learnt more about the effects of pressure and the way light is perceived at depth.  It was fascinating.  

Not so, the night dives.  My husband was keen to do this course and so I tagged along too.  We had not done a shore dive and so we went along to a local beach and dived from there, along an outlet pipe in very shallow water.  I did not enjoy it the darkness, although I loved the marine life we met along the way.  There was everything from cuttlefish to octopus.  Fantastic.  

So there I was, finished.  I had worked hard, but no harder than my excellent instructor, Rob.  I was awarded the Master Scuba Diver Award in September 2008.  I was overjoyed!  I love diving and now look back on my earlier experiences with a laugh.  I can remember how I felt at the time and do understand my feelings, but have moved on.  I was determined to do it and I did it but I could not have done so without Special D Divers, Dougy, Rob and Claudelle.  Thank you Guys!  A special thanks to Rob, a wonderful instructor, a kind and patient man and a good friend.

Looking Back... Looking Forward...

It's been a funny old week.

I seem to have spent much of it wet and 60 feet, or more, deep. I was working on my deep diver and night diver certifications and these meant that I went off exploring and doing underwater drills to pass the qualifications. Normal life was put on hold for a while.

Night diving is not a passion of mine. I was glad of the almost full moon, which light up the water and kept me sane. I love to see the wonderful colours a torch can bring out in marine life but it is what you cannot see beyond the beam that I worry about.

On Thursday I finished the last dive and so qualified not just as a Deep Diver and a Night Diver but as a Master Scuba Diver too. To say I am chuffed is an understatement! I am delighted.

My long suffering instructor, Rob, is, I think, relieved to have got me through it. He freely admits, and I agree with him, that he did not think I would do it. I know that if he had let go of my hand on the first dive I would not have taken a second. I was frightened, literally out of my depth and had bitten off more than I could chew.

I hate things to beat me so I came back, finished the course and was hooked. Since those early days I have taken several more courses and readers of this blog will have suffered with me through the gruelling Rescue Diver course I completed a couple of months ago.

So now I am taking a rest from diving for a day or so and am catching up with other things.

Diving does not go away though. My husband, Joe and our friend, Sheryl, took their Advanced Diver Certification and Sheryl's other half, Michael, and I took a boat ride out to watch their torch lights moving about on the wreck of the Cathley H for their final, qualifying night dive. For me this was a novelty as I am usually the one under the water looking up, not the one out of the water, looking down! They both passed the dive and so, are now Advanced Divers. I could not be more proud of them.

At the beginning of the week I heard I had beaten off over fifty other writers to land a regular commission as a Travel Writer and Researcher, writing for an internet company which produces travel guides for cruiseship passengers. I was quite pleased with myself and look forward to the new work with enthusiasm.

I met the Anguilla Community Band the week before last and was charmed by their commitment to representing the island at functions large and small. My article on the band was published on July 18th in The Anguillian (www.anguillian.com) and I hope that there are readers out there who can assist them. They exist without regular sponsorship and it is goodwill and sheer determination that keeps them going. At present they need instruments, so if anyone has any old brass, woodwind or indeed, any instrument that they do not need, then please contact me and I will put you in touch with the band director, Allan Coppin.

The Anguilla Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ACOCI) is not letting me go easily. Despite my having undertaken my last interview for ACOCI Connection, I have been asked to retain my editorial role with the publication. This is good news as this has been a labour of love for a long time now. Wherever I end up in the world the miracle of modern technology will mean I can still stay in touch.

I received a message out of the blue this morning from a new Indian magazine whose editor has seen one of my yachting articles and wants me to write more such pieces for his publication. I have replied and asked for details but this seems like a good start to a new week.

So, what will this new week hold? I have several articles 'on the go' and must finish these this week, so I think I will be largely office based. Next week we are being packed up for the Big Move, so I have to think about what I will need over the next few weeks and make sure these items do not get accidently put into packing cases. It would be just my luck to have packed my card reader, dictaphone or the mains leads for the laptop!

More of this in future blogs.

The PADI Boat Diving Course...

On Monday 30 June I took another diving course. This was the PADI Boat Diver Speciality Course. It was great!

Recently my diving has been quite stressful. I had not been able to dive for quite a while due to bad weather, ill health or just plain being too busy and when I started diving again it was in preparation for taking the Rescue Diver Course. This meant quite a lot of stress. With the Rescue Diver qualification under my belt, I can relax a bit and that is what I have done.

I have been diving from a boat since I began diving. I thought I knew all there was to know about boats, and diving from them. Little did I know just how much I did not know!

The course consists of a course book to read, with knowledge reviews to complete, a dvd to watch and then two practical dive sessions from a boat. As courses go it was a nice and leisurely way to learn about things I had, frankly, taken for granted. I had not thought about such things as bilge pumps and marine radios, taking it for granted that in the event of the boat sinking divine intervention would kick in and the boat would stay afloat and someone, anyone, would happen by and rescue all aboard. Now I know that bilge pumps have little flaps on them which automatically start the pump when the amount of water in the bilge reaches a certain level. Now I understand why we will not sink! I also know now that help can be summoned on channel 16 on the marine radio. It might not miraculously appear.

I was given a life jacket and told to put it on. Luckily for me I have worn all kinds of such jackets in my time and this one, the rectangular shaped variety which goes over your head with straps around your waist to a clip in the front, was one I had encountered before.

I tried my hand at driving the boat. Have you ever tried this? For those readers who have, you will understand my saying how hard it is to keep to a straight line. For those who have not, let me assure you that when you see a boat captain effortlessly steering, it is not as easy as it looks! I was not too bad at slow speed but when I tried to go faster I got my lefts and rights mixed up, sorry, my ports and starboards mixed up, and ended up going in a circle rather swiftly! It gave all on board, including myself, a good laugh.

And there you have the crux of this course. It made me laugh. Even when I tried to tie some of the knots I should know and my instructor, endlessly patient bless him, showed me over and again until, eventually, I got it, it was still fun. No cross words in the heat of stress, just lots of interesting things to try out and some great diving as the weather was kind to us. I can honestly say I laughed more on this course than I ever have on any course, even the wonderful underwater photography qualification I took last year.

If there are any divers out there in readerland who may be looking at the Boat Diver Speciality Course and thinking that it is not worth the effort, think again. Even though I have done all my diving from a boat, I still learnt a lot of things that I would not have done without the course. Now I understand what the crew are thinking and why they do things the way they do. It will give me a greater insight into boat operation when I dive in the future and has already enhanced my enjoyment of diving itself.

The Last Few Weeks

Well it has been a while since I last wrote on this blog! I had not realised it was so long. How time flies.

What have I been up to? You may well ask! Well, I will tell you. I hope you are sitting comfortably as this may take a while.

I went to Miami with Joe and, while he was busy with his course and conference, I was busy with my articles (see previous blog). You will be pleased to know that I got them all completed in time. It just goes to show that if you want to do something badly enough, you will no matter what there is in the way! Of course it helps if you have a wifi enabled laptop!

I took two days out to take my Underwater Digital Photography Course. I took it with South Beach Divers and had great fun. The course was not very intensive, which I was surprised about to tell the truth. I thought that there would be more theory than there was. I had to read the usual manual and then take photos.

My instructor, the irrepressible Anthony Djuren is a Master Scuba Diver Trainer and Professional Concert Photographer. His life seems to be a constant round of travelling, photoshoots and diving - fantastic! He has lived just about everywhere and dived on all the major sites of the world. He is currently planning a 'Road' movie with some of his old army buddies across the US. His life now is a far cry from his original calling as an advertising executive. He woke up one morning and explained to his wife that he was going to drop out and take up professional scuba diving. She was surprised!

Anthony took me to Key Largo. For me this was a real adventure as I have never been out of Miami when we have visited Florida.

The dive operation there is very commercial and I felt a little as if I was being processed in a factory. The boats are huge and there are a lot of people on each one. I had some things to adjust to. I had never left a boat using the 'Giant Stride' method of water entry. I usually roll backwards off the side of the boat. I was a bit concerned that I might end up landing face first in the water and knocking my nose into the back of my head! Anthony just laughed! 'Keep your head up and look ahead as you walk off the edge' he advised and, being a good student, I followed his advice and thus still have a nose in the right place.

Diving on Fire Coral Alley, so called because it is literally ablaze with the stinging coral you give much respect to, I met 600lb Cooper, the Grouper. As you can see from the photo above, he was a gentle giant and seemed quite used to divers. Just as well, as there were way too many of us. This is commercial diving on a scale I have not been used to before. I suppose I have been sheltered, diving here on little Anguilla. The dive sites here are lovely and unspoilt. The biggest group of divers a site gets is about 8 at once, not 80++ as in Key Largo. That the sites are being spoilt was evident at our second site, Hole in the Wall, which was nice enough but wherever you went you bumped into other divers. Too many people, some sea life. Shame.

On this trip I made the acquaintance of Frankie, the Bronx policeman. Frankie, if you are reading this, Hello! He and I chatted on the long drive to and from Miami and I learnt all about his life as a cop. I would love to do an in-depth interview with this gentleman as he was interesting to talk to. I hope that all goes well for him, as he is contemplating his future with the police force.

Back in Miami Anthony took me to the Princess Brittany wreck off Miami, which is at 87 feet. Here there were lots of really big Barracuda. Anthony got me to enter the wreck as there are a couple of places where divers can swim through. I am not good in enclosed spaces and for me this was a bit of an ordeal. I was taking pictures all the while and hoping that they would come out ok. Visibility was not wonderful so the resulting photos were not as good as I had hoped.

My final, qualifying dive was to The Pipes. These were sewer pipes which were surplus to requirements and so were dumped to be colonated by sea life. Again, way too many divers but we had some fun swimming about, and through, them. Anthony even found a resting shark for me which was excellent to see.

So, now I am a PADI Underwater Photographer. Great!

To all the staff at South Beach Divers, many thanks for your help and support and to Anthony, thanks for the fun too! I have never taken a qualification and had such fun doing it! Thanks for passing me too!!!! http://www.southbeachdivers.com/

Joe and I were going to dive together at the weekend but the weather changed and that was the end of that. Shame. Joe was really looking forward to some fun after his course and conference, which after all, were the reasons we were in Miami.

He flew home to Anguilla and I flew on to London to see my parents.

My father's health has been a bit of a worry for a while and I wanted to see for myself how he was. Not good is the short answer. I spent a week at home and I am glad I went. My mother was struggling too and I hope I managed to give them both a bit of help and support while I was home.

Back on Anguilla again and it was time to get the December edition of ACOCI Connection ready for publication. There is just so much going on in the Chamber of Commerce that it has taken a bit of effort to keep up with it all! The Chamber and Cable and Wireless hosted the first Business After Hours event which went very well and attendance was good. This was a chance for local businesses to meet over a glass of wine, swap business cards and learn a little about each other's products and services. Cable and Wireless made various presentations and the whole event was broadcast live on local radio. I covered the event for the magazine and took some photos for The Anguillian of the bizarrely named band, The Energetic Superfly String Band, who were very good and got everyone's feet tapping.

The Chamber held its Christmas Fayre on 8th December and I spent 10 hours on duty with my camera and dictaphone. Father Christmas opened the event and, in an exclusive interview, told me that the reindeer were suffering from the heat and so were not present and were resting in the cool shelter of a local stable. Many local children breathed a sigh of relief to hear that the reindeer were ok and they were universally happy to see Santa!

The Pepper Stepper Skipping Troup put on a display of agility with a skipping rope the like of which this writer has never witnessed before. As you can see from the photos, they were magic indeed.

A fashion show completed the days events, which had also included many local businesses showcasing their wares on a very blustery and intermittently wet day.

ACOCI Connection was put to bed at the end of last week after our layout lady, Valerie, did a sterling job in making it look good. Valerie has such expertise and it is a real pleasure to work with her. If you are reading this Valerie, I wish to say a public thank you for making the production look so professional. The Board of Directors of the Chamber are very happy with the production, which makes all the work worth while.

In the meantime, The Insider is nearly at the printers. This is HM Prison Anguilla's first publication and the team involved, all prison staff except for yours truly, have worked very hard to bring it together. Some last minute hitches have been encountered, which have delayed publication, but in January it will hit the streets and we can sit back and listen to the feedback. This will be useful for the next edition, due out in the summer.

I was stunned to find that I had passed my last Open University course (see previous angst-ridden entry on the OU!) and so picked up my degree at long last. My family have been congratulatory and Joe bought me the most gorgeous pair of earrings to celebrate. I will be travelling back to England to pick up the award in April. I am an eternal student and am already looking at other courses.

Ok I think that is as much as most readers will be able to stand to read in one sitting!

I will try not to leave it so long between postings next time.

The photos show Cooper, the Grouper, Anthony peering through a port hole on the wreck of the Princess Brittany, The Pepper Steppers in action and Father Christmas opening the Chamber of Commerce Christmas Fayre.

New Divers!

On Saturday Joe and Sheryl passed their PADI Open Water Certifications!

They completed their underwater tasks and then were absolutely bowled over by diving on the wreck of the Cathley H, which was sunk in 1995 as an artificial reef. They were wide eyed with amazement to see lobsters tucked away in crevices and fish shoaling in the wheel house!

They both freely admit that the course was difficult; the hardest thing they have ever done.

The photo shows the two new divers with their temporary Certificates.

I am sure that readers will join me in congratulating them both.

Intrepid New Divers!

Well they did it! My friend Sheryl and my husband Joe took their first giant bubbles towards diver certification at the weekend and loved most of it!

They sailed through their paperwork and did very well in their examination at the end. Both passed with flying colours and wore big grins when they reached the dive boat.

Their frowns of concentration were valley-deep while listening to the dive brief on the boat prior to their first dive, just off Anguillita, a lovely place to make the acquaintance of the deep.

They went down, did their drills, came up again and managed their surface exercises to the satisfaction of their instructor, the ever patient Rob. They both had a few hairy moments. Sheryl had problems with her breathing and Joe decided it was ok to take a quick breath from his regulator while performing an out of air emergency ascent! Needless to say the ever vigilant Rob noticed and he had to do it again!

Next it was dive two and here I was able to take some photos of the intrepid pair, one of which illustrates this article. By this time, they were enjoying it!

At the end of the weekend they were two very tired but happy people, half way to their PADI certification. I am so pleased for them and I look forward to next Saturday when they complete the course and we can all celebrate their success.

PADI Open Water Diver Certification

Joe, my husband, and Sheryl, my game-for-most things friend, are each studying to take their PADI Open Water Diving Certification.

This has involved long sessions over a book, many frowns from Sheryl as she has attempted to get to grips with unfamiliar concepts such as physics and the watching of a DVD produced to bring to life what the book teaches.

It has also involved some physical preparations on both their parts. Joe has had to change his medication and get his physician’s approval to dive. Sheryl has had to get over a fear of getting her face wet and they have both had to learn to snorkel. Between them they have worked very hard to overcome potential problems to get them to a point where learning to dive is a viable proposition.

Now Sheryl, who bravely took a resort dive on her recent birthday, snorkels with confidence, her face in the water and her eyes open, not screwed up as if waiting for the worst to happen. There are lots of turtles in the waters around Anguilla at the moment and she never tires of seeing them. Joe has learnt what to do, or rather, what not to do with his arms whilst snorkelling and is much more confident.

They have to wait until the weekend after next for their course and they are using the intervening time to practice for their swimming and floating test. This is giving them the worst headache as they each seem to think that this is the hardest part of the course. It is true that for Joe this could well be the case as he usually sinks when he tries to float but, lately, he has been concentrating on this and now floats quite well. They have to float for ten minutes so they are timing themselves to make sure that they can keep up for the required period.

In the meantime, we have been going out and snorkelling in Shoal Bay, just along from our home. Yesterday we saw a baby Lobster, a small Turtle, a Nassau Grouper, lots of large Blue Tang and a tiny Flounder all within a few feet of the shore. It was a good session indeed!

Keep reading this blog for updates on how Joe and Sheryl are getting along.