Wendy Northway
The advanced party arrived early, well as Paul would probably tell it, some earlier than others! We got there in time for a day dive to familiarise ourselves with the quarry. Ariel and Paul opted for a large step entry of the top whilst I was advised to go from the bottom – I’d borrowed Clare’s suit and the neck was a little slack so I worried about the force of the entry may make it leak. Shame because I think the step entry is the best part of the quarry! We descended quickly – I was seriously over weighted and could easily drop a few kilos. At the bottom Ariel wanted to try a mask refit whilst inverted. Paul and I just opted to watch! After Ariel adjusted his camera, the three divers set of clockwise round the quarry. Paul headed off at lightening speed ‘pace yourself’ I thought ‘it’s only a small quarry and we have a second dive to do – we need to leave some surprises!’ Ariel managed to spot a couple of eels tucked away under rocks – such is his spotting abilities, I wouldn’t have been surprised if he showed me an octopus! Paul had initially thought his torch was ineffective, only having used it in light conditions, but it rather impressive – there was a strong central beam around which a fainter light radiated, and dressed all in black he looked like Darth Vader’s sidekick! It was getting darker now so we opted to ascend just under the trapeze, happy that we had orientated ourselves and looked forward to doing the night dive proper.
As we headed back to the car, Chester SAC had decorated the area magnificently. An LED cable lit the fence whilst a pumpkin with a bat carved out of the front welcomed us under the tunnel. They had also erected a long gazebo by the shop from which tempting barbeque smells were emanating. The second party had now arrived – Lyndon, Ginger Jim and Ernie. We rekitted ourselves, leaving an hour’s surface interval and wended our way down the illuminated path. As it was the dive proper, I entered into the spirit of things by wearing a set of very scary boppers (£2 from ASDA) and away we went! Away they went too, for when we hit the bottom; they were nowhere to be seen! We circumnavigated the quarry anticlockwise this time and it was diver soup down there! It was tempting to switch off our torches as the beams from the other divers were more than adequate to light up the quarry. The glow from these strobes had a magical feel to them. As we gazed up to the 6m platform we spied a couple of divers in a halo of light – the kind of stuff for which magazine covers are renowned . There are only so many times you can go round Vivian in the short space of a couple of hours thus we surfaced – hot chocolate was certainly calling me. Ariel and Lyndon were just behind us – Lyndon using up his trimix from a previous dive and pretending to be very techie in a ‘shallow’ 20m quarry. Not sure what Ernie and Ginger Jim got up to, but I’m sure it must have been very adventurous.
Back in the car park, the rain had abated allowing us to get changed in the dry if not dark. I’d also brought along a carrot cake – I was going to make pumpkin pie which would have been more fitting for the time of year but Asda didn’t have pumpkins, only boppers. I may have been setting myself up there as Ernie reckoned I had now started a trend and would expect my culinary delights every trip. Lyndon was also suitably impressed that carrots did have some usefulness in the world! Watch out Techie Taylor – you may loose all credibility with your techie friends – diving to only 20m and eating vegetables!
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