Today’s show is not about those late night eBay purchases.īut is is about enablement - specifically me being enabled into the world of SCUBA diving by long-time diver, friend of the show, the man behind #TeamWatchnerd, and today’s guest, Mat.Ī quick warning for listeners with a sensitive disposition, this weeks show contains stories of dive watches being used for diving. There are many possibilities to explore in your daily dives. Sometimes, however, enablement happens in total isolation, through heavy google searching, a conviction that “bi-metallic 1000m water resistant mechanical alarm watches from the 1970s” are totally underrated, and an ill advised late night session on a popular auction platform. And more and more, the subtle power of an Instagram friend’s beautifully shot photographs, shoulder the responsibility for an unplanned horological purchase. Sometimes it happens on forums through friendly discussion and heated debate. Sometimes this happens face to face, over one too many pints of winkles old peculiar. One or more collectors, gently nudging another towards functions, styles, heritage, brands, and models that they might find interesting. With a depth starting at 18 metres and rising to eight metres, the exit is a burst of colour where divers will see gorgonians, sponges and shoals of fish. The second dive was a lot better, but I already had a bitter taste in my mouth from the first dive.Much of the watch collecting hobby, is about enablement. One of Croatias most famous must-do scuba dives, the tunnel is also considered one of the best dives in Croatia and stretches under the island for 25 metres. This is the group I should have been put in for the first dive. I spoke to the other divers I was with on the second dive, and they told me how they'd enjoyed their dive that morning. This review would get 1 star, but it's pushed up to 2 stars, only because the manager made absolutely sure that my second dive wasn't a cock up as well. It was because Blue Planet messed up and put me in the wrong group. The poor dive wasn't because of the beginner diver I was with. Two other divemasters apologised, but the apology wasn't sincere, and they appeared to be aiming to deflect the blame from themselves and saying the poor dive was because of one of the beginner divers I was with. He apologised, but the damage was already done and I wasn't going to get any money back. I spoke to the boss about this dive after lunch (that I had to go out and buy), and he realised his company had put me in the wrong group. TWENTY SIX minutes!!!! I couldn't believe it. The dive details were put on the board, and the dive time was only a mere 26 minutes, when they told me before I signed up for the dives that dive time was 45 minutes. We got out of the water after these utterly pointless exercises (for me anyway). It was at this point that I realised that they'd messed my dive up and put me in the wrong group. Why was I doing these exercises? I told them I was advanced open water certified and that I'd been diving only two weeks previously. After a few minutes of aimlessly moving around, with no marine life or coral of any note, we stopped and started doing very basic exercises like flooding of mask, taking mask off and putting back on, and taking regulator out and putting back in. We then went around the bottom for a few minutes, but one of the other divers was having a big problem navigating around and with their buoyancy, so was guided around with the divemaster holding their tank behind them. I must have been at the bottom, wasting my air supply for about 10 minutes before the rest of the group got to the bottom. So I was at the bottom and told to stay there by the divemaster. The other two divers were having problems descending. When I got to the bottom, everybody else was still at the surface. Eventually after this problem was resolved, it was time to descend. I found this strange, but complied When I got in the water, one of the fins fell off straight away, and the weightbelt fell off as well. The divemaster insisted on putting my fins on and securing the weight belt in place before I got in the water. We then proceeded into the water off the shore next to where the dive centre is based. The briefing was very detailed, a bit too detailed with a lot of very basic information provided. I was put into a group with two others and the divemaster. My first dive was messed up spectacularly. Thank goodness I didn't pay for the third and fourth dive up front. I signed up to do four fun dives, but with the high cost, I paid for the first two dives up front, and planned to pay for the third and fourth dive on the next day when I was due to do the dives.
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