The first dip

Well after weeks of waiting the time had finally arrived for me to take to the sea.

I met up with Penny Martin down at the pier as arranged at 2pm with Marc Herridge there to capture the event on camera.

As we started to get ready Marc spotted a spectator in the form of a seal out in the water keeping a close eye on us. It would be nice to get a close encounter with the seal once we were in the water.

Phase 1 was to get into the water with the drysuit on to make sure it didn't leak. So with drysuit on, I started making my way down the slipway only to find it was quite, well, slippery. Probably why it is called a slipway!! Not wanting to slip and break my leg again, I went back up onto the pier then climbed down the ladder only to find it ran out just as I reached the water.

Heading for the water and the leak test

Once in the water I found the suit was very buoyant and all appeared well so it was time to move onto Phase 2.

Happy that the leak test went well

I got out the water, donned the fins, got back into the water and used the water pressure to force more air out through the neck seal. Then I masked up, fitted the snorkel to the mask strap, a task that reminded me of my air force days trying to fit a new canister to a gas mask - fiddley and not being able to see what I was doing - and I was ready to embark on my first snorkelling adventure. Note to self, next time attach the snorkel to the mask before putting the mask on.

Ready to set off

Penny joined me in the water and we decided to make our way along the East side of the pier to the end and then take a look at the rock bed on the West side of the pier. We set off and within a couple of minutes I had a cold sensation working its way down over my chest. I wasn't sure if the suit was leaking or whether it was just me feeling the cold through the drysuit. The feeling soon seemed to go away so I concluded it must have just been me acclimatizing to the water temperature.

As we worked our way along the pier it was interesting to see what was on the sea bed and the pier wall. Apart from human rubbish, bits of old creels, an old bottle, bits of broken floats and so on, Penny pointed out some Common Starfish and I spotted some Sea Urchins on the sea bed.

Exploring the pier wall

As far as marine life goes you'll have to bear with me as it is a whole new world to which I'm not familiar. The sea bed next to the pier was mainly sand and there didn't seem to be too much going on. Visibility straight down was pretty good but looking ahead it was quite murky. As we rounded the end of the pier the surface water started getting a lot choppier so after a brief discussion we decided to leave the rock bed for another day and head off to the East and take a look at an area of rock closer to the shore.

It was an interesting feeling just floating on the surface looking down onto the seabed and just letting the current move you along. Probably a bit like free-fall parachuting, not that I have ever tried that. I also became aware of how easy it was to get disorientated. Having been swimming toward the rocks, so I thought, I lift my head out the water to see where Penny was and I was facing in totally the wrong direction and looking at the end of the pier!!

Now facing the right way I set off to catch up with Penny. There must be a technique to using the fins, something I will need to learn and master as I was struggling to get any forward propulsion at times. After we got out of the water and werer discussing how things had gone, Penny said that I might benefit from some ankle weights to keep the fins below the water's surface. Now added to the shopping list.

As we got into the shallower water I started feeling the cold sensation on my chest again which continued down towards my stomach. Moving back into deeper what seemed to reduce the effect so I put it down to just feeling a change in water temperature being felt through the suit.

We had a look around the area of rocks nearer the shore and it was an interesting experience swimming through the forest of plant life. Althought there didn't appear to be very much going on amongst the plants or the rocks.

Heading back towards the pier we left the rocks and moved back over a sandy area. Here there were plenty of Hermit Crabs of various sizes, from some quite small ones to quite a large one, scuttling across the sand. Some of the larger hermit crabs had an Orange fuzz on their shells which was a type of hydroid called Hydratinia echinata or Hermit Crab Fir to you and me.

Hermit crab with Hermit Crab Fir on its shell

There were also what I shall call Whelks for now until I have found out from Penny what they really were.

At this point Penny lent me her weight belt so I could see if it made any difference to the buoyancy. The main difference was that I could feel the weight on my lower back. Whilst it made me a bit more stable in the water I think for now I will be alright without one but I'll add it to the shoping list for a later date.

Finally we got back to the pier and emerged from the water after about an hour of swimming around. Time certainly flew by.

The end of my first snorkelling trip

As I stood up I could feel cold water trickling down my back, so there was definitely somewhere on the drysuit letting some water in. Afterwards I wondered if when I had moved the neck seal to let some of the air out I hadn't made sure it had formed a tight seal again and had got rucked up letting some water in. When I took the drysuit off my undergarments were quite damp so I guess I'll have to get back into the water and immerse the suit a stage at a time to see if I can find a leak. Fingers crossed it was my error in putting the suit on.

Did we get our close encounter with the seal? Talking with Marc after we got out of the water it transpired that the seal had come in to take a closer look once we were in the water. At one point it was following me until I made a splash with the fins and then it was away. Hopefully there will be a closer encounter soon.

Being watched

So apart from what has already been mentioned what else did we see? There was lots of Pink Paint Weed, Corallinaceae crusts which are red seaweeds that are hard due to calcification and encrust rocks etc and some large Kelp fronds which had the hydroid, Obelia geniculata, Kelp Fir (looks like "fuzz") and bryozoans on.

A big thanks to Penny for joining me in the water and acting as my guide and to Marc for taking all the photos, except the one of the Hermit Crab which taken by Penny.