Across the Pond: Scuba Diving in the UK

Posted on March 7, 2013 by Sheryl Checkman

Today’s blog installment is a guest post by a new diving friend from across the pond, Iain Sharp.

Dive sites around the United Kingdom

I have been following and tweeting with Sheryl for a little while now and I was delighted when, after learning of my desire to blog a little more, being given the honour to contribute to her pages too.

To give you some background, I am based in Northern England and a lot closer to the (old) York rather than the New York! I have been scuba diving for many years and given that in England you’re never more than about 80 miles from the sea in any direction, a lot of my diving has been around the waters of this island.

The way that many people learn to scuba dive here in the UK may be different to the way that many people learn elsewhere in the world. Whilst there are the ‘resort course’ people who learn intensively whilst on vacation at a foreign destination and dive stores who offer a range of courses from the likes of PADI and other organisations, many people learn to scuba dive in the UK through a club environment. Whilst both of the other methods are perfectly legitimate ways to learn to dive, I’d like to tell you a little more about learning with a club as it is probably not something that you’re overly familiar with.

The club will usually have a (swimming) pool session at local pool one evening a week and there is also a social meeting or gathering in that other great British institution, the pub, on a weekly basis too. Whilst the members all pay a fee in to the club, there is no profit taken from the organisation and in another Corinthian demonstration of commitment, the instructors that teach for the club don’t take payment for their skills either. Since no one is making a profit, many clubs can afford their own sets of equipment, so that you don’t have to go buy lots of expensive kit or invest the monies in to things like their own rigid inflatable boats (remember, not far to tow it to the sea either!)

Scuba diving in the UK can be a mirror for life in general. The clubs are great sources and exchanges of information. This avoids the making of mistakes yourself and the use of more experienced people for their guidance. Certainly in life, it is very difficult to succeed without the help of others and surprisingly, a lot of this information and guidance is available without huge cost. It is often available for free or certainly inexpensively. Furthermore, with modern communication methods like the internet, message boards and blogs there is no shortage of information or guidance ‘out there’.

Given that the British are supposed to be a sea-fairing nation, there is also no shortage of nautical advice available for divers, however the seas around the UK are notoriously fickle in places and many dives in the sea need careful planning.

Perhaps the first piece of planning, especially for those that experience their diving in more tropical climates, is dealing with the cold. The waters around Britain, even in the height of a warm Summer, rarely exceed the low 60s Deg.F and a drysuit is pretty much essential all the year around.

Tidal movement at some sites can also be quite fierce and knowledge of the tides and charts is also useful. Generally, for scuba, dives are aimed for ‘slack’ water when the tides is not moving and there is a small time window to take advantage of the lack of current. If this is missed, some sites become dangerous / un-diveable at the height of the tidal movement and sweeping an unwary diver several miles away, with the need for the involvement of the rescue services to assist them.

Again, there are parallels with life in general. Planning for the future is essential and whilst life in general does not have it down physical chart / map, there is certainly a sizeable amount of navigation to be undertaken and storms to be avoided. Much of the diving that is done around the UK is pre-planned and like icebergs, hitting the water safely and successfully is merely the part of the iceberg that shows above the water. The planning and organizational part, including the clear instructions to everyone in the team as to what is expected of them and where they need to be (often this is time-critical, given the tidal movement) is often done some days before the actual dive takes place. There are even times that due to the weather or other circumstances, when the safest way forward is to cancel plans and come back again another time and try them. It wasn’t a case that the plan itself was ‘wrong’ or not up to the task, but merely because of things beyond the control of everyone contrived to stop the successful execution of the plan. Diving in the UK requires a certain amount of pragmatism that should also be transferred to life in general!

I find scuba diving to be a great way of keeping my own life in balance. It nurtures the human spirit to explore and see what is out there and beyond. It is non-competitive, learning and often cathartic experience. It allows an all too brief observation and entry in to an alien world that is often so close to our very doorsteps. It also provides excellent exercise opportunities and is a great way of getting fitter. I also hope this blog has given you some ideas of how some of the skills used in successful scuba diving can also be used to enhance your wider life in general, bringing your success both above and below the waves.

Guest Contributer: Iain Sharp is a scuba instructor based in Northern England. Visit his website: www.fivemetrestop.com. You can find him on Facebook and follow him on Twitter: @FiveMetreStop.

I’m ready for summer…or at least spring!

Posted on March 27, 2012 by Sheryl Checkman

It’s winter again today! After temperatures in the 70’s last week it just plain wrong that it was back to winter today in NYC! My summer mojo was poking it’s head out, complete with t-shirts and shoes without socks! Today it was firmly put back in its’ place as I layered up once again in sweaters, scarf and ski jacket! Well mother nature’s tease did put me in the mood for spring to hurray up and get here for good. I’ve had enough of scarves and wool hats! I want to wear my new straw beach hat, my flip flops and nothing but a tank top and shorts! I guess I’ll have to wait a bit longer though.

This past weekend I visited two distinctly different trade shows that each added to my yearning for the warmer season to arrive. The first, on Saturday was the Whole Bead Show at the Metropolitan Pavilion in NYC, where I stocked up on some new stone beads and silver charms to add to my Life is Balance Jewelry Line. Roaming through the various stalls of bead vendors I got inspired to create an “Ocean Collection.” Here are are few photos of the end result:

Life is Balance Ocean Collection Fish Balance Necklace

Silver, Laboradite, Amazonite & Swvarski Crystal Balance Necklace from the new Ocean Collection

Balance Bracelet with dolphin charm

Balance Bracelet with tiny Fish Charm

On Sunday, I took a bus from the Port Authority to the Exposition Center at the Meadowlands to visit Beneath the Sea, the largest consumer scuba and dive travel show in America. There I walked from booth to booth salivating over all the wonderful dive destinations I’ve yet to visit. I stopped by and visited with vendors who I have gotten to know over the year such as David Dunleavy, whose paintings bring the underwater world to life and Roland St John, an incredibly talented jewelry designer who specializes in beautiful diving and aquatic gifts. David and I talked about my Life is Balance® line of t-shirts – (he too has a cool line of marine life tees). Of course I was wearing one of mine!

Protect and Preserve Ocean Conservation T-Shirt

I stopped by my local scuba shop’s booth (Scuba Network) to look over the dive computers and try to decide which one I will eventually buy to replace my older model. I just can’t seem to decide between a wrist model or one on a console! I was also on the lookout for a decent strobe light for my camera to take underwater with me the next time I go diving. I stopped by a couple of photo booths and learned a lot about the Sea & Sea YS-01 DS-TTL Strobe. It sounds like the right set-up for me. Between that, the dive computer and all those great destinations I want to travel to, I think I need to start saving my pennies (and selling more t-shirts)!

Scuba Diving… Find Balance with a Fine Balance

Posted on March 2, 2011 by Sheryl Checkman

Scuba diving is one way to stay in balance

I was reading the class notes in my Cornell alumni magazine the other day and I noticed a recurring theme in everyone’s updates. In addition to updates as to where they were living, news of their families and what they were doing for work, almost everyone mentioned what they did for fun. They were either playing lots of golf, hiking or biking, skiing or playing tennis, or other sport and recreational stress relievers. Everyone had a way to balance out their lives with some fun sport or exercise routine.

So I have decided to focus a series of blog posts, each to explore a different sport or activity. Today’s post focuses on one of my favs — scuba diving! The term, SCUBA, standing for self contained underwater breathing apparatus, was coined by Christian J. Lambertsen in 1952. In 1939, he invented a revolutionary underwater breathing system used by the military in World War II. He passed away on February 19 at the age of 93.

I’ve been a scuba diver since the early 1990’s. I first learned to dive a Club Med in Cancun. I took their week long Club Med leardn to scuba course. At the end of the week I was Club Med certified. This did not mean that I could go anywhere and dive. I could only dive at other Club Med resorts. In order to be able to go diving anywhere, you must have a certification card (called a C-Card) from a recognized scuba organization such as PADI (Professional Association of Diving Instructors) or Naui (National Association of Underwater Instructors) and SSI (Scuba Schools International), BSAC (British Sub Aqua Club) and CMAS (Confédération Mondiale des Activités Subaquatiques/The World Underwater Federation) to name a few of the more well known organizations.

If you have a C-Card that means that you have completed at least the most basic training needed to scuba dive. This usually involves some classroom and book work where you will learn the basics of diving physics, physiology and chemistry, as well as sessions in a pool where you will learn the motor skills and proper use of scuba equipment and the fine balance of neutral buoyancy — the seemingly weightless state in which you maintain your body in the water by controlling your breathing and the amount of air in your BC, or buoyancy compensator. In addition, there are open water dives required where you put all that you have learned into a real world test. And, finally there is a written exam to test what you have learned both in the classroom and the reading material. Once you pass both the written and open water exams, you will be given a C-card. This is your passport to dive! Without it, no reputable dive shop will rent you air or allow you to dive with them. There are many of advanced levels of certification that you can get after completing your basic, or Open Water level One course. Check with your local dive shop to sign up for a certification class. You can complete all all the course work and open water dives with your local dive shop, or if you’d prefer warmer water, you can ask for a referral letter which will allow you to do your open water dives at your next tropical vacation destination.

I found an article on learning to scuba dive that goes into more detail on finding the right Open Water course.

Here are some helpful links for dive shops and other useful information for scuba divers in the NYC area:
Scuba Network (Equipment sales & lessons)
Pan Aqua (Equipment sales & lessons)
Adventure Scuba (Equipment sales & lessons)
Empire Divers (Equipment sales & lessons)
Village Divers (Equipment sales & lessons)
Leisure Pro(Equipment sales)
Ocean Blue Divers (Dive Club)
NYUPS (New York Underwater Photographic Society)

Life is Balance Scuba diving yin yang symbol

"Neutral Buoyancy," the body position that every diver strives to attain is the tag line for this Life is Balance t-shirt.

Get this scuba design and more at Wear My Dive Art!

Now that you’ve gotten certified, lets go diving! If you’re like me, the warm clear waters of the Caribbean or South Pacific might be calling to you. There is nothing like the feeling of descending into the blue to become one with the ocean’s vast environment. I guarantee that once you are underwater, any thoughts of work or stress will disappear! Swim along side a sea turtle until he leaves you behind to dive deeper or surface for air. Come face to face with a gray reef shark cruising the reef, or watch a giant grouper sit open mouthed in a cleaning station. Or look closely and you might see a tiny juvenile drum fish, no bigger than the nail on your pinky, flutter about in a coral crevice. Each dive is different, awe-inspiring in its’ own unique way. And each will leave you wanting more. You’ll surface from your dives, share sightings with your dive buddies and fill your dive logs with lots of memories. Of course, not that you’re a scuba diver, you’ll want to show off your enthusiasm by wearing a scuba t-shirt. You can find some unique scuba designs for men, women and children at Wear My Dive Art! and make sure to sign up for our RSS, join our mailing list or bookmark Life is Balance® to be the first to know when our very own scuba design for men and women will be available for purchase!

Some of the dive destinations in the Caribbean that I’ve visited over the years include:
The Turks and Caicos Islands, The Cayman Islands, Bonaire, Curacao, Tobago, Roatan, Cozumel and The British Virgin Islands, to name a few.

There are so many dive destinations around the world and while I’ve been to many in the Caribbean and have had the privilege to dive the magnificent dive sites in The Red Sea, my bucket list had many more to yet be checked off, including Fiji, Bali, Palau & Truk Lagoon, The Maldives and The Seychelles, Australia and the Great Barrier Reef.

Where do you dream of going? I’d love to hear about your favorite dive spots or what destinations are on your wish list.