Belemnite Diver

At the end of 2025 I was feeling a bit like the year had been pretty ok for diving, I'd done Orkney (bits of Scapa and some outlying islands). I'd done the Thistlegorm in Egypt which was well worth getting up and leaving my other half at 04:30am. I'd done my MOD2 in Malta, which while far from perfect, had really given me an even deeper appreciation of CCR diving and I'd had a few nice dives on the South coast, even though I'd spent most of the summer (and pretty much winter) suffering from work created stress. One thing I hadn’t done was teach diving.

I'd become a BSAC (British sub-aqua club) instructor in 2017 and had taught from then until about 2023. The end of that time was heavily marked by my former BSAC club getting a bit political and unpleasant (to me, they were fine with most everyone else) and an event affecting a young friend and trainee of mine which affected me deeper than I'm entirely happy letting on.

I'm not always entirely positive about BSAC. They really wound me up over Covid and seem to be chasing PADI sometimes in a race to the bottom. When good however, their training is still solid and I always aspire to be the very best instructor I can and teach my students everything they need to know to keep them informed, happy and especially alive underwater! Some instructors are less conscientious but that’s true of any agency.

So '24 and '25 had been entirely without instructing and I was starting to miss the BSAC club structure and the ability to help people with this hobby I love. Diving (both open circuit and CCR) has given me some good friends, taken me around the world and allowed me to see things very few people will ever see and its something I really missed sharing. I finally admitted this as something of a 2026 resolution and set out to find a willing victim and a club. The victim was actually obvious, a young (11yr) old family friend, good swimmer, snorkeller and general lover of all things aquatic. I decided it was time (she was agreeable) to put her through the BSAC 'Discovery Diver' course then top that up to Ocean Diver in September when she turned 12. Club was slightly less obvious, my dive buddy who had suffered along with me in the previous BSAC club had already moved to a new club(branch in BSAC speak) and was gently suggesting I could help him out with teaching (never been gentle in his life, he pretty much press-ganged me). I agree and the understanding I could use their pool to get my little mate trained up.

So here we are, Feb '26, little mate has had 2 theory and 2 pool lessons and importantly still comes out smiling. I'm gently building up on skills like clearing the regulator and removing the mask, these prove tricky for adult learners, never mind about a tiny little person, but she's learning fast and looking forward to eventually (when warmer and less rainy) getting in real open water.

From my side, I'm feeling pretty good about making it happen. Seeing the joy in the eyes of a student and hoping I can inspire a lifetime of this hobby is heady stuff. Its reminding me that I really do want to share what I know, my (decades at this point) of skills and get people to love this hobby as much as I do. It also means I'd better keep writing and posting.

I love CCR diving, but right now the entire loop hose and DSV is in pieces on my desk (inside, the garage workshop is too cold). I’m replacing the o-rings and the mushroom valves. Putting new o-rings where new o-rings need to be. Probably replacing the mouth piece. I’m also replacing one of the hose pieces as it has a slight knick/dent on it and I'm not risking it.

The head unit is also open, I’ve delayed sending the computer in to be serviced and have a fix applied for too long, so that has to happen as well. New o2 cells have been ordered. I don’t strictly need them but I almost missed out on a Scapa Flow trip because I ran out of spares and I’m not chancing it again. I need to order sofnolime. I have a new inflator hose to fit. Two of my 3l tanks need a hydrotest and o2 clean. I then need to go get Helium with my buddy and blend some trimix to go in one of them. Do I replace the other o-rings - might as well I suppose it's been a couple years. This is probably more maintenance and cost than my old twin set cost me in 3 years (test aside). That said, come the warmer months I’m hoping to be sitting happily at 40-60m seeing interesting sunken history and the occasional fish if it gets in the way!

A dive? In November? On the South Coast, the day after a storm? Sure, in the long list of questionable decisions I’ve made over the years, this might be quite a long way up there. Even more so doing it in a single day with 6ish hours of driving.

I’d missed out on this wreck in the summer and when a seat came up on a FB group, I thought ‘what the hell’, I had squeaky trimix sat on some tanks, I have fresh bailouts with deep and deco mixes and I’m sure I can put together the rebreather in time. Then Storm Claudia blew in and I blithely assumed the skipper would cancel and made plans to meet a friend for coffee. Skip to saturday afternoon, skipper has confirmed its going ahead. SF2 is assembled, gases have been tested and everything is go (and friend re-scheduled).

Sunday morning at 6am, down the M5 to Portland, arrived early to brisk wind and cool temperatures and started questioning my life choices. This would continue as we loaded the boat and headed out. Like most UK divers I’ve been in shitty seas, I’ve also done boat courses (sail and power) so generally like to believe I’m ok at sea, especially for a guy from the Midlands. The journey out was unpleasant, rocky but bearable, bit hairy getting kitted up as the boat bounced around, but managed with assistance of the skipper. Everyone who's done this, knows the sweet relief in these circumstances when you go from bouncing around wearing 50+kg of kit to then having waves breaking over your head to then drop quickly down to 5m or so, everything goes quiet and still, you stop thinking about throwing up and start checking all your kit is good. Guy I’d jumped with gave me an ok, checked him too and down we went to a very dark 50m to the U-322.

Bottom of the shot to see a massive lobster and various bits of gearing etc. It was very dark so the 2-4m viz was only ever in the beam of a torch. Nonetheless, moved down the wreck to the stern, very quick look at the prop before deciding I wanted to see the bow and the torpedo tube. Back along the boat taking in the various bits of gearing, and a weird circle that I was later informed was a passive radio receiver for detecting boats so thats pretty cool. Saw the torpedo tube then back along the top as my deco rapidly climbed up, saw the conning tower and the break where she was depth charged and straight back onto the massive prop. Stopped for some dark photos and marvelled that this massive prop is still attached to the wreck then drifted back up, away from the wreck. Turning my torch off to deploy the DSMB left me in the fun position of being able to hold one of those things but not both so I deployed the DSMB basically in the dark by feel. Quickly up to 30m then a bit slower up to 18 for the first stop. 1 min at 18, up to 15m for a few then 12m, 9m for a bit then up to 6m for around 25mins of deco. I’m not the hugest fan of deco hangs so that was long enough staring either at numbers on my computer or into the cloudy green. Drove my PP o2 up to 1.4-1.5 for the last bits of the deco and kept it there for a few more minutes before getting up to the surface. The hang at 6 was fairly ok, but I’d heard from some on the boat who had stopped at 3m (why!) that it was very bouncy there. On the boat, quickly de-kitted and either stayed out the way or assisted as some more divers came on deck.

As we departed and got close to Portland Bill the sea was very choppy - fair bit of starting hard at the horizon until back behind the breakwater and felt able to get out the dry suit and take on more water. The sun had gone down, the spray from the sea was covering the deck and there was a lot of movement. So freezing cold, slightly queasy we finally arrived back in Portland. Loaded the car. Turned every form of heating I had in there on. Told myself to concentrate and headed for the motorway, a filthy burger and a 3 and a half hour drive home. Overall - great dive but I should have known better than to risk sea conditions in November as the journey out and especially back wasn't that fun!