Cornwall - 2006
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Kas, Jay, Keith, Sue, Glenn, Cate and I met up with Stacey and Richard for our first days diving. I spoke to Stacey and Richard at length about HMS Scylla and the JEL; I explained about the development of life on the artificial reef, a suitable route around and how I enjoyed diving it every year to observe the colonisation from marine critters...
12/08/06 - HMS Nearly
Cate and I were last in, over to the shotline and descend... we reached about ten metres depth where we spied two divers from our group, I signalled but didn't get a response so I assumed I'd signalled to two random divers who had nothing to do with us - were probably on a stop and were now wondering who the idiot waving at them was - I let go of the shot line to skirt around them, Cate followed my lead.
Not realising the strength of the spring tides we were then pushed away from the shot and settled on a sandy bottom. OK, no worries we'd fin into the current (as that would be the likely direction of the dive site). 10 minutes later, still no sign of the Scylla so SMB up and begin a slow ascent. Needless to say we were first back onto the Morning Glory.
After helping others back onboard I faced the inevitable questions about why I was onboard already, why hadn't they seen us on the dive etc. etc. Kas and Jay said they'd seen us go past (it was them on the shotline) and settle just below the bow of the Scylla - if I'd peered a little harder into the gloom (vis was about 5-6m) I'd have seen it clearly - instead I led Cate away from it!
At this point I'd like to say thank you to everyone for their kind comments about taking a twinset for one of the shortest dives in history, completely missing a large grey ship and for rubbing this in again and again and again for the remainder of the trip. I'm sure this tale will stick for many a trip to come so it's about time I found some new dive buddies methinks!
James Egan Layne
A bimble around this much-loved site, the vis wasn't so good because of the tides but still a very enjoyable dive. I think Cate was relieved that I found this one!
13/08/06 - Udder Rock
Stacey and Richard had to get back and the boat time was not condusive to their plans so unfortunately they missed out on the chance to give me more stick about locating frigates underwater. Kas had bruised her shoulder and Jay had over indulged slightly the night before so they too missed out. We were instead joined by George and Vicky.
I buddied with Glenn whilst Cate joined Keith and Sue. This proved to a very relaxing drift in and out of the gullies on the east side of Udder Rock. Our only limit was Glenn's no-deco time (he being on air and me on nitrox) and after a while his computer gave that frustrating beep and we began our ascent hanging off the SMB in mid water.
The Kantoeng
Again I buddied with Glenn and we were first down the shot - once we realised that the shot was a fair distance from the wreck (I did find it though!) I employed the same idea I'd learnt from Phil Grigg on our trip to Weymouth (thanks once again Phil) - we returned to the shot, I reeled off to the Kantoeng and attached my strobe to the reel as a visual reference, I could only hope that nobody would think to pull up the shot in the meantime. Glenn and I had a good mooch about the site, followed by a couple of swim throughs and maximised our available time. We were back on the boat after exactly one hour. It wasn't until afterwards that I found out Glenn had sacrificed his comfort for my dive time and christened his dry suit and weezle. Thanks Glenn.
Honourable mentions: Pamela, John, Mark, Kelly and Ian (Jibbo). Unfortunately they couldn't join us on the boat but had some good dives from the coast - Basket Rock and Talland Bay. It's a shame you guys weren't with us on the boat but the evening entertainment was still as good as ever.