This was actually going to be my first lock-down story before I got carried away with the story about how my nose surgery affected my diving.
(These ‘Lock-down’ stories aren’t to be taken too seriously.)
In June 2017, I was asked to make a photographic dive in the Cruising Yacht Club of SA marina to record the growth of some oysters for the Estuary Care Foundation.
This was less than two weeks before my nose surgery was due.
The dive was made at mid-day. Being winter, I wore my thickest wet suits (jacket & long johns). The water temperature was still a reasonable 15°C though.
I was asked to take some video footage and some stills of the oyster baskets that were hanging from one of the pontoons in the marina.
The water depth was 6m and the vis was what I judged to be fair. The trick was to be able to do my filming mid-water without stirring up the bottom.
I struggled a little and I also had to do a few descents and ascents during my 21 minutes in the water.
The next tricky bit was exiting the water. I decided to swim around a pontoon to another section where I was able to exit via a ladder on the back of a yacht belonging to the CYCSA academy (with their permission).
I was pleased to later see one of my oyster basket photos published in the September 2017 issue of “Groundswell”, ”A regular Journal from the Cruising Yacht Club of South Australia”. The caption for the photo read “Photo courtesy of Steve Reynolds”.
I was even more pleased to see a photo of me still in the water in the November 2017 issue of “Groundswell”.
The centre-spread in that issue featured the very same yacht that I had used to exit the water after my dive.
Photos taken during my dive can be seen at https://1drv.ms/u/s!AptZwqUs2pz0gf0kLu3ZB6xuDgtEBg?e=pO5yg8