Published: 20 December 2024
By: Joe
Dear valued dive school or club,
Thank you for all your support in 2024 – it’s been great to see all the diving and have some very positive feedback from many of you. We do also like constructive improvement comments and hope we have kept up with your expectations there also.
The year has ended with a major setback for visibility in the Quay. The fallen trees in the SW corner have destabilised the bank above and that has now collapsed to the full height of the quarry. What this reveals is that the bank was made of unconsolidated gravel over clay and under trees. That skin of vegetation has slipped in and impacted the viz – there is now no visibility in the quay and it is not possible to supervise divers safely. Many dive schools have already chosen to cancel bookings and we fully understand the reasons why.
The next step is to ensure that this cannot repeat at a more important time of the year and also to predict when the viz will be back at a safe and enjoyable level.
The first step is now complete – we have cleared the remaining unstable spoil from the slip – the remainder does not look like it could produce the same quarry sized effect again. That should prevent ‘surprises’ once training and diving have restarted.
Predicting the viz? The settlement of fine particles is a slow process and the maths has too many variables to do by equation. The best option we have is to measure the Secchi depth each day and extrapolate a date for the return of 2m and 5m viz – those are useful minimums for basic training and large group control in almost normal conditions. That process needs a good data set to provide reasonable predictions – we don’t have that yet.
We intend to make a first prediction early in the New Year and very much hope that will be for 2m viz sometime in early Feb. Anything before then will be a bonus, but please stay tuned for more reliable numbers in Jan. We will update via email, facebook and an ongoing news article on the website. Please feel free to share this information with all your divers.
This isn’t the Christmas present any of us were hoping for – we have never had viz as poor as this for as long as this will take to clear. We know that many of you find the viz reliable and that this underpins the safety of your training.
Thanks again for 2024 and fins crossed for swift settling in 2025!
