© Octopus Divers

What is a Try Dive Like?

Well local journalist Joanna McAllister from the Doncaster Free Press joined us for a Try Dive. Below is a copy the her report which appeared in Danum magazine Summer 2003.

"LIKE most people, I had seen exciting pictures of deep-sea divers exploring ancient shipwrecks and finding buried treasure in deep oceans. But as there are no oceans in Doncaster, scuba diving is not something I had really thought about.  That is until I heard about the Octopus Divers, who, as well as travelling around the coastlines of the UK exploring ancient wrecks, have an intimate knowledge of Askern Lake

 Feeling adventurous I contacted the group and was invited to join a training session at the pool. I was a bit apprehensive fancied the idea of gliding through the water like a fish.

The group’s equipment officer Nigel Long, 39, a railway engineer from Scawsby, has been for five years and explained the initial attraction for him. “A friend suggested I come along and never one to turn down a challenge I thought I would give it a go.  It’s been great it’s the nearest to flying that you will get.”  Nigel said the group - who are all members of the British Sub Aqua Club, had explored numerous quarries and lakes around the country.

Scary

‘I had a scary experience once in Womersley quarry, Askern.  My foot became tangled in a piece of fishing line, I managed to free myself but the initial shock was very frightening. There’s also a caravan in there, which I swam into without realising,” he said.

My instructor for the night John Green, 40, from Norton, is the Club’s Diving Officer and has doing the hobby for ten years. After I had changed into my costume and t-shirt John took me through the safety procedures & equipment.  Mask, fins, buoyancy compensator to control depth and an air cylinder that contained compressed air.  Normally divers wear a wet or dry suit, but as this was my first lesson this was not necessary.

John said, “we always dive in buddy pairs to look out for each other. Sometimes the visibility is poor and it’s easy to run into things. There’s often cars at the bottom of quarries and shopping trolleys seem to be a favourite.”

John demonstrated the breathing procedure, which was very strange as I had to wear the mouthpiece and take really deep breaths, without breathing through my nose. To begin with I found it hard to get enough breath but when I calmed down I slowly learned to get a rhythm going. 

Next it was time to put my fins on, which was not a fun experience – it was really hard to balance in water I get falling over. I started by placing my head under the water and relying on the tank for air and soon I felt confident enough to take the plunge. John showed me a few hand signals to use one being OK and the other to signal if I had problems.  After that we under.

With John by my side I felt safe and soon I was gliding through the water. The feeling was amazing with the only sound being my breathing.

We circled round the shallow end of the pool before heading down to the deep end. I felt a sudden pain in my ears as the pressure built up - very similar to the feeling experienced when flying.  John had warned me about this and recommended I hold my nose and breath hard.  My ears popped and the pressure cleared.

I felt a real sense of peacefulness, looking up through the water to the surface. Although there was not much to see at the bottom of the pool the enjoyment came with the sensation you feel gliding through the water. At the end of my one-hour lesson John told me the group organised regular trips abroad to explore more tropic seas.

He said: ‘At weekends we often visit sites in the UK and have recently been up to North Shields to explore an old war wreck off the coast. There’s plenty of fish life around but they’re more scared of us”

Reflecting on the experience I would definitely recommend scuba diving to anyone looking for a new challenge. It is very different from anything I had done before and was, for me, a very personal experience.

The club meets at Askern pool every Wednesday from 8.30pm to 9.30pm and welcome new members either experienced divers or newcomers. Anyone who wants to try a taster session, can book a one-hour lesson for £10.   For more information contact diving officer John Green on (01302) 700905."