At 9 o'clock we piled into the car where the temperature gauge was reading a head numbing minus 3 degrees c . The trip to Chepstow was incident free although we did receive a number of text messages from friends (I use that term loosely!) saying how warm it was in their beds and wishing us good luck for the dive.
 
On arrival at Chepstow National Diving and Activity Centre (NDAC) it was clear that most divers had taken the sensible option and stayed in bed! However, it was a perfect winters day with clear blue sky and little wind. We were able to park in a sunny spot to help thaw our bones out before kitting up.
 
The 'Crazy Bus' ride to the pontoon area was as exciting as normal but this time we had the bus to ourselves. Upon accessing the pontoon, there was clearly a lack of bubbles on the water and it appeared that we would have the quarry almost to ourselves. 
 
The two dives were for the purpose of 'pleasure' and also to 'break in' the new dry suit worn by one of our team prior to the Extreme Ironing Dive to be undertaken next weekend. After contemplating how much additional weight would be needed (shall I just strap an anvil to myself for the first dive?!) we entered the water and descended on to the North Sea Diving Bell. At approximately 5 metres, the cold water (8 degrees c!) hit our faces with a feeling akin to placing ones extremities into a freezer! However, other parts of the body appeared to be warm if a little shrivelled, so we set off to explore the quarry. 

Due to lack of divers on this particular day, the visibility was superb with some 8 - 10 metres in places. This also appeared to be due to a lack of rainfall disturbing debris on the rock face and the lack of divers disturbing the bottom sediment. From the diving bell we headed to the plane (25m) and then onto the Wessex helicopter. From there we were able to navigate to the road leading to the upper part of the rear end of the quarry which is home to many of the attractions. We were able to see the personnel carrier, armoured truck, light aircraft and the smaller helicopter.

The member of our team wearing his new dry suit was insistent on penetrating anything possible (!?) including army vehicles and also the swim through tubes. Amazingly (!) his buoyancy was excellent with the exception of one or two Polaris style ascent between 10 and 5 metres!
 
Between the two dives, cheeseburgers were consumed and there was also a tasty home made beef stew from the wonderful NDAC food van which quickly warmed us up as the sun started to set on a beautiful crisp winters afternoon.
 
All in all, a fantastic couple of dives despite the water only registering 8 degrees c on the thermometer. Looking forward to the Extreme Ironing Dive at NDAC next week with the rest of the Dive Right crew.
 
As a side note we would also like to give a special mention to the Welsh boys who seemed to have entered an Extreme Belching contest when exiting the water - you made us laugh lads!