You would think people had too much to do after Christmas and New Year to find time to go diving but the bottom car park at Stoney Cove was packed on January 2nd. Falling as it did on a Friday many people, us included, had taken an extra day's leave to join up the Bank Holiday with the weekend. My diving friends have made January 2nd an annual diving day for a couple of years and I was determined to join in this time, tempted by their reports of empty car parks and crystal clear visibility.

By the time we got into the water at 11am the silt, celebrating the festive season by settling onto the bottom, had been kicked up again so no chance of seeing clear across the lake to the Stanegarth. No matter. We're tough, we're British, we have stiff upper lips. More importantly, we each have a bacon butty. Fortified, we stepped off the bus stop and into the water. Although it was only registering 5 degrees, it didn't feel that cold even on the exposed bits of face so we pootled off to look at the sunken archaeology. Once underwater we realised that it really wasn't that crowded and we didn't see another diver until we were actually climbing out again.

As we stood around sipping hot drinks and chatting about our dive, weak winter sunshine steamed our drysuits and turned our conversation to summer diving destinations. We've made the first dive of the year already, checked our equipment and tried out a few new gadgets that understanding family members have bought us for Christmas and now we're ready for another diving year. Don't put it off until the weather improves. Just get in and enjoy it.