Dive Diaries: Winter Dive at Wraysbury

Joel and I went up to London and the South East's premier dive site, Wraysbury Dive Centre to do a bit of filming at this beautiful inland lake.

It involved an early start for a Sunday but we travelled up in the van and any tiredness soon evaporated as we began nattering about our plans for the day.

Once we arrived, the sky was a little grey but the air temperature wasn't too cold. We signed in and got on with the task of setting up our kit. It was the first time I'd used my new drysuit and 3mm wetsuit I was using as an undersuit. While I managed to get into the 3mm, it was clear that this winter was not kind to my waistline! I buffed the 3mm with some thermals and got the drysuit on over the top without any issues, I put the scuba gear on and tried to sink. It wasn't happening so I did what all good divers do and put more weights on...and more... and more. In the end it took 12kg to sink me and the weight was not distrubuted desirably!

Once we were under, the water was relatively clear and we had a lovely dive. On our way out, we were greeted by a lovely puppy and have decided that all dives should end this way!

We had a break for second breakfast. We warmed up then put all the kit back on and got back in. As always the second dive felt colder and I got a little brain freeze on the descent but that didn't stop us from having another look around.

During the winter many freshwater fish go into a state of torpor - a kind of deep sleep but not full hibernation, and they often bury themselves in mud to add a layer of warmth. The only animal I saw was a crayfish, who was not happy about our presence as he scooted backwards with his claws raised!

We got some good footage on the dives - enough to keep Joel busy for a while! Keep your eyes glued to our social media to see what we got up to.

Much love,

Claire