The Elk
On
the last day we headed out to dive the last of our local wrecks. We chose the
Elk for the morning dive. The Elk was once a trawler, but requistioned
for war service in both wars. It survived the
first, but struck a mine in the 2nd, and went to the bottom in 30 meters
of water. The
hull is still more or less intact but all the decking is mostly
gone revealing the boiler and giving easy access to the inside of the hull. You can still see where the toilet was and the
winches are there, but its
a shadow of its former
self. Even so it is still a good dive. It's deep enough for it to be a
bit exciting, and there is plenty to look at in the short time available.
The Scylla
In
the afternoon we crossed Whisand Bay once more to dive the wreck of HMS
Scylla. This is an ex RN Frigate sunk in 2004 as an artificial reef. It
sits in about 25 meters of water and makes a very interesting dive. There
is lots to explore, with a maze of corridors and decks. There are many
exits out through the hull. Marine life is just starting to make its mark
on the wreck. Visibility was a good 10 meters when we dived it, and was
extremely clear in the vast engine room. (although dark, see video clip)
We managed a multi deck level tour, entering from the port side, roaming
the corridors in a gradually descending pattern until we reached the engine
room, then headed back up through the wreck to finish off in the control
room.
Conclusions
Essentially,
the planning of this trip was Kens, in honour of his secret birthday,
and we were all very pleased to be invited. The weather was kind to us
over the period making Plymouth a great backdrop to the diving. As for
the diving, the wrecks were great, although the choice was a bit limiting
in our range. In Plymouth there are just a handful of wrecks in the 30
meter range,
the next
depth range
starts
about 48 meters which offers a much greater variety. However, this is more
the area of the tri-mix diver. A return trip might benefit from a stay
in Salcombe, where a plethora of wrecks litter the area known as the Bolt.
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Aug 2009
Club
Trip to Plymouth, Devon
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Over
the weekend of the 14-17th August, Ken McQuilton organised
a jolly outing for members of the club down to Plymouth, We would
stay in the fine hamlet of Turnchapel, and sample the hospitality
of the Borringdon Arms. Ken had managed to acquire a booking
of a hardboat for 4days, (Trojan Warrior) with only 5 of us as
cargo.
(Designed for 10 divers!) Real luxury indeed!
We shared cars between us, and piled down to Plymouth on the
Thursday
night.
Weather
was looking pretty good for the weekend too!
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Living
over a pub has its advantages. The Borringdon Arms did a good line
in real ale and pub food, and the bar was popular with the locals.
The Landlord, being an old and bold diver, had done the right and
proper thing and decorated the pub with local wreck pictures and
sea curios. The accomodation was low frills and cost, we shared a 4
man room and a family room, which easily met our needs..
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A
short video clip of our diving exploits in Plymouth. Features footage
from the Scylla, the Elk and the Rosehill. |
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The Borrington Arms Turnchapel |
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Diveboat
Friday morning we moved our kit down to the Mountbatten centre
and pontoon, where we were collected by our diveboat, Trojan Warrior.
Trojan
warrior is skippered by either Alan Lane (ex Fort Bovisand
and British Diver) or Rod Davies
who skipperd "STORM" out of Plymouth for many years
and between them they have over 60 years experience diving
South West
waters.Trojan Warrior is a Mitchell 31 MK2 fitted
with a DIVE LIFT for easy recovery.She has a large deck area
and is licenced to carry 10 divers and two crew 20 miles
from port. Friday we explored that boundary, as our destination
was
the Maine, near Salcombe.
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Diving
Friday - The Maine
It
was a fairly long trip out along the coast to reach the Maine,
made longer by some cooling failure issues on the boat engine,
which required several stops to carry out remedial action. Nevertheless,
we had the Maine to ourselves, and had a stunning dive on this
intact wreck, in calm flat conditions with good visibility. (about
8 metres) The wreck stands upright in 32 metres, and allows lots
of fairly safe penetration and exploration. We saw wrasse, pollack
and conger amidst the wreckage.
The
Persier
On
our way back to Plymouth we stopped at the Persier for a 2nd dive.
The Persier lies fairly flattened at 28 meters, with nothing protruding
much above 3m. It's the remains of an old liberty ship sunk in
1945. Its more of a rummage dive, though there are occasional upright
plates that provide swim through obstacles. Our return by boat
to Plymouth was more eventful than the trip out. Damage to the
cooling system necessitated a call to the coast guard for help,
and a call back to Plymouth for a tow, however, our resourceful
skipper managed to cobble together an acceptable solution to enable
us to limp back home under our own steam. |
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We
returned to the hamlet of Turnchapel to refresh ourselves with
fine ale, and some good pub grub. The skipper announced that the
boat would not be going out saturday as he would be repairing
the cooling system. In the mean time he got our divers onto another
boat that was heading out to the Eddystone to take in the wonders
of the gin clear pile of rocks out there. There was no shortage
of volunteers. (Well, one or two!) |
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On
the saturday Ken dropped a bomb shell that it was his birthday. So
celebrations were in order. However, first there was the matter of
a bumpy trip out to the Eddystone for a dive around the rocks
there. The boys came back with stories of 30 meters of gin visibility,
although unfortunately, none of the cameras had functioned to record
it. They managed a dip on the Scyalla on the way back, before
we took Ken into Plymouth for a magical night out, with his own special
birthday cake.The candles you see on the cake were cunningly
fashioned by members of the team to look like Badgers, although not
very well! (Don't ask!) |
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The
return to Turnchapel was not incident free. We queued up to get the
last ferry back, only to find out it had been cancelled because it
had broken down. They laid on another ferry, however this appeared
even more of a death trap, as the rear propshaft was open in the
passenger compartment, throwing water out onto the passengers as
it span. The operating Staff didn't seem overly concerned, and we
moved to the front of the boat to avoid this mangling hazard.
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Remarkably,
we managed it back safely to the Borringdon Arms, where we steadied
our nerves with a nightcap of Doombar and other assorted nautical
ales. Well, we'd come to see wrecks, just didn't expect to travel
on one. |
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The
Rosehill
The
following day we returned to the spacious Trojan Warrior for some
local Diving. In the morning we dived the Rosehill, the flattened
remains
of a steamer torpedoed in 1917, now lying in Whitsand Bay in 30 meters
of water. We saw a few whiting and cuckoo wrasse, and there extended
a faded brownish band of water at about 8-5 meters which we put
down to planktom bloom.
The
James Egan Layne
In
the afternoon we headed a short distance to the James Egan Layne, an
old liberty ship lying upright in 22 meters. There is still a lot
to see on this wreck with spectacular swim throughs, and excellent
marine life and growth. The visibility was far better than this
morning, stretching in some parts as far as 10 meters. We finished
off crawling around in the propshaft tunnel, before climbing to the
top of the wreck to deploy SMBs. |
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