Diving - The adventure continues!
2023 Diving - More UK diving, but a summer to forget!
My next dive was a very unusual one for me.
July and August were terrible months, weather-wise, for diving and we had had weekend after weekend blown out.
Desperate for an August dive, I nipped down to Swanage while staying with Mum and had a dive under the pier.
I entered via the steps on the pier and swam to the metal part, carrying on beneath the pier from there.
Being on my own meant I could stop, start and linger wherever and whenever I wanted to, which meant I could take a good look at things and so it was my best dive to this point under Swanage Pier.
During the dive I saw many creatures. Lots of Bib, Wrasse, Crabs and small shrimps.
I spotted a lovely Grey Mullet at the end of the pier and a pair of Sea Bass as well as a feeding Cuttlefish.
I swam down the right side (heading out), venturing out into the sea grass now and then, hoping I may spot a Seahorse (I didn't) then back down the left on the way back, switch backing across near the stone section before surfacing after an hour as time was starting to run out on my car park ticket.
It was great to get an August dive in (to keep up the record of diving every month - Ridiculous that July and August ended up being some of the worst in terms of dives, but such was the terrible weather this summer).
BSAC and PADI both frown on solo diving, but this was the first dive I'd really enjoyed at Swanage Pier and it did make me think that maybe a Solo diving qualification might be a worthwhile thing to have.
Luckily, the next couple of months were better for diving.
Club Diving late '23
At the beginning of September, I spent a couple of days diving with the club, out of Brighton.
Initially, I had only planned to do the Sunday, but I'd done so little diving over the summer that I took up a free space on the Saturday too.
The first day was to a shallow wreck, the Indiana, followed by another visit to Kings West Ledges, which hadn't inspired me greatly when we visited them during Dawn and my AD dives the previous year.
I dived with Tim on these dives.
The Indiana was a fairly unpromising sounding dive on a wreck which was at just 9.5M on initial entry, but it ended up being quite a nice dive with lots of life (Crabs, Lobsters and Congers as well as Wrasse, Gobies and other usual UK fish).
Light and vis were good and there was a surprising amount of wreckage to see, although the hull and much of the wreck was gone.
Most notable were an arch of metal (possibly a pipe?) and winches.
Some video from the SS Indiana
Overall, it turned out to be a more enjoyable dive than I'd expected.
I hadn't been very impressed with Kings West Ledges last year and this was even worse.
We dropped in and found ourselves on nothing but sand, we started to swim north as recommended, but in very murky vis I lost Tim. We both ascended and returned to the boat and the skipper offered to put us back on the reef.
This time we were, but the vis was still terrible. We did see a cuttlefish, but Tim soon ran low on gas and neither of us were very unhappy about ending a very poor dive.
The following day, we dived the deeper SS Fortuna first of all.
This was potentially a very interesting wreck, but it was very dark on this dive.
Being at 34M, John thought he'd run low on gas quickly, but we managed a reasonable 20 minutes on the wreck, seeing lots of wreckage and life, but all at close distance due to darkness.
Being on air, we reached deco quickly, too, and as John was only on a 15L cylinder we erred on the side of caution and surfaced after 34 minutes, but we could have had a longer dive.
No-one was keen on returning to Kings West Ledges again (it seems to be the default second dive for Brighton and, honestly, after two dives, I think it's a rubbish one just included close to the marina to justify the price of the day.
So, we were all pretty happy when Steve, the skipper, offered Brighton Pier as a potential alternative.
Vis was fairly good, although it got, understandably, darker the further under the pier we got.
We saw a good number of Plaice when we first dropped in, but in the darker parts, it was mainly crabs and gobies.
Julian found an iPhone and John a pier day pass.
It was a novel dive, not unlike Swanage Pier, but darker and less attractive as there is a lot more discarded building material on the sea bed under this pier.
Overall, though, a far better second dive than KWLs and a nice way to end a weekend's diving.
After a holiday in the Scilly Isles (sadly there were no opportunities to dive there!), I put out a call to the club to see if anyone was interested in a trip to Vobster. Other divers were elsewhere, so only John, our Chairman, and I went, but we had a good day.
We did 3 dives and for the first we entered in front of the shop and descended to cross the top of the pit, where we could easily see the car below.
We swam to the cruiser, around the outside of that and then followed the line from the nearby wheelhouse down to the caravan.
We then swam on past the small boat, the jesters and the second wheelhouse, before turning up the slope to the Sea King helicopter, which we swam through.
We then followed the road up to the airplane, passing around and through the 3 sections before heading up the road to carry out a safety stop at 6M (John had a bit of trouble here) and then exited at the kitting up area.
After an hour's interval and refilling our cylinders, we headed to the entry point near the plane.
We dropped in and swam through the glider trailer and past and around the NAS training site.
We then turned back, past the plane, to the concrete tubes and the 'washing machine' and then down through the crushing works.
We then swam onto the cruiser and wheelhouse again as we still had plenty of air, before turning back and going up through the tunnel to the safety stop - John was fine on this one.
As we offgassed after that dive, we decided we had time for 3rd dive, so decided to take a quick trip down to the APC as the only notable object we hadn't visited on the previous dives.
From there we swam onto the cruiser, up to the top of the tunnel and then down and back up that (for a change) and then completed our safety stop before exiting at the kitting up area.
It was generally very quiet at Vobster for a late September Saturday, vis had been good and we had three pleasant dives.
The next weekend, a group of us headed to Portland, getting our RHIB out for the first time since late May!
This was to carry out the practical exercises for the Wreck Appreciation SDC that we ran in the club.
We selected the Landing Craft for the dives as it's sheltered, little dived and simple to understand.
For the first dive, I put the shot right on the stern of the wreck (cracking placement, if I say so myself!) and Tom (my student) initially started a distance line from there around the port side of the wheel house and down onto the LC deck.
However, it soon was clear there was nowhere to tie off lines here, so we tracked back along the line to the shot again.
After that we toured the wreck, with Tom sketching significant features.
Suddenly I saw a large grey figure alongside me - Initially I thought it was a dolphin, but then it turned and looked at me and the big eyes and dog like face was obviously a large seal!
We encountered it a few more times as we continued around the wreck, so a double win on this most uninspiring of wrecks (chosen for limited diving - Only we dived it this day - and simplicity for the exercice!)
we pulled into Portland Marina to refill our cylinders, review the first dive, grab some lunch and plan for the second.
For the second dive, we had a number of points to measure against a baseline.
We descended and recovered the base line tape that Tim and Geoff had left alongthe starboard side of the hull.
We then laid this across the stern and measured in the rear corners of the wheelhouse and the width of the winch.
We also measured the height of the wheelhouse and then swam to the bow where we measured the width of the ramp at top and bottom.
We didn't see the seal this time, but the other pairings did, so everyone was happy!
We finalised the dive with Tom deploying an anchored DSMB (a pretty pointless exercise if you can deploy and DSMB unanchored, but it was part of the course!).
Overall, an enjoyable day as the objectives and exercises made me look at the simple landing craft (on visiting again, it's smaller than the one on display at Southsea) with different eyes.
And, of course, the Seal was the highlight of the day! If only I'd remembered to bring my camera!
Back to the Salsette
The following weekend, Andy and I were booked to dive a ship called HMS Boudica, out of Portland, in Andy's quest to reach 50M at the age of 50.
Sadly, a couple of days before, the skipper cancelled the trip as only Andy and I had booked onto it.
With no other 50M opportunities, we decided to give up, but then spotted Scimitar were going out to the Salsette and, as we'd said we'd return to dive the stern, we booked onto that at the last minute.
It was a late start and we didn't actually get in the water until 4:15PM!
The skipper, Nick, had shotted the stern and Andy descended right to the bottom keen to find the scour and still, vainly, hoping to get 50M.
It turned out to be 45.4M, pretty much as expected.
We were on the starboard prop shaft (the prop is gone) at this point and then swam up and around the stern to move along the deck.
Vis was around 5M, but it was darker than on our last visit.
We passed what some said was a gun, but looked more like steering gear to us (Nick agreed, but another diver said the gun lies on the sea bed).
Then we swam forward in the 35-40M range along the deck.
Some video from our dive on the Salsette
We peered into holds as we went, spotting some huge congers as well as plenty of big fish (Pollock?) and the usual suspects (crabs, bib, wrasse and gobies).
We passed over some openings with obvious machinery in them (engine room possibly?) and then reached our 25 minute bottom time. It took a couple of minutes to get the DSMB up as I had stupidly forgotten my reel and used Andy's which has a different mechanism and I didn't want to lose it!
The ascent required quite a lot of stops (15m, 12M, 9M and 6M, the last two on the 76% Nitrox I had for deco), which resulted in a 60 minute dive time in total!
Overall, an enjoyable dive, letting us see the parts of the Salsette we hadn't before, but it would be easy to do many more dives before I could easily identify where I was on the wreck.
One CCR diver, did a 2 hour run time, so we had to wait a while for him, even though he was first in and we were last and it was dark before we reached Portland Marina!
Diving with NAS on protected wrecks
I was back in the water a couple of days later, diving on the HMS Invincible (1758) and A1 Submarine (1910), two very different sites, with the Nautical Archaeological Society.
I had done the A1 and Invincible before, but was keen to see them again, especially this 1700s warship.
It was quite choppy for a RHIB ride, but luckily it's not far to the Invincible from the launch point at Southsea Marina beach.
I dived with Mike and we descended the shot to find a line leading north.
We were told if the first divers in had laid a line north it led to an area where some of the starboard hull lay, away from the main part, so we followed the line.
There is a lot of planking on the seabed here and we covered this area a few times as we explored around, turning when we reached sand.
Eventually we came off this section and found the main section, to the south, which extends from Bow to Stern.
We drifted over and around the wreck, never really sure where we were on the wreck, despite being given an extensive briefing beforehand, but we probably saw most of the wreck, looking back at the wreck tour now.
Most of the wreck is planking or more substantial structural timber, with a few metal 'knees' to support decks, which we saw during our dive.
Some video from our dives on the Invincible and A1
It was an enjoyable, shallow dive with good vis and light and we ambled around the site, just enjoying what we discovered as we went.
I had no safety stop due to the shallow site, but Mike did, and his insistency on holding onto my DSMB line right at the reel caused a bit of a problem holding 5 or 6M initially, but we got it sorted in the end and surfaced after nearly an hour.
After a quick turnaround back at the slipway, we set off to the A1.
It's a long-ish haul to the submarine and it was even bumpier than in the morning. One of the group lost his grip at one point as we hit a big wave and was thrown overboard, but he was soon recovered in quite good humour and we continued on, slightly slower, to the site, where we all went in.
The A1, like the Holland V and M2, sits on the seabed, seemingly ready to power up and motor away.
The stern is sunk into the seabed, but the rest sits on it, with the very bow slightly raised above.
Martin Dawes, the licensee of the wreck, had given a great briefing on the sub, so we were able to check out all the points of interest, such as the huge twin exhaust pipes for the 140 litre V16 engine!
We peered down the conning tower, which seemed remarkably free of sediment and also into the torpedo loading hatches at the front, which had more in.
There was plenty of life, including crabs, a lobster and many Bib. Mike got his finger nipped by a Conger he surprised, but escaped injury!
Being an early submarine (the first British designed and built one), it's pretty small, so we went around it 4 or 5 times in 35 minutes, before deciding we weren't going to find anything else to see and I put up my DSMB.
We completed a safety stop again (Mike again insisting on being annoyingly close to the reel) and surfaced after 42 minutes.
Luckily the run back, at lower speed, wasn't as bumpy and it had been an enjoyable dive again, a definite bonus for a dive in October!
By now we were into mid-October, but the weather was as good for the time of year as it had been bad for it in the summer.
We headed back to Portland Harbour to use our club RHIB again for the practical dives for the Wreck Appreciation SDC for some other club members.
I finally got to return the lift I'd owed Andy since early in the season, but when we unpacked the car, it turned out he'd forgotten his drysuit!
We decided to see if we swap mine between the two of us and, surprisingly, it wasn't that much of a problem.
I dived with Rohit this day, with the aim of carrying out a couple of Dive Leader drills for him as he'd not done the SDC theory.
After the others had come out (a trick in itself as the wind was blowing divers and the RHIB onto the inside of the harbour wall as we tried to recover them) and I had got Andy out of my drysuit and myself into it, Rohit and I dropped in.
This first dive was for me to demonstrate Dive Leading and we swam around the Landing Craft and then along rope to Bombardon Unit.
There was really good vis on both sites, with the boat alongside the Bombardon Unit being the clearest I've ever seen, a small tug lying on its starboard side.
It was a really good dive and we were looking forward to the second, where I was going to take some video (having forgotten my camera on the first!), but Rohit found he couldn't clear his right ear as we descended the shot.
We tried a couple of times, but it wasn't going to clear, so second dive was aborted and the others dropped in for their measuring dives.
I gave Caroline my GoPro, though, and she got some video showing the conditions.
Konrad and Caroline surveying the Landing Craft
My next dives were in the relative mundanity of Wraysbury Dive Centre.
Wraysbury has a, not undeserved, reputation for poor visibility and some of our fellow club members had reported it being bad on the day before we visited.
It was just Andy and I diving, so we arrived as the centre opened and kitted up quickly to get in before the many other divers, some dive schools, got in and stirred up the silt.
We entered in the car park, with the rough idea of trying to find the plane, but really just happy to find anything.
We managed to be first people in, but as I jumped in everything looked a bit brown.
Luckily as we started to make our way around the lake, our worst fears were allayed and, while it wasn't the best vis I've seen there, it was certainly manageable and we managed to get around without getting separated.
We found the London Taxi and the lifeboat quite quickly, but never saw the the plane.
Perch were everywhere - still from Andy's video
There were plenty of Perch around, both large and big shoals of juvenilles, especially on our second dive.
Andy spotted a couple of big Carp near the boat graveyard, but I missed those.
We generally navigated around for just over 50 minutes, before returning to the exit ramp behind the shop.
We decided it was good enough for a second dive, so switched tanks and had a tea and a bacon sandwich.
For the second dive, we entered behind the shop and swam to the bus,then along the shallows, past the now almost completely decayed Triumph Spitfire and the Reliant Scimitar until we found the pipe into the pit.
As usual, there were plenty of crayfish - still from Andy's video
The Pit is a concrete circle,about 3M across and excavated to about 16M. Vis looked OK at the top, but as we descended we ended in total blackness, only identifying the bottom by feel.
I recorded 15.6M and Andy, somehow, managed half a metre more!
From there we continued along the edge of the lake until we reached the artificial cave complex, which we navigated a few times and then turned back.
We ended the dive in the shallows close to the confined area following a huge shoal of tiny carp (Andy got a mild rebuke for swimming through a class in the confined area!) and then ended up back at the slipway.
The big shoal of juvenille perch near the confined area - still from Andy's video
The weather had been sunny, even warm in the sunshine, all morning and we'd had two really quite enjoyable dives.
I was particularly pleased as on the previous couple of dives, my sleeves had been soaked and I'd cleaned and refitted the seals on my drysuit (I have quick change silicone ones), which were totally water tight on this trip, although I still have a leak on my right knee that I can't locate!
Andy, John and I visited Vobster Quay again later in November.
We went on a Friday, as Saby wanted to join us, but (not for the first, or even second or third, time) he cried off on the day. He was awarded the 'Golden Cornflake' as the 'flakiest diver of the year' at our club awards for his reputation for turning up late or not at all, but he did also receive the most improved diver award, so it's a shame he doesn't dive more often as he could become a very competent diver.
Vobster was quiet and for our first dive, we dropped in in front of the shop and descended to the Jacqueline wreck.
We noticed a lot of large fish inside, but there was some disagreement on whether they were Perch or something else.
We then descended a rope from some rocks just behind the wreck, which took us to the bottom (C.34M) and the wreck of a small boat, which I'd not seen before.
We then ascended and turned along the road, to the Sea King helicopter.
From there we went up to the base of the crushing works, passed through the hole in the bottom of the wall and up to the top.
We then swam onto the airplane, as John had mentioned wanting to do that. Vis was a bit cloudy at depth, but much clearer in the shallower water here.
The thermocline was an unexpectedly deep 19M, but dropped about 3-4C at that depth.
We then swam back to the shallow water and completed a safety stop there.
After a quite lengthy interval, partly due to the site staff's vain attempts to locate a leak in Andy's suit, we dropped in for our second dive and descended to a platform around 12M in an attempt to see bubbles from Andy's drysuit, without success.
Then we dropped down to the Jacqueline again, onto the wheelhouse and then followed the line down to the caravan, which I swam through (It's on the verge of total collapse now, so I figured I may never get the chance again).
We then followed the line to the small boat, with the aim of continuing on to the second wheelhouse and finding the jesters, but the vis wasn't great and Andy veered off slightly to the left, which bought us to the Sea King again instead.
From there were ascended and found ourselves at the top of the tunnel, so we swam down and then back up it again, before ending our dive with a safety stop in the shallows near the top of the tunnel, as before.
Andy's 400th diver happened in Vobster- still from Andy's video
We had had a couple of good dives, but we were all happy to call it a day at 2 and Andy logged his 400th dive on this one.
The final dives of 2023 were in Wraysbury again, not unsurprisingly.
It was a cold day, with water temperature at 6C, but the vis was fairly good on an overcast Friday.
The club had, before our trip, logged a total of 394 dives in 2023, not a remarkably high number, but not bad considering the awful summer weather and some turmoil in the club.
Andy and I decided, we needed to hit a total of 400 for the year, but only he and I turned up on the day, meaning we needed to do 3 dives each.
The water level was high after considerable rainfall, so we walked down the slope behind shop.
We descended and then swam through the bus and past the Triumph Spitfire and a small boat alongside it.
Shortly afterwards we found 'The Pit', which we'd said we wouldn't bother with, but as the vis was amazingly good, clear to the bottom, we descended into it for probably a record Wraysbury depth for me of 16.3M, where we found it full (dozens, over 50) of Perch of all sizes!
The Pit was full of Perch of all sizes - still from Andy's video
We continued on to the 'cave complex', passing the Reliant Scimitar, and swam around the Caves before returning to the shop slip to exit.
Andy's suit was still leaking, so he borrowed a new valve from Richard who was repairing some of their drysuits and we went in for a second dive.
With a limited amount of gas in our cylinders, we knew this would be a short one and we agreed '10 minutes and 10 back' heading from the shop along the shore towards the plane.
One of the many boats in Wraysbury - still from Andy's video
My recollection was that we reached the lifeboat on this dive, but it's a bit hazy.
Andy's suit still leaked on this dive, unfortunately, so Richard did the 'soapy water' test and found bubble from the top of the material (rather than teeth) part of the zip, so it's back to Seaskin for the suit, it seems.
Andy had mentioned the large number of Perch in the pit and Richard suggested we swam out to a white buoy on the far side of the lake and then descend gently alongside it.
We did so and found two enormous carp on top of a container.
There were also around 10 smaller, but still large, dark fish, which Richard told us afterwards were Tench, far bigger than the one I had in my garden pond!
We swam around a bit, enjoying the decent vis and passed quite a few other sites and wrecks, before deciding we'd started to swim in circles and surfacing.
We then descended again and headed towards the shop, before being lost again and surfacing to see we were fairly close to the shop slipway, so we dropped back down and swam to it and exited there.
I used one of my numerous sets of Conshelfs for this dive, having recently acquired a 21 1st stage, which has enough LP ports for a drysuit hose. I mated this up to the 2nd stages I've used many times in the pool before and a gauge I acquired with some of the other Conshelf parts.
The regs worked perfectly, with no leaks, in or out, and being really easy to breathe on - I'll certainly use them again in inland sites, at least, although the primary 2nd stage could do with a larger mouthpiece.
So, that was it for 2023, 2024 already has a very exciting trip planned, so hopefully all wil go according to plan. Time will tell...
