Wendy Northway
We rolled up at Mountbatten bright and early to a torrential downpour. I’d been looking forward to catching the last of the summer sun but we barely had time to get into our drysuits before we were soaked! Still, it was warm and we headed off for the Scylla in Whitsand Bay. After last year’s fiasco at trying to find the wrecks whence no one would listen to me I confidently proclaimed ‘it’s by the cardinal buoy!’ Once again the lads didn’t listen to me, proceeded to bob about for 20 minutes or so before they conceded that maybe I was right! Can we remember this next year boys? Oh didn’t I write that in last year’s blog!
OK – rant over, let’s get back to diving! 3 pairs went over board and explored the sunken treasure that is the Scylla. I remember doing this the year after it plunged to the seabed and thinking how devoid of life it was. Well what a difference 6 years makes! Plumose anemones festooned the superstructure with odd bowls of potato crisp bryozoan in their midst. Pollack weaved in and out, trying to entice us in and down at the bottom, schools of bib hung around like the bad boys smoking behind the bikesheds. Working our way along the decks I got entangled in some monofilament thus dive over! Back at base in record time, all thanks to Dave W who was our permanent cox’n, we waited for news of Ron. He’d stepped down as he wasn’t feeling too good – ‘off centre’ was his description. I think we wrong footed the girls with our nifty timing as we were off out again before they got back with our lunch. Luckily Jean was on hand to ‘donate’ Dave’s cheese on toast to hungry Steve!
We headed back to Whitsand Bay with the intention of diving the James Egan Layne. This wasn’t buoyed so we had to rely on echo location and GPS – what could possibly go wrong! Well in our defence, we did find it – once – but then lost it. Never mind, let’s do the Scylla again. Hmmm I wonder if they will listen to me when I remind them where it is? John Dorys were plentiful down on the sea bed whilst jewel anemones, nemertesia antennina, sargatia troglydytes and various red seaweeds carpeted the decks as rock cook and other wrasse darted about. All too soon dives were over and we headed back to shore to get out of the rain. We got word from Ron – BP elevated thus he wisely decided to have another day off tomorrow.
Saturday arrived and we got down to the business of doing some serious scenic diving – excellent! First dive was an old favourite, Hilsea Point. Again an early start meant we had 3 pairs of divers in by 10.05 – surely worth an extra 10 points in fantasy dive terms! I had a really lovely dive with Lesley. Dropping straight down to 26m we were welcomed by a jagged low lying reef adorned with sea fans, shredded carrot sponge, elephant hide – and boring – sponges. A truly spectacular array of colour and texture! I was on a mission to find the tiny anemones that colonise the sea fans. I didn’t find any but did find the nudibranchs who are also fans of the seafans! On other dives, a cheeky cuckoo wrasse posed for photos for Steve and Stella. No stop time was greatly reduced on these dives as we were so deep – we had to be to get out of the kelp! Back on the RIB, or should I say back in the pool, we had taken on a considerable amount of water. The wind had picked up, increasing the wave height and thus with all 3 pairs surfacing at once, there was no time to get rid of excess water. Will we be charged for another dive I wondered? Dave W went head to head with Poseidon battling against the wind and waves for the ride home. Dave W was valiant and we were back for lunch!
I had originally volunteered to stand down this afternoon but I had 2 others chasing me for that position – Stella who wouldn’t let wild horses drag her back on the RIB and boy, were those white horse wild! Also Lesley who had a loose neck seal and was rather wet thus, the dive slut that I am I went out again! A bit closer to home, we opted for the Mewstone and we were joined by Andy Shenstone who travelled up in record time and managed to squeeze in a bonus dive. Another dazzling dive was had, amidst red fingers, common spider crab and yet more sea fans. The viz wasn’t as good as this morning, probably because we were a tad shallower or maybe the tide was on the ebb, however the life was just as profuse. Again we managed to finish in record time – this time the last divers were up by 2.30.
Sunday morning and we were getting the hang of this – an early start and we were at the Mewstone just after 9.30. Interesting is the euphemism used for this dive! The tide was moving - as Steve described ‘a fierce pull’ on the SMB dictated the direction of travel! We travelled over fantastic deep gullies adorned with finger sponges then above sandy oases and mingled with sand eels. The reef disappeared just as our no stop time dwindled thus time to go. Heading back in the harbour walls we suddenly heard that grinding noise that every cox’n dreads – the sound of the props crunching over a low lying reef. Was this the moment that the camaraderie would break? No! Accidents happen and we have a couple of spares which DaveG swapped over during lunch, including a sneaky dive to successfully retrieve a dropped crown nut. We were back in business.
Sunday afternoon and we crossed the bay over to Penlee Point. Stella and Nick were dropped on a sandy bottom where they were delighted with the sight of a large ray, then did a spot of find and retrieve – Nick found an anchor, Stella retrieved it and carried it back for the remainder of the dive! Lots more life here than I remember. Conger, lobster and bispira voluticornis – tube worms to you and me! There were also a large number of crab carcasses. Initially divers searched for a satisfied-looking octopus but the more carapaces there were, the more we thought it may be human impact. Lesley and Ariel momentarily dived in a 3 as a common spider crab joined them. Well Ariel, that’s what you get should you antagonise the fauna!
Sunday evening and we all got together for a lovely meal at The Village restaurant in the Barbican. Quality food, fine wine and good company was enjoyed by all.
The weather gradually got better as the weekend progressed to Bank Holiday Monday. We had only planned one dive today in order to get the boats out in a timely fashion thus we were going to make it a good one! We headed off for East Rutts – a pinnacle lying a bit further out than Hilsea in very tidal waters thus the need for hitting slack was imperative. Unfortunately this meant getting up even earlier than normal – to congregate at 8am. Both Ariel and Dave G were in awe that there were 2 8 o’clocks in the day! We managed it and arrived at site with ½ hour to spare and waited for slack. It has to be added that this dive was an ‘experienced sports diver and above dive.’ I was buddied with Stella and as we descended the shot both of us lost hold of it on a few occasions but exhibiting good buddy skills we pulled each other back to the line and we got down. We were on the wrong side so I indicated ‘up, over and down’ and crossed my fingers that I made the right assessment that we would land in the lee of the current. This we more or less did as we were in a crescent which was teeming with life – a large common spider crab decorated with algae, sponges and hydroids – a true hippy amongst crustacea! Down at 30m bib, wrasse and pollack pottered together. Out of the lee, Ariel and Nick hung off the shot like a flag in hurricane Irene (gosh that’s topical!)
Back to base for a quick bite to eat and VRSAC split into 2 – boat recovery squad and team instructors. I relished the opportunity to do some instruction and started Andy Shenstone’s OD whilst Dave G finished off Graham’s Sport’s Diver drills. Me and Andy rounded a successful lesson with a gentle drift dive at Penlee Point and delighted in the spectacle of topknot, sponge crabs in snakelocks anemones and perhaps the most exhilarating of all, pollack hunting sand eels – one of the best dives so far.
With both boats out of the water, the long weekend was drawing to a close – not without the hard boat and another early morning beckoning. This time even earlier! Tuesday dawned – good job I prepped my video the evening before because as the alarm went off, it was still dark outside! I said the weather slowly got better over the days and today was probably the best day of all – brilliant sunshine and a flat calm sea. Just what seafaring travelers want on a long stretch out to Hands Deep.
Hands Deep was magnificent. Jewel anemones encrusted the rolling boulders in every colour imaginable. A lobster out in the open displayed no shyness towards Lesley and Steve.as it allowed its feelers to be felt! Again depth limited our bottom time. I really think nitrox would be a good investment for this trip!
Our final dive was Eddistone Lighthouse. The viz here wasn’t as good as the previous dive but life was probably more bountiful. Hundreds of sea fans, again I searched for seafan anemones to no avail but I did find a seafan nudi for Ariel. It was so small he couldn’t see it but decided to photograph it anyway as he thought there may be something important there! After a lovely day’s diving we headed home contented and looking forward to a curry. The weekend was a resounding success. Very relaxed with all pulling together in perfect harmony. I don’t know how you did it Steve, but what ever your magic ingredient was, bottle it up, slip it into the expedition pack and sprinkle liberally on all forthcoming outings
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