Scuba diver near Denia :-(

[Yngmar]

Unfortunately we managed to not only jam our anchor chain under a rock, but also tie it in a knot around it! It's in 8-10m depth, which was pushing my freediving abilities and we had to abandon it with a fender tied to it and a GPS waypoint.

Need a Scuba diver in Dénia or nearby (anchor is about 9 miles south near Cabo de Nao), preferably English speaking. Will go ask the local diving school tomorrow morning, but if someone happens to know one meanwhile, that'd be great to hear. Cheers!

 

[Yngmar]

Sorted. If you ever need a diver near Denia, Jose from the local PADI school at Marina El Portet got the job done on short notice and charged us a fair rate for two hours, including use of his RIB and fuel. No English except by phone translator, but we managed. Got all our gear back, although it was a struggle and I now know what it's like to haul all 70m of chain plus 25kg Rocna up by hand (twice - once into the RIB and then back onto the quay). :encouragement:

 

[cmedsailor]

Your story has reminded me my story! I was for years reluctant to do diving even though I understood the need to have my own kit on board for many reasons. Until that day two years ago when my anchor got stuck below a rock at around 7 meters of depth. I still cannot believe it that I managed to get it free with only one breath (well, in fact many breaths .....and I got really dizzy). After that I said "that's it". I did the PADI open water. bought my own diving equipment, did also lately the advanced course and have now completed many many dives as I eventually found out that down there is a wonderful world.

 

[Yngmar]

I do enjoy freediving, recreationally, although my ears are not brilliant at equalizing pressure, so I prefer shallow places. No room for Scuba gear on board and getting bottles refilled is apparently a hassle, so boats with Scuba gear then often also try to squeeze a compressor of some kind in somewhere - no way. I might look into something like a Spare Air or similar. But we've been liveaboard cruisers two years now and this is the first time we got it stuck and not back without help, so we're still way in the plus compared to buying any of that kit

 

[Paddy Fields]

If you are going to rely on freediving, and are pushing your limit, then always have a buddy watching you. Shallow water blackout is a killer.

 

[duncan99210]

We carry two sets of dive gear, as we both dive. However, the cylinders are a minor nightmare. Each country seems to have a different rule for testing and in Greece (no surprise) each dive centre has a different take on how the rules should be applied.... We now only use our own cylinders for emergency dives on the boat/anchor: when we dive for pleasure, we use th ones supplied by the dive centre.
Taking the cylinders back to UK this autumn for testing - they're about two years out of date but we've not used them in that time.

 

[sailaboutvic]

I brought a power dive in 2010 , not cheap but it's got me and other out of a problem many times now well worth it's money , it was very useful with our other boat that we copper-coat, one or two times a year I would use it to wipe off and slime on the bottom use it the other day to check out prop problem .
It packed away to nothing and you never out of air ,
I can reach down to nine metres but you can buy longer pipes .
Isn't any good if you want to go off and explore away from the boat , but you can buy them with a type of buoy which you can put a battery in if you what to go off exploring .