Galicia, Teignmouth

The final plan was for three waves to go out of Teignmouth to the Galicia. Unfortunately only the first wave, Clint and Hilary, and Anne and I (Paul L boat handled) got to dive. Further diving was called off as visibility was only 1m or so, and just not worth it.

The wreck was located using the transits, and a floating line [attached to a folding anchor later retrieved] found in position used as a shot. I was glad of the shot, because there was some current, as well as poor visibility. I hoped things might be better on the Galicia and we might pass through a layer of algae into some clearer water but no such luck, and it had become very dark too.

Making the most of things, we examined the random lump we'd arrived on, and poked around for wildlife. The encrusted and silty jumble of metalwork had plenty of hiding places and lurking within were small fish, including a female cuckoo wrasse. Other things I noticed were sea-squirts (light-bulbs), a few small starfish, and sponges.

Downwards towards the edge of the wreckage all of a sudden we were confronted by a net. As we backed away, I realized Anne was caught and discovered more of the dreadful stuff entangling her 1st stage. This was carefully sorted and we chose an alternative route.

We shortly came to a wall of cruddy metal, it was covered in hundreds of beautiful white anemones and I took a few pictures. Not long afterwards at another upright plate with unseen debris and cable about it, we decided, almost simultaneously, that we'd had enough of the place - despite its eerie beauty - and wanted to go home. I helped Anne deploy the blob and we returned to the surface.

The dive was valuable experience, so despite the poor conditions I was very glad to have done it. We also got to see Clint deploy his special diving umbrella. I can't wait to go back to the Galicia and explore it in 'daylight' as it were, go a little bit further, make out a bit more of what's left of it and see what else lives there.