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Guernsey 2014

Thread Status: Hello , There was no answer in this thread for more than 90 days.
It can take a long time to get an up-to-date response or contact with relevant users.
Lets hope so Mart. I ended up putting the gun back in the car and practiced breath holds for an hour. Not doing very well mate. Can do 3 minutes static but on 30 seconds in the water. Ive spoken to Steve and need to practice walking apnea and will hopefully get better times in the water when vis is better, fingers crossed
 
Lets hope so Mart. I ended up putting the gun back in the car and practiced breath holds for an hour. Not doing very well mate. Can do 3 minutes static but on 30 seconds in the water. Ive spoken to Steve and need to practice walking apnea and will hopefully get better times in the water when vis is better, fingers crossed
Yep know exactly what you mean 3/4 min on dry land 20 seconds in wety in water!
 
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Thanks, we'll see. Nearly night dive season.

Regarding the breath hold difference between dry static and actually diving I find the key is to relax properly. It's so easy to tense every muscle as you dive the complete opposite to when you're laying on your bed all calm and relaxed.

What I do when breathing up, about 30 secs before the dive, is to go through every area of my body, consciously relaxing each area. Start with your toes, ankles, calves, thighs...work your way right up to your neck and don't forget your jaw, that's always locked rigid.

Try to maintain that when diving, don't rush, don't look at your watch to see how long you've been down, just enjoy being down there. Note how your body feels when you start to feel the urge to breath but do it dispassionately, as if viewing it from outside.

And most importantly don't push it. When you're properly relaxed it's comfortable, not painful.
 
Thanks Magpie. Perseverance i think is the word I am looking for. I do think I am weighted too heavily and have taken some out which will let me relax on the surface more easily next time. Hopefully will be able to completely relax. Steve (apneaboy) is also giving me tips and things to try and hopefully I will see progress. Thanks
 
Anyone seen one of these or anything else unusual? Interesting article about Mediterranean species possibly turning up in our waters. Perhaps some of those 20lb bass like they get down there ...


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Had a swim around the knife first thing yesterday a.m - wasn't really a great idea! There was quite a bit of swell at the point and occasionally I could see past the end of my 85.
Went to the E Coast in the evening and vis was certainly better. Swam in a huge shoal of horse mackerel for a while - never seen them here before, likely common enough I guess.
Ended up with a bit of a mixed bag of 1 each of - mullet, mackerel (Atlantic), Plaice and a Bass.

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Just back in from what will likely be my last guernsey dive, and it was superb.
Headed out around 8.30 and went to the end of the knife. Torch on then headed out to the first outer reef.
Saw such a lot of bait fish, small squid, mackerel, mullet & flatties and 1 solitary Bass. I hope this is just a little blip and the Bass will reappear in numbers shortly but I've seen very few over the last weeks. Maybe overfishing is really hitting home now? Who knows.
Coming back in from the outer reef the sea was just alive with bait fish and Sandeel. At one point they were battering off me for about 10 mins. It was just thick with them.
I had a bit of excitement crossing back onto the knife when I saw a shadow pass under me. Couldn't make out what it was but it was around 5 or 6 ft long. Saw it twice more off to the side but always just on the edge of the beam. I just kept telling myself it was a seal :-)
Back into 15 ft of water and there was thousands of squid, maybe 3 inches or so long and the phosporescence was amazing. I drifted around with them for 10 mins or so with torch off watching them lit up by the green phosporescence while trying to put the 'seal' incident out of my mind.
The final tally was 5 Plaice and 2 sole.
A bloody brilliant dive and a great way to end my 3 weeks here.
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Don't know what it was Ian, it was just a big dark shape on the edged of the torch.
I just kept saying to myself it was a cute fluffy, gooey eyed seal :-)

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Well done Grant.

I presume you're sure it wasn't just bait getting right up close to the torch? I've been regularly scared sh1tless by a massive shadow on the bottom, which turned out to be a 2 inch roselet right against the lens of the torch projecting an 8ft shadow onto the seabed.

How was the viz round there?
 
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