"Where Was I?"

locum-motion · 24-09-2011 5:55pm #1

Does anyone here read the Sunday Times?

In its Travel section each week, there's a competition where a trip is described (a day trip, a hike, a visit to a monument) but with most of the identifying names removed. At the end there's a couple of questions about where the writer was.

So, for example: A couple of weeks ago the article spoke about an island with an elevation of 2,575ft, on which an Indian-born novelist spent much of his last three years.

The questions might be something like:

1) What's the name of the famous tidal race to the north of the island?
2) Who was the novelist?

I thought it might be a good idea to have something similar here.
Describe a dive; how did you get there?, what depth?, what did you see? Include some specific and verifiable nugget of info (like the elevation in the example above), but leave out any actual names, and then ask a couple of questions about the dive.

I suggest the following rules:

a. There must be 2 questions.
b. Both questions relating to a particular story/dive must be answered before you can progress onto a new story.
c. Don't write a new story unless you have answered at least one of the questions in the previous story. Otherwise it'll be all stories/questions and no answers.
d. Try to keep it legible; too many "there/they're/their" errors will detract from it.

Perhaps, if the concept is successful, the thread might be stickied.

And, if you're itching to know, the answers to the above questions are:
1) The Gulf of Corryvreckan
2) George Orwell

locum-motion · 24-09-2011 6:32pm

So, I'll get the ball rolling:

Yesterday morning, three carloads of divers bid farewell to the boat that had been their home for a week. We took a ferry from one Mainland to a different - much larger - one, and started a looong drive. Many hours later, we passed through a seaside town that is named for the river that passes through it, and for the lake that was our destination. We drove on, and passed by several locks on the canal that parallels the river, until we had reached the lake, which is 15.8m above sea level.

The lake is long and thin, and the road hugs its northwestern shore along most of its length. About 2/3 of the way along stands a Youth Hostel, with a carpark and access to the water, and this was what we needed.

We didn't expect to see much (this was intended to be purely a 'been there, done that' dive for the logbook), but it did promise a very slight chance that we could see something truly spectacular. After all, this lake is something of a mecca for students of cryptozoology.

7 brave souls kitted up and headed for the water, leaving 3 others to provide surface cover. Sinking beneath the surface, we found it to be clear, but with a distinct reddish tinge to it, like looking at things through the red lens of the old-style 3D glasses. Reaching about -5m, very little could be seen outside of the torch's beam, and by -10m there was absolutely no daylight whatsoever. It was like being on a night dive. The bottom was a very fine silt studded with pebbles, which a hand could sink right into, and of course billowed up in great clouds around a careless fin. Nevertheless, when one stayed clear of the bottom, visibility in the torch beam was a good 5m. Looking up, one could see a red surface above as opposed to the usual blue/green, and bubbles rising up in a shimmering golden/orange cloud. In all other directions, though, visibility remained stubbornly at precisely 0m, except where you pointed your torch.

Having startled a couple of sticklebacks on our safety stop, we returned to the surface, and in due course continued on our drive. Many hours later, we boarded another ferry which took us home, with fond memories of the wrecks we had been diving for the week. The wrecks are all that's left of 74 ships that all sank on the same Midsummer's day. Tired and weary, we arrived back this morning and after redistributing the contents of the cars to their respective owners, all separated and went on our merry ways.

The questions:

1. What is the sight that would have been truly spectacular, had we managed to see it? (Or should I say 'her'?)

2. What year did the wrecks go down?

Mech1 · 24-09-2011 6:48pm

1. Loch Ness Monster
2. 1919

locum-motion · 24-09-2011 7:06pm

Mech1 wrote: »

1. Loch Ness Monster
2. 1919

Well done, Mech1, that was quick!

Did I make it too easy?
What do you think of the concept of the thread?
Where's your story and questions?

locum-motion · 25-09-2011 6:02pm

In my original set of rules for the thread, I suggested that only a person who had answered at least one of the questions could then repost a new story and questions.

This evidently won't work.

Mech1 answered the questions, but didn't repost a story and questions of his own. I've perused his/her (probably 'his', tbh) post history, and I think it's likely that Mech1 isn't a diver, and so therefore doesn't have a story to tell.

Therefore, I propose the following:
If the person who answers the questions 'drops the ball' by not posting a story and questions of their own within, say, 6 hours, then any other user may 'pick up the ball' and post.

Is that fair enough?

Also, I'm still interested in people's opinion on the thread concept and whether I made it too easy or not.

Thanks for reading.

locum-motion · 25-09-2011 6:04pm

I see the thread has been viewed 94 times now.
Do some of those people have a story to tell?
Who's gonna pick up the ball?

howtomake · 29-09-2011 4:18pm

locum-motion wrote: »

I see the thread has been viewed 94 times now.
Do some of those people have a story to tell?
Who's gonna pick up the ball?

I like the idea, would love to cheer you on, this forum needs it. It might be a bit too cumbersome for the time I post on boards, usually I just have typing diarrhea on here (you are obviously very articulate:)), or when I need a break from doing work, this sounds a bit too much like school work (for me that is). Actually I'm supposed to be writing something for my club's site and I've been bugged about since July.

"Where Was I?"

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