Kebab The Cat

Jumping Jesus on a blue bendy bicycle I've never been so scared in all my days.
Sunday, I'm leading a traditional climb graded Very Severe. A combination of a difficult start and some loose rock means I'm pumped and shitting it, lobbing loads of (unnecessary) protection into the rock. Anyway, I'm flapping a bit, thinking of the fall, thinking about crumbly rock and shit protection.. I'm about 10 metres from the finish point - which is a small tree/shrub growing straight out of the cliff. ...

A week passes, and I’ve done my homework from last week. This just involves reading chapter one of the PADI book and answering the questions at the end of the sections. No big deal.

Our classroom session starts by going over this homework. Pretty much everyone got all the questions correct, and any errors were more down to not reading the questions than a lack of understanding.

Dave, the instructor, gives us a talking-to about the kit we’re using – the regulators, ...

I thought I’d document the process of getting the PADI open water diver certificate through a scuba shop in the uk, mostly to aid my own learning process, and perhaps someone may find it useful in reaching a decision as to whether they will follow the same course.

I’ll start off with a brief bit about me. <edited because who basically needs to know..?> I’m pretty familiar with regulators, tanks, harnesses, pressure gauges, and lots of the technical looking equipment that goes ...