1995

My first open water dive was at Leybourne Lake near Maidstone, Kent in March 1995. Four months earlier Eve and I had been staying in Eilat, Israel. While on a Red Sea Sports cruise to Coral Island, just over the Egyptian border, we were tempted by a Try Dive and thoroughly enjoyed it. Two more Try Dives at Dolphin Reef, Eilat and a BSAC Novice Diver course with Aqua II of Sandgate, Kent quickly followed. On 12th March 1995 it was time for our first open water dive with Aqua II at Leybourne Lake. The Aqua II van got stuck in the mud by the side of the lake and all the divers gathered round to push it out. Suddenly the van pulled clear plastering some unwary divers in mud including one I had not met before: Graeme “Spotty” Hastings.

Not that he was called Spotty in those days. It was to be another 8 years before Graeme acquired that nickname on a Sea Hunter liveaboard trip to Cocos Island, Costa Rica with Eve and I in February 2003.

Graeme had just completed his BSAC Novice II training with Aqua II with his first open water dive at Lakeside Thurrock and was looking forward to his second dive. Eve and I were the last divers to enter Leybourne Lake as we had to wait for Graeme and our BSAC Instructor Chris Baker to complete their dive. Chris and Graeme got involved in an argument with some fishermen but eventually Chris was ready to take Eve and I on our first open water dives. It was a warm March day although the waters of Leybourne Lake seemed chilly to us in our borrowed semi-dry wetsuits. But I was far too excited to care about feeling cold. I enjoyed every second of my first dive. Both Eve and I were very over-weighted and the visibility was awful! I did not care. I was thrilled to at last be diving. Eve was not so excited. She felt cold, did not enjoy the dive and vowed never to dive in England again. And she has not. But nothing could dent my enthusiasm. I was now a BSAC Novice II Diver!

2000

Over five years passed before I returned to Leybourne Lake on 25th June 2000 (my dive 242) with my now regular dive buddy, Graeme “Spotty” Hastings for what was an uneventful dive.

2001

Spotty took charge of the underwater navigation on our next visit (my dive 436) on 21st October 2001, an overcast day. Spotty carefully set a bearing of 130° in the rain and we finned off to look for the Jacques Cousteau Memorial. Spotty missed it. My next two dives, on 1st November, were also at Leybourne Lake. This time, for the first time, I dived the New Hythe Lane lake rather than the Lunsford Lane lake, the lakes being linked by two narrow channels. I was there with Tony Davies of Seascape Scuba of Ashford for two PADI Drysuit Speciality Course open water dives.

2002

In February my dive buddy Rick gained his Assistant Instructor qualifications with Seascape Scuba - not that that stopped either of getting lost underwater or always remembering to zip our drysuits up before getting in the water! On 23rd February it was back to the Lunsford Lane lake (my dive 454) as Spotty was determined to finally find the Jacques Cousteau Memorial. This time he listened intently to instructions from Peter Simmonds of the Leybourne Lake Dive Centre before confidently set off. He missed it again. Perhaps it was to avoid further embarrassment to Spotty but after this, apart from my dives 620 and 795, Spotty and I did not dive the Lunsford Lane lake again. Spotty and I next returned on 3rd March (my dive 455) a day only memorable for my post-dive flat car battery. On 6th May, the lovely Kerry Wynn of Seascape Scuba patiently coaxed me through the PADI Medic First Aid course which was a lot more fun than Spottys and I's next Maidstone dive on 15th May (my dive 493). Three days later Spotty and I returned again (my dive 494) and finally our patience paid off – we saw a fish. A large roach. We must have been on a roll because on our next dive at Leybourne Lake (my dive 572) on 10th November, Spotty and I saw a perch and then on 15th December (my dive 619) we saw Percy, a one metre long pike. Too much excitement!

2003

On 25th January, Spotty and I entered the the Lunsford Lane lake (my dive 620) and finned through one of the two channels to the New Hythe Lane lake before eventually returning to our entry point. The water was only 5 degrees and with no other divers around, we amused ourselves by seeing who could record the deepest depth. For a while I held the record with 8.1 metres but then Spotty achieved 8.2 metres after which to thwart my chances of a comeback, he deliberately stirred up the lake bed, reducing the visibility to near zero. However to Spotty’s great disappointment, I was able to find part of the bed deep enough to equal his depth of 8.2 metres. On our next dive in the lake, on 15th March (my dive 647) we not only somehow managed to achieve a deeper depth, 9.1 metres, but also saw two fish. Admittedly one was dead. On 6th September I again dived the lake (my dive 719) this time with Chris Powell and Svenja Hickson from Ashford Dive Club and saw small schools of perch. At 19 degrees it was the warmest Leybourne Lake dive I had done. Next up was the infamous dive of 20th December 2003 – my dive 793. Spotty and I had set Chris and Svenja a challenge. Both buddy teams should attempt to dive as deep as possible in Leybourne Lake, dive computers would be compared afterwards and the winners would be buddy team whose average maximum depth was the deepest. Of course Spotty and I knew where the deepest point, 9.1 metres, was but to make absolutely certain of victory, we had a cunning plan. We let Chris and Svenja enter the water first and then took an open ended box and trowel with us – see “Malcolm & Spotty D793” photo. We intended to dig the box into the deepest point of the lake and then lower our dive computers into the box to hopefully achieve a depth of around 9.7 metres. One part of our plan worked very well as we were able to gain an extra 0.6 metres depth by digging the box into the lake bed. But unfortunately we could not find the deepest part of the lake, our deepest depth being just 8.5 metres. We surfaced to discuss tactics. Even if Chris and Svenja could find the deepest part of the lake, our extra 0.6 metres of depth would give us a total 9.1 metres, so the best they could hope for was a draw. We dropped back down. But the deepest we could now find was 8.2 metres. Eventually we gave up searching and sunk the box to achieve an overall depth of 8.8 metres. In the meanwhile Chris and Svenja had long since finished their dive. They had simply taken a trowel with them, gone to the deepest part of the lake and dug a hole to easily beat us.

2004

On New Years Day, Spotty and I challenged Chris and Svenja to a rematch – my dive 794. To make absolutely certain of victory this time Spotty and I not only armed ourselves with another open ended box and trowel but also brought with us a sketch plan of the lake. Supplied by Chris Webb of Shorncliffe Dive Centre, Folkestone it showed the approximate position of a 12 metre hole. However although we searched for ages, we could not find the hole. Still, with the aid of our latest box we did manage to record a depth of 9.1 metres. Chris and Svenja recorded 10.0 metres. Spotty and I returned on 1st February (my dive 795) for an uneventful dive but my next two dives (my dives 898 and 899) on 21st August were very enjoyable. Until December 2003 I had taken a video camera on dives but then I purchased my first underwater camera, a compact camera and signed up for a PADI Underwater Photographer course with Robert Varnes of Dive Machine, Tonbridge. We agreed to postpone the course until the following summer when the lake would be warmer and were rewarded with a water temperature of 21 degrees! Quite apart from all the photography knowledge that Robert passed onto me, I was amazed how Robert spotted so much fish life that I was oblivious to. I was particularly pleased with some photographs I took of juvenile pike. And my final Leybourne Lake dive of year was 8 days later (my dive 902) with Chris Powell after an Ashford Dive Club trip aboard Tauras Cat to look for the wreck of a World War II German aircraft, had to be postponed due to bad weather.

2005

For the second year running I dived Leybourne Lake on New Years Day, my dive 978. My two dive clubs, Ashford Dive Club and Channel Divers were well represented although several divers who told me that they would be there, failed to turn up, no doubt due to New Year’s Eve celebrations! Absentees included Spotty and partner Dee Smith, Spotty being so hungover it took him until the afternoon just to crawl to the bathroom! My Ashford Dive Club buddy Richard Everett and I had a disappointing dive in a water temperature of 5 degrees, not that I was going to admit that to Spotty! Returning to Leybourne the next day with Spotty and Dee (my dive 979), I took my overseas regulators as my UK regulators were being serviced. About twenty-five minutes into the dive my overseas regulator went into freeflow throwing out small chunks of ice while Dee’s drysuit had a significant leak. Spotty and Dee wanted to prepare for a forthcoming Austrian Ice Diving trip so one week later, having got my UK regulators back, I dived the lake again with them - my dive 980. Dee’s drysuit sprung a leak again forcing her to abort the dive but Spotty and I carried on. With no other divers in the lake we amused ourselves by deliberately stirring up the silt on the lakebed to create almost zero visibility. Afterwards Dee told us that not only were there some other divers in the lake but also that one of the divers was on a course that involved retrieving objects. Opps. Dee fixed her leak and she successfully tested it with another dive at Leybourne (my dive 983) one week later. This time there really were no other divers in the lake so Spotty and I spent almost the entire dive fooling around, deliberately scooping up mud from the lake bed to create zero visibility. My final dive of the year at Leybourne (my dive 1065) was with Shorncliffe Dive Centre of Folkestone and I took photographs of Chris Webb, the dive centre owner in the lake with his dog, Wrex.

2006

On New Years Day 2006 I dived Leybourne Lake for the third consecutive year (my dive 1182). After snow and sub-zero temperatures in the week leading up to New Year’s Day, it was perhaps not surprising to find that many of the divers who had signed up for the Ashford Dive Club New Year’s Day dive failed to turn up, even though the weather had turned milder. Just five Ashford Dive Club members made it on the day and one, Richard Everett, had forgotten his weights. This left Tim Sheerman-Chase, Steve Springett, Chris Powell and I and we split into two buddy pairs. Unfortunately Tim and Steve had a problem with their dive kit so eventually only Chris and I completed the dive. My Typhoon ice-breaker dry suit heating system was not working and as soon as Chris and I descended my hands felt very cold indeed. It was the first time that my Osteoarthritis had really affected me on a dive. The water was 3 degrees, one degree less than the coldest temperature I had dived in todate and my hands were extremely painful throughout the dive. Unknown to me, Chris had a small leak in his dry suit and must have felt equally uncomfortable. Never had the postdive warmth of my car heating system been so welcome! My second and final Leybourne dive of the year (my dive 1230) was on June 16th. I had just acquired a Nikon D200 digital SLR as a replacement for my compact camera. I was keen to test it out and Chris Powell kindly joined me for an easy dive in the lake in a water temperature of 20 to 22 degrees!