Exmouth July 29th & 30th 2006

Rob Potton had organised this trip and we were booked aboard Wave Chieftain 3 with skipper Rich Tibbs. There were 10 of us that actually turned up, Rob, Natasha, Kieran, John, Simon, Steve, Megan, Caroline, Rich & me. (Steve) 

The original plan was to dive the Rotorua on the Saturday then an unknown on the Sunday. However the weather took a hand in this and Saturday was called off. As my kit was already in the car I decided to dive at the NDAC on Saturday accompanied by Kieran who was having his first dive since having his sinuses reamed out with a Black & Decker drill. On the face of it a better idea for him to be doing a 40 metre dive than one close to 60 metres. 

After our dives at the NDAC we did some gas blending awaiting the call from Rob to tell us whether Sunday was on, or off. After a favourable shipping forecast we headed off to Exmouth with a slight change to the plan, in that we were now doing the Rotorua on the Sunday. 

Me, Steve, Megan & Kieran arrived at virtually the same time and decided to go to the Saddlers Arms which was only about 150 metres from the B&B, while Rob, Natasha, Simon, Caroline & Rich headed into the village to get something to eat. About half an hour later their group arrived back at the Saddlers Arms looking like drowned rats, having found that all the other eating places were full. 

So Sunday saw us with a very respectable ropes off time of 11:45, and with favourable weather and sea conditions (although Rob may disagree about the latter). Slack was at 14:00 and we were on site about 30 minutes before this. 

The Rotorua is a wreck that I have done 3 times previous to this, she weighed in at 11,130 tons, she was 484 feet long and 62 foot 3 across the beam. She was sunk in March 1917 after being torpedoed by UC-17. The sea bed in the area is 57 metres and she stands quite proud of this. The bow section is twisted and lies on the starboard side. 

Everyone seemed to be planning a 90 to 100 minute run time and it was Kieran and I that went in first, there was still a bit of current as we went down the shot line which Rich had planted midships. By the time we got to the bottom there was virtually no current and we headed off to the bows. Lots of portholes to be seen, although still fastened. There is quite a lot of fishing line on this wreck and once again I managed to get caught in it, however not too seriously and managed to cut myself free, apparently it couldn’t have been too serious as my buddy didn’t even notice that I had been caught. 

From the bows we had a gentle wander around and then bagged off from 53 metres at 32 minutes. A nice gentle ascent saw us back on the surface at 91 minutes, bang on our scheduled run time, well almost. I was actually clear on 80 minutes as I had 17/37 in my dil cylinder, Kieran took a further 10 minutes to clear as his dil contained 15/55. 

Everyone back on board safely, with the only casualty being Simon’s reel, which he seems to have lost as he jumped in. 

Time now for a few cuppas and some of Rich’s choc bars, and a run for home with the swell having picked up somewhat. Once unloaded all that remained was a 2 hour drive back to South Wales.