Plymouth 3rd to 5th May 2003
This was the second trip that Neil Weller had arranged and
all through the week it was very doubtful that the trip would go ahead. This
mainly due to the high winds that had prevailed throughout the week and were
also forecast for the whole of the weekend. However the skipper was confident
that the diving would go ahead, and so it was with some trepidation that we set
off for Plymouth on Friday evening.
Four people had already pulled out due to health problems
or work commitments and so the lucky 8 that remained were: Neil Weller, Al
Allan, Gordon Henderson, Jackie Hill, Mark Papp, Steve Jones, Louise Thompson
and Huw Porter accompanied by his partner Suzanne, who made an excellent extra
crew member.
Neil had booked the services of Seeker for the weekend,
which was skippered by Greg and crewed by his partner Mary. The accommodation
was at the Borington Arms in Turnchapel, about 3 minutes away from the
Moutbatten Centre, where the boat was to pick us up.
We all gathered on the Pontoon at 8:30 on the Saturday
morning ready to load up our gear when Mark made the cardinal error of publicly
admitting that he had forgotten some of his kit. Of course it never got
mentioned again throughout the weekend by any of us??. However just just to put
the record straight let me announce that he turned up without his regs.
Fortunately Jackie’s house was not too far away and he was able to go back and
collect them. However it was not until the final day that we found out that not
only had he forgotten his regs, but also his wing.
So off we went hopefully to try and get to the Persier, and
failing that the Glen Strathallen. However as soon as we got beyond the
breakwater it was obvious that neither of these wrecks would be possible. So we
had a chance of cancelling or doing something less interesting.
Dive 1: Middle Fort,
Max depth 14.6 metres, Run time 56
minutes. Viz 1-2 metres
We were all of the opinion that since we were already out
we would do some sort of a dive. The area around this fort is used as a diver
training area for local clubs and while not the most interesting of places
nevertheless provided us with something to do. There were several dogfish, lots
of starfish, and crabs also enough bits of metal to confuse the compass of
anyone who tried to use one.
Dive 2: Submarine pens, Max depth 5.5 metres, Run time 35 minutes, Viz 0.5 metre
Only 2 of us were brave enough to attempt this very
challenging second dive, the others all decided to be dropped back on the safety
of dry land. After dropping off the less adventurous of the group Lou and I got
back on board for a trip to the headland just beyond the western edge of the
breakwater to a site that was once used for launching mini submarines. We were
dropped in at the maximum depth for the dive and plummeted to the sea bed some
5.5 metres below. Keeping a keen watch on my compass I navigated the hostile
waters until we got to where the sand met the rocks and kelp, at an incredible
depth of approx 3 metres. Not a great deal to see as the viz was so bad, but at
one point Lou did see a cuttlefish, the highlight of the dive.
The journey out to the wreck site was quite lumpy and Mark and Gordon entertained everyone with some synchronised spewing. I’m sure that in Mark’s case this had absolutely nothing to do with the fact that he and Jackie met up with the skipper (Greg) and his partner (Mary) the previous night for “one or two drinks”. Mary also joined in the projectile vomiting contest and I am reminded that she didn’t make us any tea and coffee today.
We went in as a 3 on this dive as Neil’s buddy, Huw, was
not feeling too well either however he did manage to retain the contents of his
stomach. Soon after leaving the bottom of the shot I managed to lose contact
with my 2 buddies so carried on alone. The wreck itself is a good dive and there
were many dogfish, cotton spinners and sea fans to be seen.
Not a great wreck as it is badly broken up and also there
was an incredible amount of surge. So we spent most of the time looking thorough
the various pieces of reef at the life on them. Again plenty of sponges, cotton
spinners anemones etc. About the only thing distinctive about the wreck is the
large boilers which we eventually found after
bagging off and were starting to ascend.
Another lumpy ride out to the deck site and once more we were to be entertained by Mark relieving himself of the contents of his stomach (several times). The last of these times was while he was sitting with all his kit on. Mary came to the rescue and promptly threw a bucket of water over him.
This a great wreck, sitting upright on the bottom. It is
covered on anemones and dead mens fingers. Plenty to keep you occupied with the
various bits of machinery etc. Certainly worth doing some deco to have a good
tour of this wreck.
Dive 6: James Egan Layne, Max depth 19.2 metres, Run time 48 minutes, Viz 2 m
Final dive of the weekend saw only 4 of us in the water.
The JEL is probably one of the most dived wrecks in the country and it really is
quite big. It is only the second time that I have dived it and there is so much
to see as you poke around in the jumble of twisted metal. Quite a lot of fish to
see also, plus the usual quota of anemones and dead mens fingers.
It has been pointed out that on this trip we put less divers in the water than on any other trip. If my maths are correct we started with 12 divers and 6 possible dives each. We then had 4 people drop out before the trip even started thus losing 24 dives. Then if my memory serves me correctly these are the numbers of divers that we put in on each dive.
Dive 1 6 divers
Dive 2 2 divers
Dive 3 6 divers
Dive 4 6 divers
Dive 5 4 divers
Dive 6 4 divers
So this gives a total of 28 dives out a possible 72, quite a drop out rate.
However all in all, given that we went into the weekend with very low expectations due to the weather it was a very successful trip and enjoyed by (almost) everyone. True the sea conditions could have been better, but we made the most of what we were presented with.