Dudley Dolphin BSAC Scuba Club

Spouting Off

Spouting off is the free monthly newsletter to all members and friends available in print or e-mail to you directly. To be added to the e-mail list please contact talktous@dudleydolphin.org.uk

Dolphins Pierce & Sting

OK, so how many of you out there in scuba world have actually dived with dolphins in the wild ... don’t mean the hairy arsed Dudley Dolphin BSAC variety (sorry girls I know you don’t have those, well not that hairy anyway!) no, I mean yer beautifully graceful underwater mammalian type dolphin. I for one haven’t and I guess not, many of you have either ....but I have done the next best thing, more of which I will tell later.

The story began back in July when a message received by Liz (our Dolphin secretary) from a lady called Faye Turner at the Imax cinema in Birmingham, filtered through the members at the club on the following Friday night, asking if we’d like to have our photos taken in full kit outside the cinema? After the laughing and swearing stopped (“if you think I’m walkin’ round Brum in me kit you can get ****ed”…well you get the picture) the more understanding and intelligent amongst us asked why and what’s in it for us? Well, there’s a film being shown for the first time in a couple of weeks at the Birmingham Imax which is called Dolphins and Faye thought it would be a good wheeze to use divers queuing for tickets, for the opening night publicity shots and of course it would be good PR for the club as well.

So Monday morning arrives much too nice and sunny for wearing dry suits out of the water but the shoot went ahead very successfully except the Central News TV people didn’t arrive as promised, big shame. As I said it was very hot but the team Lucy and Matthew Bethel, Grace Edwards, Mervyn Jackson and yours truly, Duncan Spittle suffered the 90-degree heat with much sweating but also much good humour. As you will see from the photos we were asked to pose in some pretty silly positions with cheesy grins all round. The Birmingham Evening News, Express and Star and the Birmingham Weekly News all published different pictures and I think you can see we were actually having fun...really we were!

A thank you must go to Faye for the tickets and the hospitality shown us at the Hawaiian themed reception, on opening the night, which most of us went to. I’m sure that everyone was impressed not only by the building (Millennium Point) and reception, but especially by the film. Dolphins is a superb high-resolution film shown on a wide screen 5 stories high, absolutely amazing. The music is by Sting and narration by Pierce Brosnan, hence the title of this piece (if you were wondering…no?…I didn’t think you were). The film is not only memorable for it’s visual impact but for the story told of Dr Kathleen Dudzinski’s mission to plot where different types of dolphin live and breed (she did however, inexplicably and disappointingly, miss out Dudley during her extensive research program) and discover how dolphin families and societies form, how they communicate and how humans adversely affect their health and mortality.

The film explains why dolphins sleep with one eye open, how its skin features special anti-turbulence characteristics for high speed swimming, how to tell the age of a dolphin from it’s teeth and much, much more. All this in a forty-minute film, which is now the highest grossing large format movie of all time.

For more information about the film and the research being carried out go to the website www.dolphinsfilm.com and to book tickets to see a highly entertaining and informative and all round stunning movie experience go to the Imax website www.imax.ac or phone 0121 202 2222. Cost £6 for adults and £4 for kids – a bargain.

Spouting off is the free monthly newsletter to all members and friends available in print or e-mail to you directly

Twelve Months as a Dudley Dolphin

Ray and Lynn Howell introduced us to Dudley Dolphins just about 12 months ago. I have known Ray for something like 20 years. Ray is Lucy’s godfather, (I know, but we were getting desperate to fill the vacancy!).

Lucy is the reason we started coming to the baths on Friday nights. She got so excited listening to Ray and Lynn talking about diving and decided she would like to have a go. Unfortunately, being only 13 she was too young to dive, but we could start off snorkelling. So off we went to Comdean to buy masks, snorkel, fins and shorty wet suits, three of us Matthew, Lucy and dad (Geoff). Lesley (Mrs Bethel) has a fish phobia plus an allergy to fish (and swimming / cold water / getting hair wet!) so has no desire to join us. I wish you could see how quickly she leaves the sea when she spots a fish, it’s like something from a Hollywood biblical film, and the waters do actually part!

Various people took us through our snorkel training but I do remember Merv and Neil having something to do with it.. We tried out our new found skills on holiday on the Isle of Wight last year but visibility was worse than the Rezza on a bad day so we didn’t stay in for long, oh and it was b***dy cold as well in just a shorty wet suit!

Into September and the real thing, scuba trailing. We didn’t actually get a trial dive, Merv knew by now that we wanted to dive so started the training straight away. Matthew had to see Doctor King in Worcester about his asthma before he could start his training, which put him behind us by something like a month. With the occasional variation we were buddied up as follows, Lucy/Merv, Matthew/Dave (Merrell) and Geoff/Jeff. Pool training progressed over the next couple of months and the Bethel household spent hours discussing training/diving/kit/written test etc., oh and how nice it would be to go somewhere good on holiday!

Jeff spent a couple of weeks with me just making sure my buoyancy was right, something I am now grateful for as I believe it made progression into a dry suit much easier.

Training was going great until Lucy slipped over in the changing room wearing a full set of kit. The swelling to her knee didn’t go down over the weekend so off to the doctors on Monday and then a three-hour wait at Russells Hall Hospital. Nothing broken but crutches and no diving for three weeks. She was devastated. Matthew and I continued training with Lucy looking on from the side wearing a glum expression!

Into a dry suit for me with Dave Martin taking over from Jeff who had come down with a virus that had stopped him diving (due to balance difficulties). Nobody forewarned me about the session where you end up upside down with dry suit legs full of air! Like the extra buoyancy training I am pleased now that I experienced it but I didn’t like it much at the time! I remembered what we were told in the lecture and managed to get out of it by inflating the stab jacket to right myself. I did manage to soak Ray, Lynne, Stuart and Cath in the process (they were sitting on the side marshalling); that made me feel a bit happier!

About this time Matthew had trouble with dizziness and missed four weeks diving under Doctors orders.

At the beginning of January it was time for my first dive in the Rezza with Dave (Merrell) as buddy. Dave said he would show me some fish, he knew exactly where to find them. We didn’t see any! Better luck next time Dave! It wasn’t the most exciting experience but it didn’t put me off. My main concern was being cold. Ray lent me his Thinsulate and just to make sure I put on a thermal vest and long johns, jogging bottoms and sweatshirt. I wasn’t cold (just the opposite in fact) but I hadn’t realised how buoyant I was. It took four goes for me to get underwater adding weights until the stab jacket pockets were bulging with lead!

Lucy started her dry suit training to be followed a couple of weeks later by Matthew. Next problem we couldn’t find a dry suit with small enough neck and cuff seals to fit him. Dave Martin even bought Pauline’s suit for him to try but that filled up with water in the pool! Matthew had been saving up to buy his own suit but I was concerned that after his first dive in the Rezza he might decide he didn’t want to continue diving. I wanted him to see what it was like first before spending his money.

Dave Martin came to the rescue again and fixed him up with a semi dry suit he could try; no need for anymore training he could go in to the Rezza straight away. Apparently, only a few years ago trainees were required to do twelve months in a semi dry suit before moving on to proper dry suits . I’m really pleased that isn’t compulsory anymore! Merv agreed to take Matthew in for a quick dip the following Sunday. It was an awful cold morning, drizzle, poor vis, etc. Thankfully Matthew enjoyed it. He moaned for the rest of the day about how cold the water had been and how he had got tangled up in a fishing line but he could now go ahead and buy a suit for himself knowing he wanted to carry on.

Dave Martin had arranged a trip to Capernwray in Lancashire in April and asked if we would like to go. It is true there is a 5.00am on a Saturday morning! Capernwray is an old quarry near Morecambe Bay that has been developed as a diving centre. Two helicopters, a minesweeper and various other small boats, fibreglass figures, etc have been sunk to provide somewhere interesting to dive. Lucy went in with Duncan (it was only Lucy’s second open water dive and she did 10m!) and me with Dave Martin. Matthew had to watch from the side, as his dry suit wasn’t going to be ready until the beginning of May. Two dives were planned, the first a scenic dive just for fun the second the chance to do some training including mask removal as I had had a problem in the Rezza a couple of weeks before. It was a brilliant day, the rainbow trout were fantastic. I managed a 15.7m dive down a shot line to one of the helicopters, removed my mask twice without a problem and apparently completed my second open water assessment.

Thanks to Dave Martin and the other instructors / divers for a very enjoyable day, my best diving experience so far. Dave can we go back again please?

Matthew has now done his dry suit training and two open water dives ready for Louise Wilkinson’s Hope Cove weekend on the 24/26 May. We have all been looking forward to Hope Cove for something like three months. Unfortunately, due to an accident I won’t be able to dive so will now be marshalling. I had a great dive in the Rezza with Martin Reynolds a couple of weeks ago (at one point we were playing ball underwater, passing a ball we found on the bottom between us, a bit like keeping a balloon in the air). As I came out Lucy was just going in. Helping her down the concrete ramp I slipped, landing on my ankle and now have my leg in plaster . It was so stupid, I was being really careful but somehow my boot slipped and down I went. I now understand how Lucy felt when she hurt her leg. A month at home sounds great but it isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. Suddenly going back to work seems attractive!

We have enjoyed our first year as Dudley Dolphin. Everyone has been really friendly, loads of help and advice; the social side is really good and those rainbow trout at Capernwray, Fantastic!

The Bethels (Geoff, Lucy, Matthew and Lesley).

From Grace Edwards

I was one of several who travelled up on the Saturday morning so I can’t comment on the Friday night. There was great anticipation, especially from me and we were all willing it not to rain. However, our efforts were wasted and we abandoned Thurleston due to raging waves and decided instead to try Hallsands. On the way to Hallsands I managed to bore everyone with the results of my compulsory research of the area as a case study in my exams.

I was very apprehensive about my first sea dive so Stuart and I stayed shallow and, for at least half of the dive, I managed to keep sight of Stuart’s elbow (a case of the blind leading the blind methinks). The tide wasn’t particularly strong but I bumped into Stuart a few times. I even lived up to expectations and deafened Stuart underwater every time the seaweed grabbed my ankles!

The dive lasted for 15-20 minutes and it took me that long again to get out of the water. It was the same for everyone though, honest! Needless to say there were no further dives that weekend which is a great shame for all who went.

Inevitably with such a large bunch, everybody split up into their own groups for transport and so as not to shock the public of Salcombe. We also had to eat separately as I don’t think the restaurants would have let all of us rabble in!

Several of us found a lovely traditional country pub, despite the locals who seemed to have travelled forward in time to our century.

Unfortunately I had to make an early-ish exit due to revision and having been up for 21 hours. Weather wise Sunday was much the same as Saturday and diving was again forcibly abandoned. There was much disappointment and a lot of people decided not to waste the day and went travelling instead. Ten of us went to Plymouth with a walk about in mind, but we got distracted by signs for the Sea Life Centre. See we saw fish after all even if it wasn’t in the sea!

OK, so my very first sea dive wasn’t a complete success but the weekend was by no means a waste and I think that the relaxed family atmosphere helped to make the weekend as enjoyable as it was.

Thanks to;

Louise for organising the trip

Cath, Stuart and Duncan for driving and putting up with me

Jeff and Mervyn for transporting my kit due to lack of room in Stuart’s car

And finally Dave Merrell for letting me travel around in his fancy new MG on Saturday night! Grace