Falmouth July 5th & 6th 2003

(UKRS annual single cylinder trip) 

This trip was originally arranged by Alastair Allan, but due to work commitments he had to pull out of his own trip. We were booked aboard Cornish Diving’s boat Under Pressure skippered by Steve McEwan. The boat has a large comfortable cabin but rather a small kitting up area. For this reason only 10 divers were booked onto this trip, however, due to cancellations only 8 arrived in Falmouth. They were Steve Jones, Rachel Lundy, Darren Cronin, Louise Thompson, Jason Poynting, Gordon Henderson, Chris Bell and Dave Roberts. 

We were also staying in a house owned by Cornish Diving, and at £12 per night is very good value. It is also next door to the dive shop where air is provided as part of the package, although nitrox is extra. Cylinders were provided for most of us as we were diving on singles due to the small kitting up area on the boat. 

After a few beers at a local pub (Chain Locker) on Friday night we all arrived bright eyed outside the shop on Saturday morning. Well almost all of us ! ! Those sharing a room with Dave Roberts didn’t look quite so bright, allegedly he snores quite a bit. (note the term “allegedly”, after a recent trip report some people not on the trip seem to want to analyse every word I write) However Dave insists that he didn’t sleep very well himself. This was in stark contrast to the following night when he slept very well. However he was the only person left in the room as the others had moved out to find other beds and sofas to lie on. 

So off we set on what had to be the flattest seas that UKRS have had this year. Hardly a ripple on the surface of what appeared almost mirror like at times. 

Dive 1: Mohegan, Run time 39 minutes, Max depth 27.1 metres, Viz 5 – 6 metres

The Mohegan was a 7000 tonne, 4 masted liner that sunk in 1898 after hitting the Manacles. She was 482 feet by 52 feet. There were 157 people on board at the time of which 106 died.

There was quite a bit of current running at the start of the dive, however this soon subsided and Dave and I had quite a relaxing dive. There were a lot of sea fans, cotton spinners and of course many bib. This is quite a big wreck and there are lots of holes to investigate. Dave was diving on air and so we came up when he ran out of NST. 

The second dive of the day was Jason’s 600^th dive and there was a certain amount of banter about doing something memorable, the Volnay was mentioned, but it seemed that most people on board had done it “once or twice” so we went elsewhere. 

Dive 2: Hera, Run time 70 minutes, Max depth 15.2 metres, Viz 6 metres

The Hera was a 4 masted 1,994 tone steel barque which sank in 1914 when she hit Gull rock just off Nare Head. Only 5 of the 24 men on board survived, with the fatalities buried at Veryan cemetery.

The wreck is well broken up and spread out. Lots of holes to look into but didn’t see any obvious entry points that would have led anywhere. Once again plenty of life on the wreck including 2 huge spider crabs one of which had a carpace which was approx 35 cm wide. Dave and I had agreed prior to the dive that once he had bagged off he would ascend alone thereby enabling me to get extra bottom time.

Towards the end of the dive I passed Gordon and Jason, Gordon was trying to see if he could get 6 starfish to stay on Jason's back to represent the 600 dives, unfortunately they kept falling off.

Dive 3: Epsilon, Run time 53 minutes, Max depth 25.3 metres, Vis 8 metres

Couldn’t find info on this wreck, but definitely one to return to. The shot was put right onto the boilers. Inside one there was a smallish conger and a lobster. The wreck is well broken and spread out, however navigation between the various sections was not a problem due to the excellent viz. I have put it down as 8 metres but it could well have been more than that. Saw another large lobster during the dive and several large shoals of bib. I would quite like to have stayed down longer, but I had run up some minutes of deco and even though I did have a pony I am not entirely happy running up deco time on a single cylinder, even though it is not a particularly deep wreck. 

Dive 4: Raglan Reef, Run time 48 minutes, Max depth 25.9 metres, Viz 3 – 4 metres

Breaking with UKRS tradition we actually asked to do a reef dive instead of our normal wrecks. Raglan is a pinnacle in the Manacles area. The max depth on the pinnacle is 40 metres, however as it was our second dive of the day we stayed in the mid 20’s. At various points on the dive there was quite a lot of current so the trick was to tuck yourself away in a gully in one of the more sheltered spots. The life on this reef is amazing with many types of anemone, cotton spinners, dead mens fingers, ross coral, and too many types of sponge to even think about. All the gullies were teeming with wrasse and bib, although I only saw one dog fish. 

All in all a very enjoyable weekend, and once again many thanks to the people who plan to come along for UKRS trips, pay their money and then drop out, thereby giving lots more room for the rest of us. (Sorry you missed it Al and Keith) 

For some pics see Chris’s web page