Clyde May 23rd to 26th 2003

This was the second trip that Digs had arranged to the Clyde and we were once again booked with Clyde Diving aboard their boat Clutha (apparently a Gaelic word for “Spirit of the Clyde” The boat was crewed by Elaine and Drew, the owners of the boat. 

I had managed to arrange my day so that I could get away early and managed to meet up with Louise at Strensham services at 11:30 and then arrive at Roberta’s B&B in Largs just before 7pm. Some were not so fortunate and did not arrive until 2:30 am. 

The people on this trip consisted of myself, Louise Thompson, Digs, Rob Hampton, Kate Rowley, Alan Walker, Keiran Frazer, Rich Meese, Andy Cookson, Alan Ramsey, Shaun Barrs and Adam Evans. 

The first day started with a very comfortable arrival at Inverkip Marina at 9:30. The only drawback was that it was pouring down and got soaked just loading up the boat. The weather was pretty much the same for the first 2 days but improved considerably for days 3 and 4. 

Day 1, Dive 1: Wallacia, Run time 60 minutes, Max Depth 29.6 metres

The Wallachia was built in 1883 and was 259 feet long and 36 feet wide, and was sunk in September 1895 as the result of a collision with a Norwegian ship called Flos. She was carrying a cargo that included whisky, gin, beer, glassware, earthenware plus clothing.

The holds of this ship are deep with silt and there have been fatal incidents with divers entering the whisky hold in particular.

We dropped down the shot and saw the whisky hold just to the side, it has an orange rope leading into it, we had no intention of going inside and toured the wreck at deck level as there is plenty to see. The whole wreck is a mass of brittlestars (common on many wrecks in this area), and anemones. There were however some unwelcome guests in the shape of lionsmane jellyfish which resulted in many of the team getting stung. 

Day1, Dive 2: Greenock, Run time 42 minutes, Max depth 28.7 metres.

This ship was built in 1876 and was 181 feet long and 38 feet wide. She sunk in 1902 after a collision with another ship. She was built as a bucket dredger to keep the port of Greenock clear. During WW2 the navy placed 2 mines alongside of her to act as sea defences. These were detonated in 1996.

On the way down my buddy decided to abort and so I continued the dive alone. There are a lot of holes in the ship which could have been entered, however as I was alone I decided to stay on the outside. The buckets of the dredger have fallen away to the side and to the sea bed, as with just about every wreck in this area it is very dark, somewhat akin to a night dive, although the viz on all dives was a reasonable 2 meters up to a max of 5 metres. 

Day 2, Dive 3: Kintyre, Run time 57 minutes, Max depth 40.9 metres

The Kintyre was a small cargo passenger ship steamship built in 1868 and was 184 feet long and 22 feet wide. She was a small passenger steamship and was apparently a very graceful ship. The ship in common with many before and since, came to grief after a collision with another ship, in this case the other ship was the 3,500 tonnes steamer called Maori in 1907.

The wreck lies on a sloping bottom and we progressed down the side to a depth of 41 metres then made our way back to the bows. From this point there is a rope that leads to a shallow area close to shore where there is a disused sewage outlet. This area is teeming with life and an excellent area to do your deco, rather than hanging in mid water. My torch died on this dive as I had forgotten to take my charger with me. The one I had borrowed had obviously not recharged the battery. 

Day 2, Dave 4: Beagle, Run time 33 minutes, Max depth 32 metres

The Beagle an iron steamship was employed as a passenger and cargo vessel, mainly working between Glasgow and Belfast. She  was 189 feet long and 26 feet wide. She was only one year old when she sunk after a collision with a steamer called Napoli off Skate point.

Lots of lionsmane jelly fish on and around this wreck and once again I got stung, though not as badly as last year when I had to miss the following dive. Inside the hols there are many types of anemones and also dead men’s fingers adorning the sides. 

Day 3, Dive 5: Motor Torpedo Boat, Run time 46 minutes, max depth 40.0 metres

On the way to this wreck site we were accompanied by many porpoises and dolphins, at one point there were about 5 swimming right in the bow wave of our boat.

Not much is known about this wreck as it had only recently been found by Clyde Diving. The most impressive thing about it is that there are still brass portholes on the wreck, so for obvious reasons the GPS co ordinates are not being released by the charter company.

When we got to the bottom my replacement torch decided not to work so it needed to be encouraged, this was achieved by hitting it on something solid, and round and metal, this was when I saw the first piece of brass.

Soon after the start of the dive my buddy and I became separated so I carried on alone (recurring theme detected here). After some time exploring a truly magnificent wreck it was time to ascend and do my deco, however in my narked state I could not release my DSMB, normally a fairly simple exercise. My computer shows that it took me 5 minutes to finally come to my senses and unclip and deploy the blob. I had now run up a reasonable amount of deco and decided to bend my Vyper and go with the accelerated deco shown by my Vytec. 

Day 3, Dive 6: Akka, Run time 53 minutes, Max depth 31.1 metres

The Akka was built in Sweden in 1942, she was 442 feet long and 56 feet wide. She sunk in 1956 after hitting Gantock rocks. At the time of her sinking she was carrying iron ore and bound for Glasgow.

This wreck is in my opinion is the best wreck in the Clyde area. It has everything, holes to explore, abundant life, covered in huge primose anemones. One can extend bottom time by staying shallow or alternatively do the whole dive below 30 metres.

I dived with Rob and amazingly I managed to stay with a buddy, well for most of the dive anyway, as we parted company some 15 minutes before the end, not bad considering my track record to date. 

Day 4, Dive 7: Europa, Run time 34 minutes, Max depth 37.2 metres

The Europa was launched in 1862 and was some 206 feet long and 26 feet wide. Yet again this ship met her fate after a collision with another. In the case of the Europa it was the Roseville that she hit in 1884, just off Levan castle.

Dropped down the shot line into almost total darkness, Rob and I had already agreed that we would carry on in the event of a separation, so needless to say that we got separated. The shot was just off the side of the wreck and to avoid any traffic jam at deck level I dropped off the edge and moved along the side of the wreck. On the previous day my replacement torch had been annoying me when it was attached to a lanyard on my top right D ring, this because it was positively buoyant and was flapping around everywhere except where I wanted it. So for this dive I strapped it to my right wrist, the same side as my computers. So when I looked to check my depth and time to deco I could not illuminate the dials. I remembered which button illuminated the back light on my Vyper, but as this was in gauge mode (due to me bending it the previous day) I couldn’t get any deco information. I also carry a small Ikelight torch which I have had for a couple of years and have used many times, so decided to use this to illuminate the dial of my other computer. Amazing isn’t it at that depth in pitch darkness that I couldn’t remember how to switch it on, and neither could I find the switch. Problem solved by using my main torch to illuminate my back up, so that I could remember how to switch it on, which in turn allowed me to see my computer. As I was already into deco time I ascended back to deck level and after a short tour, mainly to clear my head, I bagged off and ascended. 

Day 4, Dive 8, Akka, Run time 37 minutes, Max depth 26.8 metres

Another visit to the Akka to finish off this excellent trip. Several of the team had decided not to do this dive so we were 3 short. I was diving as a 3 (bad news) with Lou and Alan. As I was looking at some anemones they went off todo some exploring so once again I carried on alone. A nice quiet dive to finish off and the only non deco dive out of the 8 that I had done. 

Managed to get away by 3:20 that afternoon and home by 10:30 pm, along drive but well worth it.

"How much deco?? I had better change these gradient factors."