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It seems Dodgy Dutton and Leanne Clow(n)es have been busy getting negative reviews pulled from Trip Advisor and the like. A thread on a UK diving forum also appears to have been pulled, which makes me wonder if she has complained to the site's admins. Their latest venture is they have set up a...

Clare Dutton has now been booted out of PADI: https://www.padi.com/consumer-alerts/expelled/instructors

They have been served with an improvement notice by the HSE following a breach of the Health and Safety at Work Act and two breaches of the Diving at Work Regulations. https://resources.hse.gov.uk/notices/breach/breach_list.asp?ST=B&SN=F&EO=%3D&SF=NN&SV=313776310

I have been told that they have cancelled the berthing for both their boats in Hafan Marina.

I did not know the boat was up for sale. Thanks for that. I understand the pool from their Pwllheli premises is for sale. I am aware of Phoenix Watersports.

Yes. I do. I have an email trail that incudes employees of PADI and the MCA that confirm there are ongoing investigations. My account is first hand experience, and I have an email trail that she has lied about when she will refund us. I have the emails with her ridiculous excuses for wanting...

Has anybody had any recent experience with them? We recently booked two days diving from their boat, Seaquest, based out of Pwllheli. We should have dived with them in March, but she tried to talk us into postponing due to poor visibility. We declined, but as the date of the booking drew...

Yes, I do trust the charts; I plan many dives in UK tidal waters, where diving on slack is essential. Tides can be predicted over 100 years in advance. The reason for the trick with the buoy is because while the charts are correct, you have to allow for some error: The charts give direction...

Get a chart of the area. It will give you the speed and direction according to the time before and after high water. If you know your tide times, you can easily work out the rate of current. When we are using a shot line, we have the usual weight on the bottom end, and a small A-0 buoy at the...

What do I win?

In the UK, commercial dive boats will never be coded for more than 12 divers.

I'm not sure what everyone is teaching now, but when I did PADI RD about nine years ago, I was taught rescue breaths every five seconds while towing. I have recently been doing the BSAC Advanced Diver course, which includes a review of rescue skills, and we are taught two on the surface, and...

I did mine after around 25 dives. As I said in the thread on strength and aerobic conditioning, there is never a bad time to learn rescue skills, and you do not need to be perfect; you can (and should) continue practising your skills after the course and improve them. I feel the best time to...

You do not need to be a superhero* to do PADI Rescue Diver; it is not going to turn the average diver into an instant pro. In my opinion, the reasons for taking the course should be to develop your awareness, develop your confidence, learn some techniques which you can improve over time, make...

Why do you need to know that a litre is 2.2 pints? If you work in metric, you will measure your SAC in litres. This also makes it easy to calculate your true air consumption - SAC X 1 at the surface, SAC X 2 at 10 metres, and then add one to the multiplier every additional 10 metres. Working...

Have you ever dived from the Gaelic Rose, based in Oban? It is a tiny fishing boat, converted into a liveaboard. The skipper always puts you in on the starboard side, but there is no opening in the gunwale to step through. To get in, you have to step over and place your feet on a ledge that...

Why? If I know the volume of the tank and the current pressure, I can easily calculate the contents at any time.

If you go to Indonesia, I can strongly recommend Bali Dive Cove if you need a dive operator. I know the owner very well from when I used to dive with her in Malta. She's a great guide and great fun. Bali Dive Cove - Diving

Getting out is probably the worst time not to have a reg in your mouth and a mask on your face. I have seen umpteen divers fall on their arse walking up the slipway at our local training site. When their head hits the water when they are not expecting it, and they are pinned down by heavy kit...

I dive in cold water too, and I cannot think of a single reason benefit from jumping in without a mask, but I can think of a few reasons not to do it. When I jump in, I want to know that every bit of kit that is there to enable me to execute the dive is in place and functioning as it should...