Lincoln / Bucks

We got up extra early today – and to our relief the wind had died off. It was misty on higher ground but arriving at Lamorna and sea-level the visibility was fair; and as the day went on it became brighter and by the afternoon it was warm and sunny. Our first dive was Lincoln (30m). A sailing-ship converted to steam, sunk in 1865, the Lincoln is flattened but very attractive. With good 10m+ visibility, the view across the ships frames was wonderful. Around the wreck I found a few crab, and there were some big bib, and an extremely large ling. Bizzarely I found a golf ball.

A breathtaking last dive took in the Outer Bucks. We went down the shot near the submerged peak and travelled west to find the sheer walls plastered with a colourful patchwork of jewel anemones. Lots of other critters and my first feather-star. The scenery was awesome with tremendous boulders and large drops to fly over. A brilliant dive.

Thanks to Debbie for organising and managing, and to Chris and Ted for all the towing and boat-handling.

Lamorna

No diving happened on Thursday owing to strengthening (force 3-4) winds. The sea state within Lamorna Cove itself was choppy and it appeared rough further out. The poor conditions however didn’t deter a threesome of divers (I don’t know who they were) from attempting a shore dive. I watched them struggle in and after 10-15 minutes of surface swimming, and repeated separations (frequently disappearing from view behind the waves) eventually dived, a few times, for a few minutes. It didn’t look very enjoyable to say the least; and keen as I am to dive – wouldn’t have wanted to be in their ‘flippers’.

Hellopes / Conqueror

A fantastic dive was had on the Hellopes (38m), a 97m long, 2,774 tonne coal-laden steamship. Incorporating planned decompression, it would also be my deepest dive. Chris led down the shot alongside the impressive up-standing stern (over on its side) and wreckage. We swam over the rudder and some other bits where I had trouble making out what was what, but it was all very interesting looking and picturesque. Plenty of wildlife around and about: large pollack and here and there amongst the metalwork, leopard-spotted gobies. There were dense clusters of plumose anemones and white/orange dead-mans-fingers. Various tangles of fishing gear on the wreck, clumps of line, rope etc. Near a bundle of straps and rope I found a pointed oval shaped object of lead which I suppose must be some sort of bullet but how it got there I have no idea.

The second shallow dive of the day was the Conqueror, a large fishing vessel wrecked around on Boxing Day 1977. It lies in about 17m of water, below cliffs west of Mousehole. We found one of the three sections it is supposedly broken into (it looked like it’d been there 100 years), which is still a good size and stands 6m or so off the bottom. We didn’t find any more of the wreck (in spite of reasonable ~8m vis) but enjoyed exploring the boulder strewn bottom finding several lobsters and dogfish; besides abundant sand-gobies, two-spot gobies, and various kinds of anemone in the shelly gravel.

Stannocks

Launching from Lamorna, several dives were made (25-30m) on the Stannocks, a bouldery outcrop with interesting scenery. Visibility was 8-10 metres. There was lots of interesting wildlife: a variety of sponges, sea-firs, starfish, and urchins; widespread sea fans, sea cucumbers, several small candy-striped flatworms; also nudibranch eggs; spider, edible, and velvet fiddler crab. Fish included bib, pollack, dogfish and cuckoo wrasse. A bright metallic blue and orange (male) cuckoo wrasse appeared to follow as we pottered about, and towards the end of the dive a cuttlefish appeared.

At the start of the second dive, the shot weight - which had become lodged between rocks - was retrieved and returned to the surface with a lifting bag. Current was very slightly stronger and visibility slightly reduced to perhaps 6-8 metres. A very nice swim, decompressing on the return trip up around the rock. We were all very pleased to have got in the water at last!

Sennen Cove

A group from the club, ably managed by Debbie as part of her Advanced Diver assessment, went to Cornwall to dive out of Penzance and Lamorna Cove. Unfortunately the Bank Holiday weekend was a total washout. The rain lashed down and gale force winds rocked the caravan.

On the Monday, Adrian and I looked at a few sites mentioned in the Dive South Cornwall (Diver Guide) book. Porth Curno (below Minack Point) - with a steep sandy beach - looked like it might be good for snorkelling in fine weather along the rocks to the south. As for Mill Bay, you need a tractor or a horse to get to it, otherwise, via a long walk along the coast path (so another snorkelling spot there perhaps).

Thankfully, conditions improved during the week and we had three days of comfortable diving weather.

Rosehill

Usual thing, meet at the boathouse, get the boat ready and make way to Plymouth. Nice weather (very warm but hazy). Kevin boathandled. Clint found the wreck and shotted the boilers! Buddied with Adrian; I led and the plan included a mid-water DSMB deployment exercise. Down shot, I took us in small circle then once I'd got my bearings (compass useless on the wreck), along the line of the wreck from the boilers to the stern. Coming down we went through a layer of snotty green bits, but visibility at the bottom was a very good 8m or so. All well so far, considering how the Rosehill is hard to find, and also visibility is often poor. Gorgonian fans grow on the collapsed hull, on a thick turf dotted with urchins and small anemones (above) and these with all the fish above them were a lovely sight.

Amongst the wreck there were spider and velvet fiddler crabs, and round and about lots of fish including bib and cuckoo wrasse (males were bright blue), and I saw several leopard spotted gobies. Later in the dive I saw plumose anemones and the orange (as well as white) variety of dead-mans-fingers (soft corals). The stern section was easily found and steering gear, rudder, upstanding propellor blade, and gun (below) examined. Compare it to the picture from my first dive on the Rosehill last November.

Everything very pleasant and relaxed and after 30 min it was time to go. According to tables I would have 7 minutes of deco to do. I had a go at inflating the blob manually but the weight of the cylinder made it difficult and not wishing to waste more time, cracked the bottle and up it went. Adrian had deeper decompression to do and the this and the couple of minutes extra (not very far off the bottom) had given me 19 minutes of deco to do (far more than planned); I used some pony air, and Adrian donated (so that I'd have more in event of separation). Then back on my own air at 3.5m for 10+ minutes. A number of important lessons for planning were learned. And now need to figure out how to fill the DSMBi manually (say it failed - or if I want to use it for training). An uncomfortable ride back bouncing over the chop, but the sun was out and we'd all had a good and/or educational dive.

Rame Head / Penlee Point and Tinker Shoal

The club took both RIBs down to Plymouth for the day. Weather was better than forecast with light winds going from ESE to W. I went out in Hubble with Brian G, Dave M and Dave B and was buddied with Geoff H. Dave M boathandled Hubble on the trip out (Geoff H drove us back).

It was a bit choppy at Penlee Point, but outside it was reasonably calm. We went down alongside the shot, in about 10m. Vis unfortunately was just 2-3m. Possibly owing to it being low tide but also I suspect the spring plankton bloom may have played a part too. It was worst at the start of the later on it was a little clearer over some of the sandy patches. The bottom was fairly kelpy but we managed to find the edge of the bouldery reefs and explore these. We found lots big sea urchins, spiny starfish, purple starfish, sea cucumber, nudibranch eggs (small bright yellow coil), crab and spider crab. Not many fish, just a few wrasse, a dragonet, a scorpion fish, and a red scorpion fish. There were baked bean / light bulb sea squirts, sea fans, boring sponge etc. Some of other animals I see now in my photographs - solitary jewel anemones and neopentadactyla mixta (known as gravel sea-cucumber). We also came across some interesting clumps of the colonial hydroid Tubularia indivisa (pictured above).

At 100 bar (after about 45 minutes) we headed for the surface and did the stops we'd agreed. On the way up, looking up I saw reel on my line. When I reached it I took it and handed it to Geoff, who seemed quite surprised. Geoff reeled it in as we continued to the surface and we discovered that the yellow blob turned out to have been abandoned by Sarah M, diving from Mir with Hilary, which had drifted on to ours (there wasn't any tangling). Geoff and I had good relaxed dive (12.5m max). My camera worked well (I used QR clips to hold it in front of me - it's far too bulky for the BC pockets. Flash diffuser worked well - and the flash itself was OK - and after a few practise shots even at fairly close range. And another good thing was the case didn't leak.

Back at Mount Batten, had bit of a rest and something to eat. Anne was there with the mini-rolls! I got a refill at the dive shop there, and before very long it was time to get everything sorted for a second dive (pleased with myself for remembering to fill my DSMB bottle). This time we went out to Tinker shoal. Vis not much better on second dive, and we dropped down 13m to similar kelpy bottom. Dave M and I made our way through and over kelp westwards to some rocky/sandy bottom that was much better going. There was a strong surge back and forth and gradually edged forward with it. We found a few bits of pottery (broken) and pipe stem, light metal debris. Wildlife included included various sponges (inc elephant's ear) spiny starfish, urchins, dragonet, also a pipefish, two-spot gobies, and I think there was a a small dogfish (but I had a dream about diving last night and it could have been from that). Chris and Abigail definitely saw a dogfish.

At the end of the dive I was a bit heavier than I expected and I sank a few metres on the way. I think because I've lost some weight I'm less buoyant, so will probably need to ditch a few kilos. Also decided to switch my suit feed and octopus, and put the octopus on a necklace to keep it handy and be more streamlined.

Anyway, I think everyone else had a very nice day too. I saw plenty (and got a couple of pictures I was pleased with), tried some new kit, and found a few things to tweak.