At the weekend from June 27th to 28th, 2020 the time had come and we could finally do a cross over again. The corona pandemic and the associated restrictions simply made it impossible to carry it out on the scheduled date in late March. The wait was worth it and so we were rewarded with warm water and, of course, better outside temperatures than in March. The cross over took place in the former Hunsfels quarry in Stromberg (Rhineland-Palatinate) at the Hunsfels-Tauchen divecenter.
The divecenter was recently opened on March 1st, 2020. The owner and base manager, Rüdiger Otto, took over the quarry and it was full in about 5-8 months after the work was completed. The dive site as such is a successful change from the usual quarry dives in southern Germany. With depths of up to 54m but also corresponding shallow water areas, the quarry offers diving opportunities for every level.
But before we went diving, there was still a lot of work to be done: Our VIT instructor candidates were allowed to listen to various theory units for just under 5 hours.
Then we went to the first dive and we were able to dive along the typical steep walls and driveways for the trucks. The turning point for this dive was then a small sailing boat at about 20m depth with the sail tensioned. At the end of each dive you will be said goodbye to the lake with a real fish soup under the entry and exit platform.
In order to provide some variety and also give the divecenter the time to fill our cylinders, the instructor candidate was able to demonstrate his theoretical knowledge to the examiners Dr. Ullrich Speer and Thomas Dobiasch in the form of a presentation and a written exam. The second dive led us from the entrance to the right and here was also a small boat sunk but especially the first approaches of a small biotope were visible.
At the end of all the efforts, we could congratulate Olaf on passing the exam and welcome him as a new instructor at VIT!
Furthermore, we would like to thank Rüdiger Otto and the entire Hunsfels diving team for the great support with our cross over and the provision of the lake, the training room and the necessary logistics for instructor training.
