Simon and Nick, met Paul and Zak about 9am at this inland diving site for some Ocean Diver open water training. Paul had his own dry suit but Zak hired one from the shop. From the surface the visibility looked really good and the site wasn’t too busy either which was surprising as it was a bank holiday weekend.

It was the first time Paul and Zak had visited Gildenburgh, after a site briefing and dive briefs we set our kit up ready to start the first lesson. The first thing to establish was if the students were correctly weighted, so after walking down the small set of steps, checking mask seals and fitting their fins they did a buoyancy check on the 1 metre platform.

• Dive 1
• Divers: Simon, Paul, Nick, Zak
• Max Depth: 9.2 metres
• Dive Time: 27 minutes
• Water temperature: 10 degrees C
• Viz: 4 metres
• Dive details: We conducted some dry suit skills and mask clearing skills at around 2 metres, then descended to the 6 metre platform. We then followed the rope to the pool table and onto the platform with the exercise bike on it where we saw a crayfish and some perch. We turned around and headed back, getting out at the small steps after a weight belt jettison exercise.

After a dive debrief we refitted weight belts and decided to make a start on the skills for the next lesson with the remaining air.

• Dive 2
• Divers: Simon, Paul, Nick, Zak
• Max Depth: 8 metres
• Dive Time: 16 minutes
• Water temperature: 10 degrees C
• Viz: 4 metres
• Dive details: We were already in the water but the lesson plan was to do a dry run of some of the exercises so we did a semi dry run. We descended down to the 6 metre platform and completed the training, then got out so the cylinders could be refilled.

• Dive 3
• Divers: Simon, Paul, Nick, Zak
• Max Depth: 14.6 metres
• Dive Time: 19 minutes
• Water temperature: 7 degrees C
• Viz: 1-4 metres
• Dive details: A stride entry from the training platform, a short surface swim to the blue buoy and we descended down the shot line to the 6 metre platform. We practiced controlled buoyant lift exercises followed by towing casualties on the surface. We then went to the double decker bus before returning to the 1 metre platform to practice removing a weight belt from a casualty.

For this next lesson Paul and Zak had to plan and lead the dive.

• Dive 4
• Divers: Simon, Paul, Nick, Zak
• Max Depth: 19.1 metres
• Dive Time: 13 minutes
• Water temperature: 6 degrees C
• Viz: 0-4 metres
• Dive details: Another stride entry and surface swim to the blue barrel marking the location of the bus. We descended the shot line and swam down along the side of the bus to get to the front where there was a rope leading us to the lorry. We followed the rope, got to the lorry, turned round and came back. There was a final mask clearing exercise to do at 6 metres before we got out.