Stoney Cove 

Stoney Cove

Another weekend and another day of scuba diving.

Yesterday morning I was up and on the road out of London and 3.30am on my way to Stoney Cove. I stopped to pick up my divemaster Shaun on the way. The roads were really quiet and we made good time getting to Stoney at 5.30am. I was quite pleased as the van was loaded down with scuba diving equipment for 13 people.

We sat in the queue until 7am when we got directed into the coveted car park down by the water. Everybody slowly turned up until the whole Dive Wimbledon gang had arrived: David, Peter, Phillipa, Mandy, Howard, Ross, Wendy, Rob, Paul, Liz and Arne.

Shaun took half the group on a fun dive starting at the Wreck of the Stanegarth while I took the rest for a combination of the Advanced deep dive along with the Enriched Air specialty course. It was a little cold but not as bad as expected as we swam down the old quarrey road to 28 metres.

There must have been at least 500 people scuba diving but it didn't seem to crowded. They have added a personnel carrier to the list of attractions which we saw including the plane cockpit and nautilis submarine.

During the surface interval we indulged in the traditional bacon butties!! Not bad!!!

The second dive for us was on the wreck while Shaun's group checked out the Wessex helicopter. Considering how many people had been scuba diving on the wreck we were very lucky to have such good visibility.

The pub was pretty empty as we completed the certification process and filled in log books but everybody had had a good time. The ladies were all talking about buying neoprene drysuits from O'Three so they can dive a bit more often and I was starting to think about where our next trip could be too.

A long trip home, particularly with Arne's knowledge of the 'Rat runs' of North West London!! Just kidding Arne!!