It’s Monday 24 May, a beautiful day outside. We’re driving back from St. Abbs to York, Andy fast asleep in the passenger seat and me alone with my thoughts after what has been a fantastic weekend.

We’re both now officially Ocean Divers………

Wow! No longer newbies or trainees, I’m so excited to have finally got here!   

It certainly seems a long time since Dec said to us “Why don’t you come along and see what you think, it’s the try dives this weekend.” I’m really glad that we did.

For me, St Abbs has been the turning point. The moment when finally all the training dropped into place and I got beyond “I can’t see the point of doing this. Why would you want to swim at the bottom of a quarry and not be able to see anything?”

What a great team at Excalibur. Our brilliant Training Officer Stuart, how patient and supportive he’s been as I’ve struggled to come to terms with low vis, no vis, ripped dry suits and mood swings ranging from confident to quivering wreck and Kirsteen who gave me that great big hug at Eight Acres when I said I never wanted to dive again; Martin who sat and listened to me and told me that nobody was going to make me do anything I wasn’t comfortable with and Dave who lent me his old dry suit (what a difference it has made this weekend) not forgetting my fellow newbies Matthew, Laura, Roy and of course Andy who have encouraged me every step of the way and slowly made me believe that I really could become a diver.  

We had been looking forward to this weekend for ages, having spent many happy holidays together close to Coldingham, often stopping off to watch the divers at St Abbs. Now we were going to be one of them!  

The Gods appeared to be with us as we awoke on Saturday morning to glorious sunshine. So it was on with the Factor 30 before enjoying Rachel’s breakfast. I was really pleased to learn I was going to be diving with Stuart, especially when he suggested that we just swim around and enjoy our first dive of the day instead of tackling all the Ocean Diver skills that had to be ticked off.

After striding off Tiger Lilly II’s platform, before very long we were close to the ocean bed and in no time at all Stuart had dispelled my last remaining nerves by starting to introduce me to the myriad of creatures and plants that stretched out in front of us. Skilfully using his torch to peer into tiny nooks and crannies, the ocean bed started to come alive and bit by bit I was introduced to shy colourful crabs, translucent jellyfish and the piece de resistance a magnificent lump sucker fish. My confidence levels soared so much that after Stuart had taken a photo of me, I returned the favour and took one of him!

All in all Saturday was a fantastic day, filled with wonderful sunshine, lots of laughter, an enjoyable afternoon’s banter at the nearby café with Andy, Matthew and Roy, a decent curry in the evening (thanks to Jez for organising this) and being able to watch the final of Over the Rainbow too!   

For me the final dive of the weekend with Martin and Andy King was the icing on the cake. Armed with their compass and divers watch Martin asked me to lead the dive. What a thrill it was! My buoyancy was finally neutral as we glided effortlessly up and over the sea bed, taking time to enjoy the beauty of all below and swimming in an easterly direction which ultimately brought us to a pure white, sun drenched sandy bottom. There, as we commenced our ascent, we turned to see a couple of birds, probably razor bills or guillemots which were diving below the water in search of food. I was so excited and felt completely privileged to witness such a spectacle. But I was completely unprepared for the sight which surrounded us as we finally broke the surface. We had surfaced in a cove surrounded by rocky cliffs and millions of birds. The sounds and the view were absolutely awesome!

Thank you everybody it has been a truly amazing journey. Now as we drive south, I am left with some fantastic memories, the sound of Andy snoring and two pairs of unknown men’s underpants which Rachel handed us as we vacated Rock House.