Hello everyone. Just to update Tim and Frankies’ progress with the BSAC First Class Diver course. The exam which took place in May ran over two days. Along with the two DJL candidates we also had Frank from Divepoint. Apart from the expedition plan which had to be submitted at the start of the exam we all had to plan either a reef survey, a wreck survey or a lift. So there was plenty to keep us occupied. Starting with the lift which Frank was in charge for we were able to maneuver a large block from the bottom up to the surface and then onto the boat, which all went swimmingly. Tim’s wreck survey also proved to be very achievable and did not produce any unexpected problems. This was also was the case for Frankie’s lead at Hin Wong Bay.
The following day however things were about to get a little more testing. Upon arriving at 9 we were told we would need to build and place two gates for an underwater orienteering course. Definitely something new to get our collective heads around. Frank was in charge of the design. Frankie and Tim were there to help create and place the gates in the water.
As the dimensions had to be 2m by 3m and had to maintain an exact depth of 10m to 13m this was requiring a lot of thinking and team work. However Frank came up with a suitable system. So after a couple of hours we seemed about ready to get the structure under the water. This was unfortunately where the team came up short. When placed in the water the lines we were using became entangled. As a result we were unable to properly deploy the two gates. That said we achieved a lot and more importantly learnt a lot.
We were all debriefed individually a couple of days later and I’m very glad to say that all three candidates passed!! So with one part out of the way we look forward to the theory exam in coming months. Good luck to everyone and we hope we will see them celebrating a new achievement soon.