The plan was a nice weekend away camping in Babbacombe with easy shore dives suitable for all members, unfortunately the British weather had other things in mind and decided to surround the whole area in near gale force winds. After checking alternatives around the country and finding the same we have fallen back on our every reliable Stoney Cove.

It was a nice warm Sunday, and although quite busy, the Cove was a nice way to get some diving in when everywhere else was blown away. Everyone enjoyed a nice couple of dives and a good discussion in the pub afterwards.

2It had been twelve months in the planning, with laughter and tears along the way, but with last minute additions to the group and with the confusion about various sleeping arrangements cleared up, four vehicles stuffed to the gunnels with divers and kit arrived at the Skylane Hotel Gatwick. This was to be our one night stopover and car park for three of the vehicles for the next seven days. Eoin, so reluctant to leave his new bike that he insisted his travelling companions accompany him to his flat so that they too could admire it, consoled himself with a bag full of pickle and cheese (well he is Irish) sandwiches and enough fruit to feed the whole group in the event of a siege. Tom Tom thought it would be amusing to send us (Eoin, Garry, Kev and me) on a wild goose chase around Gatwick Airport and miles through town before indicating that we’d missed the hotel some time back. We arrived in the nick of time for a bite to eat and last orders. Joe and Steve had left Coventry hours earlier with most of the dive kit weighing down Joe’s van. They couldn’t wait to go they were so excited. Richard and Julie managed somehow to squeeze Jim, Brian and his granddaughter Anna into the back of their car. This proved to be useful practise as later, on our return to the hotel, those three plus two others had to be crammed into the same width seat of the minibus. Luckily we all knew each other much better by then. John and Pete were with us in the hotel but had made different arrangements for getting to the airport and parking.

The following morning we had a not too uncivilized early start, Eoin made it by the skin of his teeth, a trait we became very familiar with, and we piled onto the hotel transfer bus. We checked in together but for some reason the airline had decided to seat us randomly around the „plane. Anyone would think we were planning high jinks. Their plan backfired because we simply made “friends” with our neighbours so we had a bigger group to enjoy the ride with. Two members from a BSAC club in Guildford nearly came to blows over a question we posed them regarding the air pressure in a balloon. Kev got the answer right and tried to explain the theory to them but 2 hours later they were still having heated discussions. At one point one of their group suggested they should sort it out with a fight!!!

At last we landed at Marsa Alam airport. The doors were opened and we stepped out into the breathtaking heat for the final part of our journey, a short bus ride to the Marsa Shagra eco Village.

Everything was very well organised and we were soon settled in to our accommodation, be it tent…

….hut or chalet (en-suite),

Marsa Alam is two hours ahead of GMT so it was very dark when we arrived and our first challenge was to find our way back to the restaurant. Having eaten and established that everyone was happy we went to bed, prepared for another early start the following morning. I don’t think any of us slept much as it was so hot.
Thursday morning, early breakfast, deal with admin, collect lead and kit box and meet our guide, Mahmoud, for a soft sell of trips and an orientation dive of one side of the reef. It transpired that in addition to knowing Joe from previous visits, Mahmoud also knew Kevin as they had served together in the army. What a small world. I was a little alarmed that Mahmoud was discussing our plan for the week as my plan had been not to have a plan. I wanted R & R with a bit of gentle diving thrown in. However not wanting to be a party-pooper I kept quiet (I think).

We moved on to the new diving shade from where all diving activities begin and end. After a quick briefing from Mahmoud we kitted up and entered the strangely warm water, waiting until the whole group was together. This took a while as one of us forgot our mask and another forgot our fins. This was understandable as we were being rushed somewhat and failed to do our normal buddy checks before being herded off as a big group. I realised this must be what it’s like to be a diver with another organisation. The dive was not overly long. We moved quite quickly basically taking in the big stuff. But it was enough to give us a feel for the place and a desire to go back for more.

After dinner (or lunch for posh people) we buddied up and went for a proper dive making use of the RIBs on the complex. These run a kind of taxi service out to wherever you want to be dropped off and you either swim back or get picked up again at the end of your dive. We chose to swim back and I did my longest ever dive of 70 minutes. Not only that I saw so many critters for the first time.

Turtle (Obviously)

Moray Eel

Crocodile Fish.

Blue Spotted Ray

Floater

In 14 years of diving this was the most enjoyable and did wonders for my confidence. So much so that I agreed to do my first ever night dive. Hmmm….
So, here’s the dive plan, I will buddy Julie, Joe will lead, Pete will bring up the rear and Richard will be somewhere in the middle. Surely we haven’t become P**I already? We enter the dark water and Rich and Julie, understandably, stick together. I move forward to Joe and Pete loiters somewhere near the back. Night vision not being my strong point I make sure I’m close to Joe while still trying to spot the different fish that come out at night. All goes well until we encounter a large group of unruly divers who plough straight through us and I lose sight of my group. After a few seconds I realise I’m alone, in the dark, with no sense of direction and Steve’s warning about sharks flashes through my mind. I turn full circle shining my torch around and up and am suddenly joined by Pete. Hooray he’s survived too. I try to hold his hand for comfort but he rejects it, something I did not forgive him for for the rest of the week. It transpired that Julie had been running a bit low on air at the time of the scrum and Joe had taken her up a little. Rich had followed and Pete, thinking there was a problem had also joined them. Don’t worry about me fellahs. Joe claims he could see me and sent Pete straight back down, I’m still pondering.
Another sleepless night is followed by a 5.30 a.m. start to day 2. We are due to go by truck to Dolphin House Reef. We’re dressed. My body is moving slightly but my brain is saying “forget it” I go back to sleep and don’t hear Garry leave. I wake up later have a leisurely breakfast, sleep, have dinner, sleep and feel much better. Even managed a bit of reading, this is how holidays are supposed to work. When my buddies returned I agreed to try another night dive. We would have two buddy pairs, nothing could go wrong this time. Hmmm….
So, here’s the dive plan, I will buddy Garry and Richard will buddy Jim. We enter the dark water and we stick to the plan. Night vision still not being my strong point I make sure I’m close to Garry. I have a sudden sense of déjà vu as we encounter a large group of unruly divers who plough straight through us. However this time I keep my eye on Garry and when everything settles down the three of us are still together. Hang on, didn’t we come in as a four? Jim is missing. Richard points to a black object half buried in the sand which Garry retrieves and recognises as a weight pouch. We are just about at the turn around point of our dive and one of number appears to have chosen this moment to head skywards. We all leave the bottom together and Richard gallantly holds my hand (Pete take note) It took us about 3 minutes to the surface where it was pitch black. We emerged and shouted for Jim who was calmly awaiting our arrival. So began a very long surface swim back. Richard and I were still holding hands, heading for the bright lights in the distance. Jim was also heading for bright lights but they were in Jordan so Garry raced after him to turn him around. We finally made it back just in time for what was left of the evening meal. I’m afraid I’m not really getting the attraction of night diving.
On the third day we had agreed to help clean a reef of rubbish as part of International clean up day. Come along and pick a bit of litter they said, we’ll let you come at reduced cost they said. Were they kidding? Their final offer was come along FOC and we’ll throw in a free tee shirt, that hit the spot. It meant another 5.30 a.m. start but we were all keen. After another sleepless night I didn’t even hear the alarm, or Garry leaving.

I had another chillin’ out day and felt fully revived by the time they returned. I was a bit jealous but was now ready to join in with the more active stuff. Garry and I planned another night dive, just the two of us, going in at dusk and coming back when it was dark. All went swimmingly until he handed me his torch. 10 minutes later we were out of the water and I realised I had let go of the torch. I think that’s the end of my night diving.

Day 4 (Sunday) A reasonable rise and shine time and a planned trip to dive Elphinstone Reef. Apparently a must for experienced divers, 20 minutes away by speedboat and the threat promise of every kind of sea life, like tuna, turtles, dolphins, scorpions, moray eels. As an afterthought I’m told Elphinstone is most famous for its sharks: hammerheads from May till mid August, Oceanic White Tips from mid September till end of December and many other species like grey reef sharks, thresher sharks and silky sharks all year round. OMG. We filled the boat with 10 of our group and with Mahmoud as our guide and Joe as my buddy (remember he’d already deserted me once before) we entered the water with the top of the reef just 8 metres below. I have never seen so many different colours, shapes and sizes of fish. Unfortunately the best identification I can manage is blue fish, red fish e.t.c. I must look at some of the fish i.d. books in our library. We followed Mahmoud to almost 40 metres and he did a grand job of keeping us together and moving at a reasonable pace. He beckoned us to keep with him but Joe was enjoying the slight drift along the wall and in no hurry. As we were falling behind the group some of Joe’s words of advice came back to me. “You need to be a bit more selfish” he said. That was enough for me. I caught up with the group but kept an eye on him. As we were starting to get back into the boat Mahmoud suddenly shouted “There’s a shark underneath the boat.” We’ve never moved so fast. Eoin, already dekitted was back in the water like a flash and I, hanging on the side in full kit was in the boat before you could say “We’re going to need a bigger boat”. The shark disappeared as quickly as it had appeared and we collected our men and headed back to safety.

Monday was the only day that we all remained at Marsa Shagra for the whole day. All week we’d been watching an old guy called Hans (nicknamed Santa because of his appearance)He would arrive at the “Shade” at 6 kit up and tag on to anyone who would let him. As soon as he left the water he would replace his cylinder with a fresh one and tag on with someone else. The only time we didn’t see him diving was at mealtimes. Try as they might none of our divers could clock up as many as he did although a couple had a good go. The result of the continuous activity throughout the week left some distinctly aware of Pharaoh’s revenge. One in particular could have done with one of these.

Our last diving day saw 10 go off on a truck for a day of wreck diving. Garry, Steve and I stayed behind and did some Dive Leader stuff. I would like to thank Jim for being my first guinea pig to be led, Kevin for being my last of the trip and Eoin for managing to slow himself down to dive with me. Another first for me, Eoin is the first person I’ve dived with who wasn’t an instructor. He reminded me that he is an assistant instructor but I chose to ignore that. Anna was a joy to have in the group and we hope she will be able to join us for other trips. Our instructors were all willingly involved in training everyone who wanted it. The result being that Kev finished his dive leader, Julie made a dent in her Sports diver and Anna completed all but her final assessment for Ocean Diver. On our final day all except Iron man Eoin rested. Come to think of it Eoin probably felt safer in the sea as he had been fighting off romantic overtures from an unwelcome source. When the time came, we said our “Goodbyes” to Mahmoud and headed for the airport. We landed at Gatwick at around 10.30 Wednesday evening in pouring rain and finally made it through our front door at 2.30 Thursday morning. Now we need another week to get over the holiday.

And finally….for no other reason than it’s a lovely photo.

One generation hangs up his long johns as another begins her underwater adventures.

Thanks everyone for a great time.

As promised, I’ve missed out the scandals because those tales are not mine to tell.

Photos by Garry and Joe, Words by Cathy

Just thought I’d share my holiday dives in Malta with you all.

The Sunday after we arrived I went with the Dive school that was affiliated with the hotel [H2o]. Our first dive was at the “Right Arch” Cikawwa, it was a pleasant dive with the usual fish, i.e. Cardinal fish, Two Banded Bream, Saddle Bream and a few Fireworms, later on in the dive we came across a small Moray Eel in it’s hole. The highlight of the dive was near the end when we were shown a Cavern  containing a statue of the MADONA and a plaque.

Dive two was at The Cave @ Popeye’s Village, now I know what it is about cave diving I don’t like, boy talk about spooky, luckily you could surface and breathe the fresh air, one of our group “lost” her buddy/husband who had the torch, I was able to calm her down ‘till he and the rest of the group arrived to join us. I was very happy to return to the open water and finish the dive with no more problems.

Dive Three was a nice little bimble at Langton Point West off Comino, this was a pleasant dive with not much to see except for a solitary Moray Eel towards the end of the dive.

Dive Four was on the P31, a purpose sunk Patrol Boat recently sunk off Comio Island. As we rolled of the side of the boat we found ourselves right on top of it, you could see it quite clearly about 20 mtrs below. We sank down to it on the starboard side and when we were altogether we swam to the bow and knelt in the sand and looked up at it,
The main difference between the P31 & it’s sister ship the P29 is that as the P29 lies at a shallower depth, she’s had to have the upper part of her mast removed as it was a hazard to shipping in that area. Anyway getting back to the dive, we then swam round the Port side and entered her thru’ the side coming out midships and swimming to to rear where we entered her once again thru’ the aft hold and came out by the Pilot house, we all then swam to the upper bow were I was able to take a group photo, by this time some of the group were down to 100 hundred bar so we started our ascent mid water, firstly sending up the D.S.M.B. we stopped at 6mts for a safety stop before surfacing.
A fantastic dive and one I’d do over again and again.

Dive Six was on the P29, a slightly deeper dive at 33meters, we jumped in from the boat as usual over what is called the Sugar Loaf  Mound, and finned out towards the anchor which points in the direction of the boat’s stern, we came up to it and one by one we dropped down into the aft hold, exiting on the starboard side, swimming round to the bow and down the port side ‘till we came to stern, by this time my computer was showing that I was into Deco so my buddy and the Dive Master {in training } Alistair, and myself made our way up a couple of metres or so, slowly, and followed the rest of the group from above. We all met up at the Plateau as planned and continued with dive.
A very good dive, with a bit of excitement thrown in.

Dive Seven   was at Langton Point East, submerging down the shot line we came to a chimney, which we followed down and emerged into an opening, this time we turned left and went into another cavern and dropped down to 38mtrs, my deepest dive yet, again my computer went into deco mode so this time all of us came up slowly about 10 meters and levelled of on top of the reef where we were met by about a dozen medium sized Barracudas we stayed and watched them for a few minutes before making our way to the boat and surfacing.
A brilliant dive.

Dive Eight  this dive saw us travelling to South Gozo to the site known as FESSE ROCK, which we were told was like an Iceberg, only the tip could be seen, the rest of it, and there was quite a bit, underwater. I was with Eddie, our guide, a nice dive, the only thing we saw was a Thornback Ray, which we startled, I wasn’t quick enough to get a photo of it. I was about 5 minutes before going into Deco once again so we all came up about 15 meters and levelled off; by this time the majority of the divers were on 50 bar so we did our safety stop at 5mtrs before surfacing.

Dive Nine  altho’ I’ve done this dive before, it still fascinated me, there was just the two of us on this dive, me and the dive guide Eddie. We swam over the reef and down to the boat which was lying @ 33 metres. We came across her on the port side amidships , I spotted a large White Bream, we swam around the ship taking some good photo’s including one or two of Eddie in the pilothouse looking out. On leaving the ship I was nearly into Deco again, even after taking a couple of days off. Swimming towards the reef was arrived at the Arch and after this we made our way to top plateau were was saw at first just a couple of medium size Barracuda’s, all of a sudden we were surrounded by at least 100 of them, it was just like a scene from a wagon train and them pesky injuns. We did see a gap and swam for it, hell for leather. We then started our ascent, doing a safety stop before surfacing.
An utterly fantastic dive.

Dive Ten this was a leisure dive, on entering the shallow lagoon we headed for the swim-thru’, on exiting we turned right along the reef until we came to the cave. On entering it we swam ‘till we came to the dead-end were two of our group went up the “chimney” and into a fresh air cavern, I stayed with my buddy, as she was a bit apprehensive.
We the exited the cave the same way we came in. Making our way slowly upwards and back to the boat we were surprised by the number of big Fireworms the were congregating, in this area, for the mating season.

Dive Eleven  The M.V Karwella, just off South Gozo was my deepest dive yet, all 39 metres, but worth it. We came across her at the bow and as we made our way on board we were “welcomed” by the guide who saluted each of us in turn. We then swam in and around the boat and then back to the bow and slowly zig-zaged our way back to the reef at 10 metres were we did a 6-minute safety stop before carrying on upwards. As we got to the 5 meter level, Martin, our guide, pointed to something in the grass, there we saw about 50 baby Damsel Fish that were just newly hatched, seemingly we were the first divers to see them so soon, apart from them there wasn’t much else to see.

Dive Twelve   My last dive of the holiday and my 200th one at that, unfortunately it wasn’t much to write about, other than two of our group were going thru’ a couple of training tasks, one was doing navigation and the other was diver rescue, these were carried out at 15 meters [ both  passed ]. The “highlight of the dive was when we spotted asmall Red Scorpion Fish in amongst the sea grass.

All in all a brilliant time and a dive group I can recommend, PARADISE DIVERS

We have a couple of trip reports from the Farnes. Thanks to Mick and the mysterious Gennaro who wishes to remain anonymous

After removing the cobwebs from my dive gear and packing my ‘Idiot’s guide to Diving’, I was all set for a weekend jaunt up north to play with some seals.  Mick and I departed my work place at 16:45 for the long trek up the M1 through Friday evening traffic.  Oh the fun we had…

Upon arrival at the quaint village of Beadnell we met the rest of the motley crew.

Familiar faces Nick and Lisa joined us from Rugby

While new member Mark was getting back into diving after a few years hiatus from the sport

Pete brought his wife Anne along to sample the delights of a Marlin SAC diving weekend.  Regulars Cathy, Garry,  Richard, John, Jim and Steve completed our posse.

Accommodation was basic but comfortable in the Farne Diving Services.  John and Mark managed to get a room all to themselves while each couple was also catered for, leaving Mick, Richard, Jim and Steve with no choice but to share with me J.  They all bunked together at one end of the room instructing me to bunk as far away from them as possible…
With an early start the next morning, a tasty breakfast was consumed at 8:00 before the procession made its way to harbour in Seahouses.  The tides and queues of bird watching tourists were against us resulting in a delay before departing.  The boat was very spacious with a lift on the back which was very good.  The only problem with the boat was that it didn’t have storage space for our second cylinders.  Weight belts were used to keep them in place as they were laid on the deck.  Our friendly skipper Lee delivered very informative dive briefs and his first mate (name?)  proved to be very helpful when kitting and de-kitting. (Editor’s note. There was no first mate Eoin that was me.)

For the first dive we did The Britannia , which was a wreck dive with the seals.  We dropped onto a shelf in 10m of water where we happened upon the only bit of the wreckage that we found throughout the dive.  Visibility was good at around 10m, but the seals seemed rather elusive, nibbling at your fins one second and then vanishing the next second.  Pete, Mick and I struggled to find our way to the ledge.  Pete confused my ‘we are swimming into a current’ hand signal to Mick with ‘I want to beat the crap out of you’ and moved in to act as peace maker.  Mick doesn’t understand any of my hand signals anyway so he shrugged and carried on muttering into his regs… Eventually we found the ledge and descended down to 20m.  The wall was covered in dead men’s fingers which was pretty impressive.  Near the end of the dive we saw a small shoal of plucky Pollock, plucky considering the number of seals that we saw bobbing in the water before we entered.

The second dive was a very enjoyable wreck dive in 10m of water, The Coryton.  Steve was putting Richard through his paces for his Sports Diver qualification, while Garry and Mark were digging under the boiler for what can only presumably have been treasure…  This wreck was more complete than the previous one and we could see a couple of boilers, the ribs of the hull and plenty of mangled metal.  It was teeming with lobsters, velvet swimming crabs, edible crabs and hermit crabs.  Both John and Jim managed to catch a lobster each but let them go straight away.  Jim mentioned something about fancying a steak for dinner instead.

The journey back proved to be better than a trip to Alton Towers!  Mick did his Michael Flatley impression while Lisa fell to her knees attempting to zip Nick up (his dry suit of course).  Almost straight away people started huddling behind the wheelhouse for some sort of shelter.  Cathy did a sterling job marshalling all day but the only black mark on her copy book was the delay in the provision of boat sweets. (2nd Editor’s note I was ill and said help yourself, which Eoin did with great enthusiasm. Normal service was resumed on Sunday)  Upon disembarkation everybody packed both Garry and Nick‘s jeeps with all of the empty cylinders, which were promptly carted off to the fill station.  That evening we had a relaxing meal in The Lobster Pot watching the world cup.

The next morning we had an earlier start, to the delight of everyone.  Breakfast was at 7:00, followed by a frantic search of Seahouses to find some food for our lunch.  Pete decided not to dive on Sunday but we were joined on the boat by regular Diving magazine columnist, Mike Clark.  He was a very friendly fellow.  On the way to the first dive site, Nick and Lisa spotted a Minke Whale.  During the surface interval Mike had an unconvinced Lee chasing splashes in search of said whale.  It all came to nothing disappointingly.

The first dive of the day was The Abyssinia .  There were loads of lobsters to be found again.  Also there were some Ballan Wrasse who were hiding in the kelp.  I tried communicating with one who seemed amused by my “fishspeak”.  We happened across Mike taking plenty of photos, and being clever divers we followed him for a bit as he was bound to find some good stuff.  Our ingenuity was rewarded with a scorpionfish!

The last dive of the trip was The Megstone.  Richard had to be the dive marshal in order to get it signed off for his Sports Diver so Steve was instructed to look after Mick and me (they really don’t trust us Mick do they?).  This dive was a seal watching dive.  The seals were slightly more inquisitive than yesterday.  They were probably attracted by Steve’s blue suit.  The dive consisted of us searching for seals and then sitting and watching as they glided around.  At the end of the dive as I sent the blob up, it appeared that the seals sensed we were leaving and decided to frantically swim around below in a vain attempt to entice us back down.

All in all it was an extremely enjoyable weekend.  Thanks to Cathy and Garry for organising it and thanks to everyone who attended for making it a great weekend.

(3rd editor’s note. We’ve been to the Farnes many times but this was the most enjoyable. The weather helped but it was the company which made this trip special.)

When asked why I go diving, I usually start with the opportunity it gives me to visit places in a unique way. Lots of people visit Lundy or St Abbs to view the birds or seals from a cliff top advantage, but how many get to see them from the water or even to interact with them beneath the waves? Magical moments!
For me the anticipation of such an encounter is heightened when it’s also a chance to dive a new site. You could probably imagine then, my disappointment when last year’s trip to the Farne Islands was blown out, but this year Neptune was smiling on us and we headed up the M1 knowing conditions would be near perfect; 25°C with some cloud cover and light winds.

And then there’s the special people you get to met, some who you may even get to call friends. One such is Jim who, as this was the weekend when England were to confront their old foe the Germans in the world cup, wanting to show his support and to commemorate the occasion Jim went to the dressing up box and dug out a kit from a period when England actually won such events and wore it proudly for most of the weekend.

After a hearty breakfast; Saturday morning had us spending an hour or so on Seahouses harbour which was full of day trippers on their way out to capture images of the birds and seals with camera lenses that wouldn’t have been out of place on the Hubble space craft. We watched them being crammed onto boats for their journey out to the islands, until it was or turn to board the Farne Diver and head out for our first dive of the day on the Britannia. Read all about it here

As we made ready and awaited slack water over the site, puffins and guillemots flapped past with beaks full of fish on their way back to feed their young, while gannets and turns soared overhead and the seals tentivley watched our activities from the water.
It was going to be a threesome this dive, with Eion leading and me and Pete flapping alongside. After 20minutes or so searching amongst the kelp at around10 meters I signalled to Eoin to head west and the planned drop down to 20m. He responded by pointing east and smashing his fist into the palm of his other hand. I took this to mean if I headed that way he’d thump me. (It’s apparently the signal for a strong current, for those of you interested in these things) After another 10 mins of looking for a clue amongst the kelp I tried again to move the dive west, this time Eoin complied and we where soon down to 20m surrounded by cliffs strewn with anemones and soft corals, followed by two or three seals that seemed to want to keep their distance. The current was soon on the increase so it was time to head back up the cliff face.
The second dive was to be on the “     “  which lies in 10m off the beach north of Bamburgh castle. An amazing dive this one with wreckage strewn over a huge area of seabed, an hour soon passed as we hovered over the site trying to identify the different parts of the vessel. These where full of wholes and crevasses providing the perfect habitat for all types of critters to thrive. Excellent!

Back on board we stowed kit and headed for harbour but as we left the shelter of the islands we were heading into a force 3-4 and against the tide. This resulted in the boat being pitched in every direction, a ride which couldn’t have been bettered at Alton towers. Other members were not so thrilled with this, causing one member to ejected his lunch.

The previous evening we had patronised the Craster Arms, some 100m from camp, and so after a quick wash and change we headed for Beadnell’s other hostelry, the lobsterpot restaurant, to sample their offerings. Various meals and ales where imbibe, all getting a thumbs up and some getting two thumbs.
Day two started with breakfast at 7am! to get us down to the harbour and underway by 9am. First dive of the day was to be the wreck of the Abessinia (this is the name we were given by the skipper but on researching, it may be mixed in with other wrecks. Explanation Here:

As we descended we found ourselves in a gully just wide enough for two divers where the walls where covered in sponges, soft corals and anemones, all of which were in full bloom filtering for food in the strong current. Today the sun was shining brightly and we where shallow, so the resulting vista was spectacular. The floors were littered with wreckage that concealed all manner of critters. We made our way east against the tide until we could no longer make ground and then turned to fly west across the area we had just covered. We soon came across the pistons from the engine but never made the boilers, which were a little deeper, instead we followed the gullies west discovering the critters pictured here. One of these beautiful creatures, a wrasse, Eoin took quite a shine to and as I turned from snapping a scorpion fish I found him regs out trying to steal a kiss from the wrasse. Yes folks O’Flynn is a fish kisser! You have been warned.

I had no idea the effect this news was to have when I reported it to our Dive manager, (opposite) who found it too much to cope with.

Fantastic dive!
(It’s a good job our DO don’t read this nonsense)

Our last dive was to be a seal encounter. We were accompanied by Steve on this one as his buddy stayed onboard to do his assistant dive manager practical for his sport diver training. We were at about 8-9m swimming through the kelp looking for seals which occasionally came to see what we were up to but quickly disappeared. I know this sounds a bit paranoid but I’m sure they were uncomfortable with there being three of us. This was re-enforced when on turning a corner we came across Mike Clarke a freelance photographer for diver magazine, who was diving alone. He was lying face to face with a seal that was sniffing his camera casing (too close for him to get a good photo) but on seeing us and much to Mike’s annoyance, the seal took off.(link to mike’s photo’s of the day below) The seals did put in an appearance for us; it was while we were ascending on a DSMB they came up from below nibbling on our fins just as we surfaced. The highlight for me was the massive Jelly (opposite) whose tentacles must have been 2-3 feet long. Spectacular!

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On Wednesday 7th October 11 members of the club met at Stoney Cove for the night dive. We had 5 divers and 6 other members who came to assist with kitting up and marshalling the dives. Water temperature was a tepid 15 degrees and visibility was good. Wayne and Tracey entered the water in daylight and emerged smiling at dusk. Garry, Mick and Kevin were determined theirs was going to be a proper night dive so waited until 7 o’clock before entering the water. One of the aims of their dive was to find the newly sunk wreck ‘Defiant’ but even with the prize of a bag of nuts for all who were successful they failed the challenge. However they did have a very enjoyable dive which was also useful as they practised their buddy skills and use of equipment in the dark. Julie made an excellent Dive Marshall keeping tabs on everyone. After the diving we retired to Nemo’s for a drink and 6 of us enjoyed a meal together. The next night dive is in 2 weeks on Wednesday  21st October. Garry and I will be there from 5 o’clock and hope to see as many people as possible either in the water or just coming for a drink and to eat.

Although the night started a little flat, with Tracy’s tyre getting nailed early on, “Jack” had her up in the air and Gary and Wayne had it changed in a time that would put Lewis Hamiltons pit crew to shame !

As the old rusty gate to the bus stop swung open, an interesting array of visual light aids filled the Stoney Cove car park, a quick buddy check ensured that Tracy had in-fact wimped out and was wearing her hood, her penance for forgetting her baby shampoo meant she was given the pleasure of washing out my mask before dropping in. Couple of blasts of air and a big splash and we found ourselves descending from the twilight on the surface to almost immediate darkness, any thoughts about not needing the torch for the start of the dive were immediately ignored and the road was alight with our beams. We continued our descent down the road, took the obvious left turn along the hole and having stumbled upon a pile of rocks, left again found us arriving at the bus,how appropriate having started at the bus stop ! The plan was to try and miss the Stangarth, which we achieved with relative ease and instead head for the Mini, as this was the first night dive this year (well one that was dark anyway !) , we took great pride in our achievement to miss the 18 Meter, 46 tonne steam powered tug and find the 8 foot x 4 foot Mini, phase one achieved, the remainder of the plan was to then avoid the newly sunken “Defiant” and find the much harder street light , once again Phase two achieved. Having dived into the wall we decided a slow ascent up the wall to the brake drum concluded that we also managed to miss, sorry I mean avoid the Nautilus thus concluding an almost perfect 40 minutes around the 20 meter shelf, along with the usual attractions we saw two of the largest Perch ever seen (well by me anyway ), one hiding under the platform @ 6 Meters and more crayfish than the Tescos Fish counter, we popped up bang on time @ 45 Minutes, concluding a very enjoyable night dive. No nuts this time but like all good American Governors……………….we will be back !

Night diving is the first and third Wednesdays of every month and we plan on being at every one. Please join us and bring your better halves. If you need a buddy or want any more information contact Gary

We did It Capern Wray  

I was a bit special. Was the opinion of those closest to me when I told them I intended dragging myself from my pit at 5am for a 3 hour journey north up the M6. All to dive a quarry whose website was quoting a water temperature of 7.5° C. (This turned out to be an average temperature for December, being changed monthly not daily, it was in fact 9-10 ° C) especially as there was a similar and perfectly adequate venue within a twenty minute drives of home. The drive up was uneventful but the banter increased as we made ready; Kevin offering to supply me with a list of reasons he enjoyed my company on these dive trips. That is if he can ever think of any. Richard’s story of a five legged dog was trumped by Garry, who claimed to have seen a seven legged version.

Soon we were ready to see if the viz was as good as it appeared on Joe’s dive site brief…    … it was with the ripples on the surface, picked out by the sun’s rays, clearly visible from 17 meters. It felt almost Mediterranean, but the 9° C pulled me back to reality. At 5 meters Steve gave me that look that said “what’s the dive plan then”. I threw back the “I thought you had the plan” look. He then pointed to a brass plaque a few meters below. This had one of those; you are here maps engraved upon it which indicated that taking a bearing of 130° would reveal the wreck of the PodSnap. We adopted this as our dive plan, for all of 20 seconds, as we turned the shadow cast by the wreck of The Gypsy Moth some 20m away came into view. So the plan changed and after exploring the Gypsy Moth we set sail for a swim through The Cave adorned by a Wessex helicopter. Leaving this we were met by a cliff face which would have taken us to 10m, so we headed south along the bottom to discover several up-right and over turned vehicles until after 15 minutes or so we were back at the Gypsy Moth. So what was in the middle of this hole then? We zig zagged back and forth only to return again to the Gypsy Moth. Recollections of Eccleston delph bubbled up. (Another tall tale of misadventure from the Mick and Steve dive logs).

We spent the last 10 minutes exploring the North West cliff before ascending to feed the fishes. I ripped the corner of the bag, letting the pellets slowly ascend, bringing fish in form every direction and ensuring no pellets made the surface. Before the bag was half empty the trout began ripping it from my hands, so I ripped it open scattering the food and causing mayhem as each fish fought for its share of the plunder. We were followed up the slope by Garry and Kevin and sat watching as they took their turn at feeding. As the shoal had already gathered and tasted the spoils on offer, Kevin was denied the pleasure of slowly releasing the food as the fish tried to rip the barely open bag form his mitts. Awesome sight!

While Richard and Garry guarded our kit we sloped off for a nice mug of coffee, (sorry about that chaps) and studying the map of Capern Wray’s under water topography, we tried to formulate a dive plan; Jump in, go down, turn left. Now time to test it out. Yep it seemed to work really well and we managed to bump into all the stuff we’d missed on the first dive; The African Queen, airplane, the 21m sump, we also followed the Sturgeon for a few minutes, before climbing to 10m where we were met by a large shoal of Roach which danced to and fro as we swam amongst them. Our next treat was to stumble across Shergar which Steve mounted, with not so much as an offer of a sugar lump, to pose for what would have been a great photo op had we a camera with us. Then it was through the training area to exit at the slip.

Two good dives with great viz in a decent Quarry. Was it worth the inconvenience of the 5am start?

Oh yes!
I’ll look forward to doing this one again.

Lundy Island, 12 miles out
With a promise of seals and more
But a weekend with some Easterly Breeze
leaves you wondering what you saw

We sailed out and sun shone bright
With the wind upon our backs
The skipper said, “The other side”
as the foam then covered our tracks.

The first dive was a simple one,
descending steadily down the shot
There was lots to see , if you took your time
……….even poor lobsters in a pot !

John was excited after the dive
and I wondered, why the fuss
but as I was looking the other way
he had seen an Octopus !

So back on deck we had a rest
and moved in close to shore
The seals were looking at us in Jest
entering the water, not in awe !

We snorkelled , dived and played around ,
but pupping season means no hanging round
Close in shore , the second dive
Kelp galore and even sand

On deck again, and mixed reports
a decent dive I thought,
but this diving is a personal thing
something very early taught.

Allan, Jan and even Trace
were raving about their dive
A seal had come along to play ,
makes you happy to be alive.

But others back were less impressed
and it’s all about what you see
Tomorrow is another day
for you, and him and  me

So Cylinders filled and bellies as well
Sunday brought much hope
The west of the island was our initial aim
how would we all manage to cope

So dropping in and on the bed
it seemed to be running fast
12 fin kicks and nothing moved
40 minutes more , would I last !

So we kept in close, and crawled along
until we reached the end
turned the corner with the current behind
wow, look how fast we descend !

A reasonable dive with bits to see
Kev even saw two eels
Crabs, more kelp and even fish
I thought it quite appealed

But back on top , the swell was up
and back upon the deck
Aching legs and burning lungs
life insurance I need to check!

The last dive was a mystery drift
With only 6 hardy ones in
4 flew along the side of the coast
2 more, too tightly tucked in

But all back, safe and sound
before the engines roared
a bumpy journey back to land
be nice to have been warned

Diving is a strange old thing
depending on your thoughts
but I was happy with what I saw
and applying what I was taught

Another day we will go back
who knows when we set sail
but rest assured my name will be down
and that’s the end of my tale !

Wayne