Charnwood Saltz BSAC 934 - Advanced Nitrox Course

Well let me say (on behalf of everyone) a big thanks to Pete for arranging this event and picking such a knowledgeable instructor. The weekend started with a day of lectures round Tim and Sue's from our instructor Jack Ingle who has a great knowledge of diving and his knowledge of nitrox is second to none as he wrote the book!!!! After mastering the nitrox tables and understanding the new risk and benefit it can bring to diving everyone passed the theory paper. Our mammoth day of lectures over we were ready for the cove.

We were all set for a couple of dives on Sunday at a cold Stoney, and it was fairly clear from the start of the day that it would not be just a nitrox course. Both Jack and Andy wanted to pass on plenty of little tips and trick from their vast diving experience which was well received by all.

The plan for the 1st dive was down to 20m and then do a few skill at 6m. The buddy teams were Jack, Faye, Dave & John, leaving me with Andy, Sue & Tim. After an initial weight check we started, which was ok apart from the cold water. After about 30mins of swimming along we did a few skill from regulator swapping to hovering at 5m and putting up a DSMB unaided but I for one was happy when we signalled to go up as it was starting to get cold. We then all made sure that we had plenty of hot drinks and a good debrief which included a few more tweaks to our kit and loads to Sue's!!!!!

The second dive was shorter and we switched instructor, it was good to see a few other ways to perform different task and improve on what we had done in the first dive .

I personal would like to thanks Jack and Andy for a good days diving and in helping make me think about different ways to do things. It was good news that everyone passed the course and took a lot away from it, this was a lot more than just a nitrox course and I would highly recommend it to anyone.

Mark Croson