14. Scuba Diving (Mick)

I've been interested in diving since I was a youngster, but wasn't sure I'd ever get to have a go myself. We used to go on holiday in Ireland with my Dad's brother and sisters and their children, often to Valentia ("Paradise Island of Ireland" I now learn). We were always impressed by my Uncle Billy, who was very involved in the Irish Sub-Aqua Club, and would disappear out into the bay in all his gear and bring us scallop shells, starfish and sea-urchins. He also gave my parents a plate that was recovered from a wreck, the "Tayleur", that went down off Dublin in 1854 with the loss of almost 300 lives (Billy's story of how they discovered the wreck makes great reading) .

The temperature and clarity of the water make the British Virgin Islands an ideal location, so Mike and I signed up for the first step on the ladder, the one day "Discover Scuba" course. They could only cater for people 16 years or older so Clare and the rest of the Blue Team headed off to Spring Bay. We hooked up with two other nubes and had the "classroom" and "pool" sessions in the morning, before heading out on a boat for a proper dive. Another advantage of doing this in the BVI was that the "classroom" consisted of us sitting on recliners on the beach, while Paul our instructor took us through the gear and the safety info, and the "pool" was the shallow bay at Little Dix Bay

This was the first time I’d ever tried scuba diving and I loved it. The things I thought would be challenging proved to be very easy – breathing through the equipment was no harder than breathing normally, and going underwater (40’ was our maximum allowed depth) didn’t cause a problem with either ears or nerves. What was challenging was trying to do everything at once. Its amazing how much you control your depth by the way you breathe, and trying to do this while “clearing” my ears proved to me beyond doubt that men can’t multi-task.

We got to do our “proper dive” after lunch, when we took a boat up the coast to Mountain Point. Our guide, Johann, undid all my years brainwashing Mike to be a steady chap with a solid career, by regaling him with tales of how he’d chucked it all in for a life of sun and sea. He looked good on it too, young, fit, tanned, relaxed, with his own boat and an all–female crew, but was he happy? That aside, he certainly knew his stuff, in our one-tank 45min dive he pointed out about 30 different types of fish, writing their names on a kind of slate. Best were two fish about 4-5’ long (whose name escapes us), a huge lobster that wouldn’t come out of his hole in the reef, and an Arrow Crab, about 9” across with legs thinner than matchsticks.

The dive seemed much shorter than it actually was, and I can’t wait to do it again, though when and where we’ll just have to see.

Clare picked us up from the harbour (technically we picked her up, from the outside bar, “Painkiller” in hand). They'd discovered Spring Bay and had a great time amongst the rocks - tomorrow it would be our turn.