Blackwater Sub Aqua Club - Anatomy of a dive
What does it take to go diving? For our club, the Blackwater Sub-Aqua Club (BSAC), the first thing to happen is, a text would go out to our WhatsApp group to ask who is interested and available to dive on the weekend. In the case of the weekend just passed, the text this time was from Timmy Carey - some of you reading this are undoubtedly familiar with Timmy, who’s been a part of this club for more years than he’s had hot dinners, suggesting a couple of dive sites options, wreck dives the Clifton or the renowned the AUD lying some 10km off Roches point. Taking cognisance of the weather, assessing the tide tables and requesting clearance from our dive and equipment officers, the coordination of the number of divers and equipment begins in earnest.
By the time Friday comes around and the weather conditions have been confirmed, each diver would typically prepare their diving gear to ensure its all in proper working order and charge up torch batteries, perhaps camera batteries and other sundry equipment including dry suit/semi dry suit, dive tank, BCD (Buoyancy Compensating Device), weights, fins, dive mask, dive computer, torch, compass, etc.
On the morning of the dive, equipment such as the first aid kit, oxygen kit, emergency plan, fuel, shot weight, line and buoy are all brought to the pre-arranged meeting site - where we also have the boat located. The boat worthiness is assessed and then launched, each of the divers equipment is loaded onto the boat and we then discuss the dive brief, consisting of such details as the dive plan, diving partners, weather forecast, safety plan and dive log.
Now, if all of this sounds like a bit of a chore to you, preparation usually is, but the payback can sometimes be remarkable.
The day in question was a typically glorious Irish day, a balmy 16 degrees with the sea state flat calm when we set off for our planned dive of the AUD. After radioing in our dive plan to the coast guard, we enjoyed our spin out to the planned dive site. Upon our arrival, we dropped our shot line - used for descending down to the dive wreck, and prepared ourselves to visit one of the most iconic wrecks that are scattered around our coastline. If you’re unfamiliar with the history of the AUD, it is well worth a few minutes of your time to run a search on google to discover its fascinating story.
Each group of divers prepare themselves for the adventure ahead and as you back roll off the boat, the sun rays gradually fade as you’re immersed into the calming waters on the way down to a fascinating world of present meets ancient past and future discoveries. The visibility down at the AUD, we soon discover, is as good as we’ve witnessed in many a year and is a timely reminder of a previous dive to the AUD to remove one of its anchors for 2016 commemoration of the 1916 rising, as can be seen in the photos below - this operation was conducted under archaeological licence. During this dive, we encountered bullets strewn across the sea bed of AUD, plenty of aquatic life and some great memories.
When all the divers are safely back on board, we retrieve the shot line and head back to shore enjoying a nice cup of tea and a sandwich for one or two of us. Closing out the day, we radio the coast guard to confirm our safe return, then conduct a dive debrief and clean the boat and equipment. Such is a day in the life of a Blackwater club diver.