Stoney Cove on a lovely sunny February morning. We were expecting the lower car park to be pretty empty and the vis. to be good. A group of 8 of us had traveled to Stoney, some to do training some to practice skill and some just as a refresher before they head out for the warmer waters around the Maldives.

Most of us arrived around 9:30 to find the lower car park completely full and the rear car park filling up fast. Dave once again came to our rescue and had reserved a place in the lower car park so we were able to set up base camp on the back of his van.

After kitting up we all head down to The Bus Stop to start our 1st dive. The sun was shining, but there were plenty of layers on under the drysuits to fend off the cold. Dive computers were reporting the surface temperature as 5° C and boy was it cold on the exposed areas like the face.

Looking down from the surface it was clear that the vis. was not quite as it had been reported on the board. 2 - 3m max. rather than 5m. It was going to be fun trying to keep everyone together in a group as was the plan and how true it was. This was not the best of dives but as ever, every dive in Stoney is a training dive and a learning experience. Most still managed a 30 minute dive in these near freezing temperature. Fortunately the sun shone throughout the day which kept everyone in a bright an cheery mood.

After a sausage an bacon cob and a nice hot cup of tea we were planning our 2nd dive. How mad are we. A little less adventurous and slightly fewer in numbers. But still it turned out to be quite eventful.

The day was finished off with a debrief and refreshments in Nemo's Bar and talk of our next excursion. Some heading to Chepstow next weekend for a skill development course.