Had a great day today... finally got my brother in the water for the first time to shake down his gear. We popped in a very friendly dive shop outside Bournemouth that we have used before and they fitted him with a mask that actually fitted and he bought a rubber weight belt (which proved a godsend as my pocketed belt was far too small for him!) and I got some anti fog that actually worked! Despite using so much toothpaste it has that McCleans halo around it (if you're old enough to know what that is..) and spitting and even shouting at it, the mask would always fog up. Not any more.. I also got a rather clever pouch for on my belt to keep my goody bag in when snorkelling 'just in case'. I also found out how to rig my speargun so it will come out with me on the next dive.
So roll on the watery bit.. We tried out Sandsfoot castle, Portland harbour as I'd been curious about it and when we got there.. the water had gone! Damn, I'd forgot to consult the tide table. Oh well, just further to walk til we got wet. Sandy bottom there and shallow which was ideal for his first time just getting in. And of course once his face was squished up in his hood the mask no longer fitted and allowed water in along those lines between lips and nose. Occasionally it would be fine, and he still managed ok. He did make the classic beginner's mistake- he saw something interesting on the bottom and as he went down he carried on breathing... Well, I'm glad I wasn't the only one to have done that!! He eventually got the hang of it and relaxed and enjoyed it immensely. We swam along the reefs, waste pipe and sea grass bits watching the fish and he's got the bug for sure!
Viz was 2m-3m and I saw lots of crabs but not quite big enough for me, but I did see a 2ft across crab's pit! No sign of him though.. I had a great experience swimming along with a shoal of sand eels following me along. Shame no bass turned up to eat them though. Saw loads of wrasse as usual and a 9" long pipe fish, first one I've ever seen. I also found a fossil of a scallop shell in sandstone which was so cool I took it. Got a few 30 second bottom times in but only in about 2m depth and one nearly a minute which I'm pleased with for the shallowness and it's my first time in since about June IIRC. Did have a job staying down due to lack of pressure though. The highlight though was swimming back to shore on a rising low tide. I was only in 2ft of water at most swimming through the weed and two big fat mullet almost swam into my face. I don't know who was most surprised! That's twice that's happened in exactly the same scenario and both times I've been unarmed! Not next time....
