Latest News - Dive South

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04/11/20

Fun last day at Vobster for a while, two nice dives with a few skills and some line laying practice:) Really enjoyed it! Can't wait to get back underwater, hopefully soon. Thanks to all the staff at Vobster! @divesouth #divesouth #learntoscuba #sidemount #ukdiving #scubadivinguk #diveraidUK Vobster Quay Inland Diving Centre ... See MoreSee Less

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Dive South

01/11/20

Great dive up at Vobster yesterday evening! Lisa and Emma in fancy dress with Marcus taking some great pictures of them, while Jon ran some skill excercises, and then we toured the far side of Vobster. A Happy Halloween indeed! ... See MoreSee Less

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Awesome. Great pics

Dive South

30/10/20

We’re heading up to Vobster tomorrow pm session, if anyone fancies joining us, please let me know so I can see if we can add some spaces to our booking:) It may be a bit of a spooky one. Happy Halloween 🎃 👻 👿 🧙‍♀️ 💀 ... See MoreSee Less

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Damn have to work 😢😅

Dive South

25/10/20

Congratulations to Kev and Adam on completing their Raid Deep 40 dives yesterday.

It wasn't exactly the day for taking photos, but it was perfect conditions for ducks and these two divers. To quote Kev "This was up there in his top 3 dives!" it seemed these two just loved the eeriness of descending into the depths (too many sci-fi movies watched, I think) and the journey back up the line to see the quarry wall, and back up to the 20m ledge to see the Jaquin reappear.

Both dives were really enjoyable, they worked well together, good team work and we had lots of laughs too. Well done, and great work guys. So looking forward to diving some of the local wreck dives with you soon.

Thank you to Dave for all your help and providing surface support today, I think you drew the short straw yesterday (very wet on supposedly dry land). Thank you, as it meant I got to dive with Rich and the guys today:)
@divesouth #divesouth #diveraiduk #learntoscuba #deep40 #divebuddies #scubadivinguk #drysuit ... See MoreSee Less

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Stuff

Congratulations chaps! 🥳 #awesome

Cheers all for a great day (weather aside). Looking forward to many more!

Had a blast as always so massive thanks to you all and thanks Adam for having my back 🙂

Well done boys.

Excellant stiff...well done guys....Next time we are out in a group I will thoroughly enjoy watching you both descend from 18m😎

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Dive South

18/10/20

Sunday Sunday, pool-based funday!

Today saw us in the pool with a great group!

Lisa was helping Tara to get comfortable in our wings and long hose setup, and refreshing some of her Raid skills off the back of her recent open water 20 course in Australia. All in preparation to venturing into UK waters and upcoming night dive and dry suit courses with us.

Rich was working with Madison and Stephanie on their RAID try dives. Madison is settling into the kit nicely, and it was great to see Stephanie finally understand her other half’s obsession with scuba!

Dave was checking through some new sidemount kit and looking pretty sharp in it, while Sam and Rob dropped in for a fun dive and some new kit configuration work:)

Big thanks to Justin for all his support and to Sally for her fantastic oversight!

Unfortunately we were all having far too much fun in the pool to get the usual pictures! Next time!! ... See MoreSee Less

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Dive South

18/10/20

Not quite sure what's going on here, definitely caption time ... ... See MoreSee Less

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"Crotch strap too tight....act normal........smile through the pain........(oh god it hurts!)"

“Part of your open water exam is to irish dance in your dry suit, let me show you”

Dive South

18/10/20

Saturday was Deep40 day!

The team had a really great day at Vobster Quay with Adam and Kev making a very solid start into their RAID Deep40 course!

Ok it was a bit of an early start, but the diving made it all worthwhile, and it was good to explore a different section of Vobster. Adam and Kev work well as a buddy pair and keep the mood light. With their experience and ability, they had no issues on the dives. It was great to see their skills in practice and how composed they were throughout!

Thanks to Dave for his in water support and Lisa for staying on dry land as our surface support.

We are looking forward to next week’s Deep40 and recreational Trimix dive – bring it on!
@DiveSouth #DiveSouth #learntoscuba #diveraiduk #deep40 Vobster Quay Inland Diving Centre ... See MoreSee Less

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Well done guys.....

You did not dive then

Dive South

17/10/20

Fantastic day with Dave, Kev, Adam, Lisa and Rich doing the first two dives of the RAID Deep40 course. A solid start from some very decent divers! We’re really looking forward to next weekend! ... See MoreSee Less

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Good look !

Dive South

16/10/20

A really great short film of our recent Lundy trip, put together by David Gwyer. Thanks David for all your hard work in planning and putting together, really great memories for everyone, and really shows how amazing Lundy Island and UK diving is, especially the privilege of diving with the grey seals:))

Watch this space as we will be releasing details for next years Lundy Trip really soon! ... See MoreSee Less

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count me in for next trip!

Dive South

11/10/20

We had great fun yesterday on our fun dive day at Portland at Dive Beyond. Even though it was a bit windy we managed to get two nice dives in.

First one was the Spaniard Wreck just inside the harbour wall, a 3000 ton Spanish steamship, sank in 1900, she lies in max 15m of water quite broken up and it is a very silty dive, but we all had a good dive, Rich loved finding all the little swim throughs in his sidemount gear:) Viz was around 2-3m.

The second dive was a very slow drift dive at Church Ope Cove, nice rocky boulders to have a look around, I was on the look out for crawfish and we found one about 40 mins into the dive at around 13/14m. We also saw lots of male and female cuckoo wrasse, balloon wrasse, pollack, a lobster, rescued a dogfish and saw another one, that really did not mind me getting close with the wide angle. Viz was 4-5m.

Really nice day, Thanks to Rich, Dave, Jon and Alan and the guys at Dive Beyond:))
@DiveSouth #divesouth #scubadivinguk #LearnToScuba #diveraiduk #diveraid #portlanddiving #LoveUKdiving #divebeyond

More information on some of the UK Sponges, Corals and Bryozoans....
https://lymebayreserve.co.uk/marine-life/…

https://www.marlin.ac.uk/gallery/species

https://www.britishmarinelifepictures.co.uk ... See MoreSee Less

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Dive South

09/10/20

Happy World Octopus Day!

This is still the best UK encounter we have ever had with an Octopus, just incredible to see such a rare sighting at one of our local dive sites. The common octopus (O. vulgaris)🐙 was huge!

Such awesomely intelligent creatures, just fascinating to watch.

If you have not yet watched the documentary My Octopus Teacher, it’s well worth a watch.

https://netflix.com/watch/81045007/…

A few facts you may wish to learn about...

https://nhm.ac.uk/discover/… ... See MoreSee Less

Play

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Dive South

08/10/20

Just received some lovely feedback from Sam, we just had to share, Big thank you! It's been such great fun working with you over the past few weeks and really great to see the progression and confidence in your diving skills and experiences grow, and can see how much enjoyment you have for being back underwater, and in the UK too. We are looking forward to many more local dives with you and hopefully some citizen science ones too:)

Always wanted to try scuba diving or take your diving to the next level? Get in touch info@divesouth.co.uk
@DiveSouth #divesouth #learntoscuba #diveraiduk #padi #scubadivinguk #scubadivinglife #diving #trydive ... See MoreSee Less

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Outstanding!!

Fantastic!!!

Dive South

05/10/20

Workflow for Underwater Photographers: Part One ... See MoreSee Less

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Dive South

04/10/20

Who is joining us next weekend for our Portland Fun dive day? Dives will be decided this week depending on numbers and experience levels. Please comment below and I will send you out the online booking info for you to book on. Cheers, Lisa ... See MoreSee Less

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Black Hawk can be a nice dive

Dive South

04/10/20

Just the usual larking about before the dives yesterday:) ... See MoreSee Less

Play

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Richard's timing still needs a little work (and style, content, commitment, etc etc...) 😁

Always fun with Dive South.

Dive South

04/10/20

We had a great day a Vobster yesterday albeit a wet and windy one, big congratulations to Sam on completing his 30m qualification, it's been a pleasure to work with you over the past few weeks, and being able to introduce to you to UK diving, lots of different dive sites around the coast and fresh water inland sites. From reviewing your skills, through all your dives and your deep dive yesterday its been great fun, lots of new experiences, skills learned and new friends made:)

Also a big well done to Danni for completing another of her dives towards her open water qualification, which saw you qualify as a Scuba Diver yesterday, yay!. Great to see you in complete control with your buoyancy, which is certainly going to help with your equalising:)) Looking forward to you joining us in the next couple of weeks to finish off your dives to see you qualify as an open water diver.

A big thank you to the whole Team, the logistics, dive planning and scheduling worked really well yesterday and we were actually running to time nice and smoothly. Rosie for your surface support and helping checking us in and out of the water, with spare weights etc. James has joined the team to start working towards his Divemaster, it's great to have you onboard and slotting in nicely to help support our new divers.

Thank you to Dave and Rich for all your in water/teaching support (just don't leave your van keys with Dave lol!)

I managed to also get a quick tour in with James, and a quick dive with Rich for a quick visit to the jesters and back up the tunnel to take a few snaps.

Unfortunately it was too wet to stick around for photos at the quarry so we headed to the pub for a full debrief, Sam had to dash off as it was his Dad's Birthday (Happy Birthday!) we couldn't leave him out of the team photo though :))

Thanks everyone ... See MoreSee Less

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Congrats everyone!

Dive South

01/10/20

Just had to share, thank you Crystal for sharing your experiences as a new mum, how life has changed and the new challenges & adventures that brings with your return to scuba diving. Excited for your family and the amazing adventures you are all going to have..."I often heard people tell me that when you have a child, the life as you know it is over. What I found instead is that your once adventurous life is definitely not over, but just beginning."

Crystal Lazanyi-McJarrow is a young instructor and newly made mother with a passion for diving and adventure. Discover her experiences of scuba diving as a first time mother including that first postpartum dive, and the challenges of breastfeeding in a drysuit...

Read more > https://fourthelement.com/scuba-diving-as-a-first-…; ... See MoreSee Less

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Dive South

01/10/20

Great idea for old plastic bottle caps, who wants to get involved? We are happy to, as a club we could do this collectively;) ... ... See MoreSee Less

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This is fantastic! Hoorah for the brothers!

Dive South

29/09/20

We were very lucky that our Portland dive day on Saturday was still able to go ahead despite the Northerly winds.

The first dive was as planned the James Fennel (although some saw more of the wreck than others lol), viz was 3m. The second dive the Binnendijk was binned due to the conditions and the bumpy ride to the Fennel decided that one. So we ended up doing Church ope cove drift instead, viz was better on this dive 4-5m. Lovely day, especially when sheltered from the wind, we saw, large pollack, male and female cuckoo wrasse, crawfish (which seem to be making a come back to the area, which is lovely to see), edible crabs, nudibranchs, bib, ballan wrasse, tompots etc. Lovely to meet some new faces on the boat too. Thanks to Dive Beyond, Jon, Rich, Sarah, Seb and Amy:)

Join us for our next Portland Dive day on 10 October check out the events on Facebook or email lisa@divesouth.co.uk to book your space.
@DiveSouth #divesouth #scubadivinguk #LearnToScuba #diveraiduk #portlanddiving #LoveUKdiving ... See MoreSee Less

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Dive South

28/09/20

What a day Sunday was!
After a morning of planning dives, kit setting up, paperwork and briefings, we headed to Vobster for some training dives for four courses!

It was really great to see Danni enjoying her first open water experience and a big smile upon surfacing!

Sam knocked it out of the park with his stability during his dSMB work, and very nearly completed the 4321 game – very nice work fella!

Some solid good light communication demonstrated by Rosie too on the Night Dive. Apparently we were very visible to our surface cover from 13mtrs away! We even had the company of a crayfish on the night dive, he was very cool:)

Massive thanks to our TDM James for his logistical support and help in the water too. He was everywhere he needed to be before we needed him – absolutely brilliant!

Such a fun day everyone, thanks for your company and we loved diving with you all:)

What's your next adventure? Open water, Advanced, Drysuit, Night, Wreck, Deep, Rescue, Nitrox, Divemaster? Fancy joining us on one of our courses or out on a club dive, get in touch with us at info@divesouth.co.uk

@Divesouth #Divesouth #diveraiduk #DiveRaid #LearnToScuba #scubadivingUK #Openwaterdiving #DSMBdiving #Nightdiving #Divemaster Vobster Quay Inland Diving Centre ... See MoreSee Less

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Dive South

24/09/20

Some usual tips for all you keen underwater photographers out there.

We have seen over the past few months since lockdown a considerable rise in divers taking to our local waters which is fantastic news:)

The south coast has some incredible dive sites for all divers and a great place to take photos, check some of ours out on our page too to see the sort of marine life we’ve managed to capture on camera:)) ... See MoreSee Less

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Dive South

24/09/20

We still have a few spaces for this Saturday diving out from Portland, 1st Dive the wreck James Fennel, very pretty dive, lots of Crawfish the last time we dived it, max depth 18m £35pp perfect for Open water qualified divers. 2nd dive is the Binnendijk Wreck max depth 28m £35pp. Message me lisa@divesouth.co.Uk ... See MoreSee Less

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Dive South

23/09/20

Still a few spaces for this Saturday, diving the James Fennel & the Binnendijk ... See MoreSee Less

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Dive South

22/09/20

Join Paul Rose tomorrow evening... ... See MoreSee Less

Paul Rose, Explorer and Presenter - Zoom talk

blesma.org

You’re invited! A man at the front line of exploration and one of the world’s most experienced divers, field science and polar experts, Paul Rose helps scientists unlock and communicate global mys...

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Dive South is with Calli Danahan.

21/09/20

Such a great pool session this Sunday, just the best feeling seeing new and returning divers progressing so well.

We had Danni doing her final open water confined dives, all ready for heading off to open water next weekend, well done Dani, looking very comfortable in the water.

Sam finding his feet again with his buoyancy and trim, after a break from diving as he works towards his 30m qualification, he got on so well, we moved into some finning techniques, including turns, stopping and backward finning.

Great to welcome Madison back to the pool for another try dive session, looking forward to you joining us soon for your open water course.

We welcome James into the team as he starts his Divemaster journey, it's great to have you on board, we're going to have a lot of fun:)

Thanks to Rich, Dave, and Justin:))

@DiveSouth #DiveSouth #LearnToScuba #diveraiduk #DiveRaid #scubadivinguk #openwatercourse #divemastertraining #trydive #scubadiving #underwaterphotography ... See MoreSee Less

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Dive South

21/09/20

A little update from our local inland dive site...Thank you for all your efforts over the summer – we are so pleased to have had so many divers and swimmers able to visit safely.

However…. There are clearly stormclouds ahead for all of us and we would like to reinforce some covid principles and controls for safe enjoyment of Vobster Quay during the Autumn.

Firstly, please do not visit Vobster Quay if you or your family have symptoms. That is stating the obvious, but there’s no shame in that. Please also do not visit Vobster if you or your family are waiting for a covid test result. No single individual swim or dive is more important than our collective safety please.

Once you are here – please, please pay more attention to social distancing. It’s so easy to imagine the real world is far away from escaping into the water, but if we want to keep it that way, good distancing and mask use is essential.

Changing for swimming. We have invested in new changing areas to reduce the clumping of swimmers at the swim entry. Please don’t arrive at the swim entry until you are ready to swim - ie in wetsuit or swim suit without clothes over the top. Pop your gear on the bench from the entry side, swim, exit and collect your gear on the exit side. A quick towel off, or removing the top of your suit is OK here, but a complete change is not allowed. Please do not walk the wrong way through these areas. To help provide options for changing, check at the top of the ramp when you arrive to confirm whether or not you can park at the bottom. Please use the spaces if parking at the bottom.

Spectators, children and dogs. Sadly, it’s not the year for any of these at Vobster Quay. One person as a spotter is fine in non lifeguarded session, but please do not bring extra spectators, children or furry friends. Vobster Quay is limited to active swimmers and divers.

Thanks in advance for all your cooperation - we have come too far to relax our guard in more challenging times to come.

Cheers,

The Vobster Team ... See MoreSee Less

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Dive South

19/09/20

It's definitely the season for night diving, here are some of our encounters from last nights's dive at Chesil beach. The large (around 25cm) cuttlefish was my favourite, displaying such amazing patterning, from smooth stripes to spike mottled brown, just incredible.

Interested in joining us for night dives let us know and if you haven't yet experienced night dives we will be running some courses in the next few weeks, please get in touch with us on Facebook or email us info@divesouth.co.uk
@divesouth #DiveSouth #nightdiving #scubadivinguk #learntoscuba #diveraid #diveraiduk #PADI #underwaterphotography #chesil #cephalopod #UKcephalopodreports ... See MoreSee Less

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Can't wait to be able to join you on these!

Dive South

19/09/20

Join RAID today and enjoy RAID membership until 31st December 2021. Yet another reason to join the RAID family.

https://mailchi.mp/diveraiduk/…

#diveraiduk ... See MoreSee Less

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Dive South

19/09/20

Earlier this week we headed to down to Ilfracombe with a great bunch of divers to visit Lundy Island to dive with the seals. What a great experience and a fantastic trip, thank you all it was such a blast. Although sadly the second day was blown out and we couldn't cross to the Island we all had such a fun first day and a lot of laughs.

The first day's crossing was flat calm although very foggy, you could only see the island appearing from the mist once we got to Rat Island, we were all watching out for dolphins on the way out, but they didn't come in close to play with the boat they kept their distance.

The first dive of the day was the wreck of the Carmine Filomena, a very scenic dive, covered in kelp and plant life, starfish, snakeslock anemones and urchins, lots of huge spider crabs and wrasse, with little swim throughs towards the stern section, well that's if you made it to the stern section and didn't come off the wreck lol:))

The second dive we made our way to Brazen Ward a small shallow bay, for some seal time. The viz was reduced, mainly due to the seals bombing about, in and out of the small cave swim throughs. It is mating season, so they were very much more interested in each other than they were us, but it was really lovely to see them together and we did get some playful tugs on our fins and managed to get closer to them around the cave areas and the sleepy seals.

We even made a quick detour on the way home via Chesil for a few of us to get a dive in together before heading home. Viz was a milky 3m with a fair bit of surge but a nice dive to round off the trip.

Great trip, can't wait til next year:) Thank you all and a big thank you to the amazing Lundy Diving Team on Obsession II :)) See you all again next year! @divesouth #DiveSouth #learntoscuba #scubadivinguk #diveRaid #diveraiduk #padi #seals #Lundy #lundyisland #lundydiving #underwaterphotography #olympus #nauticam ... See MoreSee Less

$Earlier this week we headed to down to Ilfracombe with a great bunch of divers to visit Lundy Island to dive with the seals. What a great experience and a fantastic trip, thank you all it was such a blast. Although sadly the second day was blown out and we couldnt cross to the Island we all had such a fun first day and a lot of laughs.The first days crossing was flat calm although very foggy, you could only see the island appearing from the mist once we got to Rat Island, we were all watching out for dolphins on the way out, but they didnt come in close to play with the boat they kept their distance.The first dive of the day was the wreck of the Carmine Filomena, a very scenic dive, covered in kelp and plant life, starfish, snakeslock anemones and urchins, lots of huge spider crabs and wrasse, with little swim throughs towards the stern section, well thats if you made it to the stern section and didnt come off the wreck lol:))The second dive we made our way to Brazen Ward a small shallow bay, for some seal time. The viz was reduced, mainly due to the seals bombing about, in and out of the small cave swim throughs. It is mating season, so they were very much more interested in each other than they were us, but it was really lovely to see them together and we did get some playful tugs on our fins and managed to get closer to them around the cave areas and the sleepy seals.We even made a quick detour on the way home via Chesil for a few of us to get a dive in together before heading home. Viz was a milky 3m with a fair bit of surge but a nice dive to round off the trip.Great trip, cant wait til next year:) Thank you all and a big thank you to the amazing Lundy Diving Team on Obsession II :)) See you all again next year! @divesouth #DiveSouth #learntoscuba #scubadivinguk #diveRaid #diveraiduk #padi #seals #Lundy #lundyisland #lundydiving #underwaterphotography #olympus #nauticam$