The Mermaid Diaries : Volume II
Posted By Sam Kirby on 26 September 2005
Mandy continues: " So that was how I found myself, early on Saturday morning, on the train, to Bristol to go to the open water session at Chepstow."
" After some warm up stretches in the car-park (and a few amused looks from the other divers), we hitched a lift in the landrover, down to the water, and jumped in for the short swim over to the SaltFree pontoon (why are ALL quarries so cold!)."
" Sam explained that we would be having a go at free immersion, pulling ourselves down the line, with no fins. NO FINS ?!!! It felt really weird in the water without them. We had a go at pulling down to about 5 metres, just to start to get a feel for being under the water. And it felt GREAT ! I wasn't sure about the no fins thing to start with, but once we got going, it's surprising how good it felt."
"Then, we had a go at doing it with fins. After my pool session, I was the first to grab a monofin! (I'm sure my feet were meant to be like that!) After a quick lesson from Franck, we got to try it down the line. The feeling was amazing. I felt so fluid and comfortable and came up from my first dive with a huge grin. On my second go, I reached the plate at 15 metres, so the grin got bigger!! Then, the plate was dropped to 20m, for my last dive. Didn't quite make it but next time !!"
"I had the most amazing day! The other girls were fab (as were the 3 boys, of course), and we all seemed to forget about the competition, and just had fun. The feeling of being underwater, without my usual twin set, deco bottles and all the scuba kit was incredible. It sounds so corny, but it really was a feeling of pure freedom. The elation lasted all the way home, and well into the following week !! Regardless of the result of the Mermaid Challenge, I think I have found my challenge.”
- Bookmark with :
- what are these?
