Didn't go too far. Adrian tied off reel and we explored the stern. Lots of life around and about, a few large pollack, bib, cuckoo wrasse, tompot blenny, 3-4x flat fish in a little group next to a semi-transparent bright blue 'thing' (?) perhaps a nudibranch, edible crab, and sea fans.
Wind getting up a bit more on the way back. Nigel boathandled for us, allowing the pairs to dive simultaneously, and get back quicker.
The students (pictured): Geoff H, Grace, Julie, Jake, Tony W, and Simon
We all met up at the club on Saturday morning for the theory part of the course, an introduction to the RIB and equipment, boat handling theory, passage plan organising, 'rules of the road' etc,.. a tour of the boat and to help prepare the boats and hitch them up.
Then to Teignmouth. The launch - as we'd anticipated - was interesting! At low (spring) tide, with the tide still on the ebb, Mir was nearly grounded; and Hubble needed help over the mud and shingle into deeper water. There was a gentle SW/westerly breeze. Beyond the point it was a bit choppy, but not too bad.
After navigating the harbour mouth and the sand bars, guided by our teachers we took turns at helming the RIBS, basic manoeuvring, and reading the waves and adjusting our speed accordingly. When we weren't 'driving'. I want to say we drank rum and sang merry shanties - but actually we picked up more interesting knowledge of boathandling, practised knots, and kept a lookout. Back in the estuary we practised manoeuvring in sheltered water, getting the boats up to the pontoons off the river beach and nudging the marker buoys. Retrieval (which we took turns at coordinating) was straightforward. A most wonderful surprise awaited us ashore - Anne had cooked up sausage sandwiches!! We finished washing down the boats and rendezvoused at the club.
On Sunday we met again at the club to get the boats out and returned to Polly Steps. Launch was far easier than the previous day, and we were off again, soon heading past Pole Sand to practise more boathandling skills like deploying anchors, picking up divers (we used a weighted float), man overboard drill and the Wilkinson turn.
Back at the shed we sorted out the boats and debriefed. The course was brilliant - very well run and taught, a fine introduction to boat handling. Now need to practise.
With fine weather forecast and neap tides, the plan was for the first wave to dive the Bretagne. However (!) there was a southeasterly breeze and a moderate easterly swell that made the going fairly heavy. With 4 miles to go to the Bretagne it was decided that the conditions were against it. Further out it would have been rough, it might have been difficult to retrieve the divers, not to mention uncomfortable for the boathandler. Clint took over from Anne who'd boathandled thus far and we headed across to the Galicia. Seaquest was on the wreck and in the process of picking up divers. Paul L and Kevin kitted up, then Geoff and myself. Clint and Anne were to dive when we'd come out.
Geoff (leading) and I pulled ourselves down the shot and though the murk to the bottom. Visibility was terrible, but off we went. Before doing so I switched to and back again from the pony Debbie (bottle) and Paul L (reg/gauge) lent me; and got the torch out. The pony mounted on my tank was fine, it didn't seem to affect my position or feel odd in the water; and during the dive I easily switched back and forth a few times for practise.
It was a really nice swim, taking in lots of bits of the wreck that I hadn't seen before, including the windlass (very big), mast pieces, tubing/shaft of some kind, hatches with triangular ends to the combing, big coils of 1" wire, bales of wire(?), more cylinders of concrete.
Bib, pollack, wrasse, a nice tompot blenny. Edible crab, velvet fiddler crab, white and orange centred anenomes, pink sea fans (had a close look to see the feeding parts).
Not having dived for three weeks perhaps, we made the most of it - 57 minutes. I took more pictures than I might have, and had a good poke about. I savoured this dive!
Eventually down to 100 bar we found a spot to send up the blob. At the surface (I don't know what I expected) the Sun was out, which was nice, but ahead I could see blue waves rolling toward me in and wondered if I'd be able to see the boat. I turned about a bit more and it was right there. Alongside, and starting to de-kit I realised something was slightly amiss. Kevin was seasick (properly) and only Clint was completely unaffected by the motion of the boat for the last hour.
Unfortunately it was too rough for more diving, and the trainees hoping for their first sea-dive were unlucky today.
Lots of conical shells and bits, tube worm cases. Live animals included hermit crabs, numerous long legged spider crabs (~20cm), and small scallops. There were some dead mans fingers, anenomes, sea squirts, and the occasional sand goby. Larger animals included a fairly big dragonet and a dogfish.
Terrible vis and variable current but actually saw quite a lot; and was good practice.
Just outside Teignmouth, we helped locate and re-float a speedboat grounded at Mackerel Cove south of Ness Beach. The second wave went to the Galicia and Parson and Clerk between Teignmouth and Dawlish.
Diving out of Teignmouth three waves went on the Bretagne and the Galicia.
Arriving at Polly Steps it was fine and sunny, a welcome change from regularly poor and unsettled weather we'd had most of the 'summer'. There was a moderate southwesterly breeze, which became stronger and produced some bigger waves later in the afternoon. Low water was about midday.
First Wave: Bretagne Buddy pairs were: Clint and Anne, Debbie and Simon, Brian and Susan H. Clint and Brian boathandled.
Brian and Susan went in first followed by Debbie and myself. The water had looked good and we were able to watch Brian and Susan on the first part of their descent. Below 15m however we discovered the visibility was actually fairly poor, perhaps 1.5 to 2 metres. But although the vis wasn't too great I saw a lot and had a very enjoyable and relaxed dive. Arriving on the wreck we discovered our shot was right in the middle - in a hold, towards the stern.
As Debbie oriented us, I could recognise parts of the Bretagne, the hole for the funnel, winches, the coal chutes, collision damage etc. There were lots of big bib, a few bass, some tompot blennies (some of these quite big too), and an edible crab. There was plenty of encrusting life including pink sea fans, anenomes, and lots of dead-mans-fingers. A few clusters of DMF found on a bulkhead near the collision were the more slender, orange bodied variety.
Second Wave: Galicia Buddy pairs were: Terry and Brian, Peter C and Hilary, Geoff M and Sarah M. Clint boathandled.
Third Wave: Galicia Buddy pairs were: Anne and Simon, Grace and Rachel. Clint boathandled
The second wave had reported fairly poor visibility and the sea was getting a bit more lumpy; but it was still doable and the third wave went out. Unfortunately the shot didn't land close to any recognisable part of the wreck and in the poor vis only a relatively small piece (dinner table size) was found. It was located by each buddy pair independently. It had gill net across it and along the sea-bed and it had trapped a row of spider crabs. Grace and Rachel followed the net and found a lobster.
The vis was generally poor but also the sea bed round and about was very silty and easily disturbed. Anne clipped a line to the shot (we had re-located it) for a second attempt at finding the wreck and this made return and ascent more straightforward. A first look at the bottom could have been disappointing, but there was actually lots to see. There were worms and delicate anenomes in the sand; hermit crabs, whelks, a scallop, brittlestars, and some surprisingly large semi-transparent sea-squirts. Again, despite the vis, a very nice dive.
It was quite windy and we had a bumpy ride to the site; the transit marks were clear though and the wreck shotted accurately. The buddy pairs were Clint and Anne, Peter C and me. Kevin and Brian were boathandlers. Clint and Anne went in first, their plan was to deal with some of the gill net and line, then Peter and I for a swim round. I led in something like a circuit or (two) of the lumpier bits of the wreck and took some pictures.
Soon into the dive we found Clint and Anne. Peter was able to help Clint with some of the net and a big crab. Visibility wasn't great, I flicked up a bit of it myself at a few spots. I found a few bits of the wreck I hadn't seen before- where all the cement barrels are scattered about. Vis was up to 4m; not terrible but for pictures still quite bitty and difficult to get good scenic views.
Lots of fish, smallish silver fish and a few larger pollack. A few wrasse, also a few tompot blennies and long-spined scorpion fish. Amongst the now familiar sight of dead and dying animals, we found one of the cormorants; I was looking for its head - when I looked up Peter presented me with the skull.
Near the shot there was a lot of netting and line, and discovering that it was easily rolled up I did so; a dead dogfish tangled in it was a bit fiddly to cut out, but with Peter's help everything was sorted. A bit task-loading at one point, but all very good practise. We did a safety stop at six metres. Surface Air Consumption wasn't too bad in spite of all the faffing about etc,..
A good dive. Though I've been on the Galicia four times now, I find something new each time; I'm sure we'll be back so next time will look round another patch.
A nice sunny day and the weather was far better than forecast; we arrived at Teignmouth as first wave (to the Bretagne) was putting out. Yas, Hilary and I went into town, to the dive shop, then round the back beach and seafront. Got a hood for Yas and we ate some pasties.
The second wave (switched to the Galicia) set off and were soon above the wreck. Geoff H and Nic got in first, then Geoff M and I, down the shot. We had good look round. The vis was not great, milky and snotty, but not too bad. It was far better and lighter than last time, the net was easily avoided. Usual encrusters: lots of light-bulbs, and white anenomes. There were a lot of smallish fish as well as larger pollock, bass, various wrasse, and a tompot blenny. I took some pictures and had a nice relaxed dive. We sent up the blob, and on the way up we found the shot.
There was time for a third wave and I was lucky enough to get on it and use Dave's spare nitrox. The wreck was slightly harder to find this time because looking into the sun and haze the transit at Holcombe above Smuggler's Cove was hard to see. I was first buddied with Dave, unfortunately he couldn't get down and I waited on the shot and joined Phil and Anne when they got in.
The dive itself was fine, relaxed and comfortable, it was also my first nitrox dive. Down we went into the gloom and at the bottom we all got our torches out. It was much darker now. Off we went, and in covering more ground, we saw how badly netted the Galicia is. There are several very large heavy nets that look like they've been there a long time; these don't seem to be a problem, but there is also lots of tangled monofilament net and line and animals caught in it. There were several dead cormorants, dead fish including a very large female ballan wrasse thrashing about, and a lobster [Clint and Helen found another tangled lobster on their dive], and sea fans amongst the rope. All awful.
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.
The plan was to dive the Galicia, launching from Teignmouth, and I was buddied with Clinton. Driving past Dawlish I saw that the sea state had taken an unexpected turn for the worse, and would possibly put paid to any diving. At the Point car park it looked pretty bad, but arriving at Polly Steps, Clint, Kevin and Nick and Julie were about ready to go and we were in fact launching. In the RIB (we were actually going diving!), getting out would be difficult. The easterly wind and dropping tide made for some quite big waves at the estuary mouth; it was very bumpy indeed and a hard boat with divers lolloped past us. Lashed by spray and holding on tight I was relieved when Clint told Kevin to turn back. I think everyone thought it was pretty nasty. We were then going to do boat handling practise in the estuary, to get something out of the day, but this was impossible too because the boat wasn't emptying properly; when the boat was back on the trailer we saw that the drain thing at the back had got bashed. Anyway, Yas took some nice pictures, and I had a ride in a RIB.
First go with camera underwater, an early evening swim opposite the Jubilee shelter again [hoping for better visibility there, or even some scenery if the tide was low enough]. Visibility was not great, but could have been a lot worse. I took a few pictures of crabs and stuff. Saw a nice little flatfish. Not only was it great to take pictures underwater, but to have a water-level perspective. I also experimented with the movie recorder, also making some accidental clips which started off with the thing I'd actually wanted to take a nice still picture of. And so here is one of my first underwater wildlife pictures! A crab on one of those barnacle encrusted groynes.
Bad weather in July (and a lot of June) meant I couldn't go in the sea. This picture, looking from Teignmouth sea front along the railway line to Sprey Point, was taken on one of those days; a very stormy Sunday morning. It was raining too. I think it was about this time that the topknot, a bouldery lump that always did look a bit precarious, fell off Shag Rock.
