White Star Liner SS Afric

We dived the SS Afric today a White Star Liner 26 miles out from Plymouth. After Sundays dive was cancelled due to the strong winds I was pleased to see a fairly calm Plymouth sound as I dropped down the hill that leads to Fort Bovisand. There were 8 of us on the boat and we loaded quickly so we could get underway, the trip out to the site took around 2.5 hours. On arrival Danny (our skipper) spent a little time to study the layout of the wreck as we wanted the shotline around the stern of the wreck. The shot was dropped and the divers 2 by 2 dropped into the water. I was the last one of the boat and quickly dropped down the line through the different levels of water clarity until I reached the bottom in 75m. On the bottom I had caught up with the 2 pairs of divers who descended before me, one pair had clipped on their reel and were already leaving the line and heading towards the stern. To save time attaching my reel I decided to follow along their line. We quickly came to the stern where her 2 large props sit either side of the rudder that is still turned to port (left) where her crew had tried to avoid the torpedo that sunk her. I swam over the prop shaft and around the back of the rudder then ascended up and over the stern to the deck. The wreck is sitting on her starboard (right) side so swimming over her port side railings you are looking down her wooden deck into the gloom and back towards the seabed. The wreck is in excellent condition but covered in fishing nets and is very similar to the Armenian which I dived on Friday. The pair of divers I was following decided to head back to the shot having not laid my own line I was now stuffed I could either continue and risk not getting back to the shot or cut my dive time short and follow them back, I chose the later as I had already racked up 60 minutes of decompression time. The trip back up the line was uneventful but long. Another cracking dive racked up and one that I will be visiting again soon.

SS Armenian

We dived the SS Armenian on Friday out of Newquay. She is 50 miles out and in 95m. The trip out was 3 hours long and fairly lumpy by time we reached the dive site we were all ready to get off the boat! I was diving with a trimix of 10/62 giving me an equivalent narcotic depth of 30m in my inspiration and carrying 2 eleven litre bailout cylinders with 14/54 and 30/35 these 2 cylinders would get me to 22m if the poo hit the fan then the remainder of the gas I would need would be lowered down on a pre planned signal.

As we descended it got darker and darker and on reaching the bottom we needed torches to see however the visibility was a good 10-15m. The descent took us around 6 minutes with the shot dropping down into the inside of the wreck. The decks and superstructure had long since collapsed exposing her boilers. We swam towards the stern coming across a large winch where we crossed over and explored the other side of the wreck. There were port holes lying around everywhere I picked up 2 with the idea of sending them to the surface but I had second thoughts knowing that the time it would take to rig them up to a lifting bag would probably mean another 20 minutes of decompression at 6m.

We spent 20 minutes on the bottom which gave us a total of 80 minutes of decompression over 60 minutes of that at 6m.

This was a great dive the size and condition of the wreck is hard to put across. I will definitely be going back and paying her another visit next year.

Not the Armenian

Diving out of Newquay today with the plan to dive the SS Armenian a P&O Liner that was sunk in WW1 carrying a cargo of Mules for the frontline. She is 50 miles out of Newquay in a depth of 95m. When we arrived at Newquay harbour the conditions did not look promising and when the skipper turned up he confirmed my fears. The back up plan was to dive a wreck in 40m. For those of you that are not trimix divers that is a bit of a problem even on a rebreather as my breathing gas was totally unsuitable as my main bailout (emergency cylinders) were mixed to get me from 95m to 22m then the rest of the gas would have been lowered down from the boat on a predetermined signal. Oh well we were there so we made the best of what we had. The trip out was lumpy to say the least but we were on site within 40mins and in the water after another 30mins. The visibility was about 25m and very light. The wreck was a small steam powered vessel that was very broken and had been picked clean of any brass a long time ago. I spent 40min on the bottom and for that I had 35mins of deco to do. I could see the sun reflecting off the surface from 30m. Tomorrow we try again but looking at the forecast I am not optimistic but we will see.

Joe's an Advanced OW Diver

Last night we did a night dive at the Chesil Cove to complete Joe's Adv OW course. We did 5 dives in all a Deep, Wreck, Search and Recovery, Navigation and last nights night dive. Three of the dives were done out of Plymouth one out of Babbacombe but due to less than ideal visibility at Babbacombe the night dive had to be postponed. As Joe lives in Weymouth we decided to do the night dive there and we were not disappointed. We saw Cuttlefish, Lobster, Edible Crabs and lots of Pollack to name but a few.

Well done Joe.

Weymouth Diving

Just spent the last two days diving on Skin Deeper out of Weymouth. We dived the Avalanche on Wednesday. She was a three masted steel sailing ship and lies on a silty sea bed in 51m. She is very broken and at her highest point is about 6m proud of the sea bed. The wreck site is covered in bottles of all different shapes and sizes and masses of broken crockery all part of her cargo. She sank in 1877 after being involved in a collision with the boat Forest with the loss of all aboard. The wreck is covered in shoals of Pollack and numerous Lobsters that seemed to get bigger and bigger with each one we came across. Visibility was poor at 3-4m and very dark.

Today we dived the wreck of the Salsette one of the UK's most famous wreck dives and it did not disappoint. She was a P&O liner that once held the Blue Ribbon for the fastest crossing of the Atlantic but now lies on her port side in 46m. The shot line was just behind the the bow her anchors are still in place so we started here and then headed along her port railings down to the stern. Like the Avalanche she was covered in shoaling Pollack and some large Bass. We reached the stern after 25 minutes where her rudder casts a huge shadow the starboard prop is missing. We then finned up along the hull following a line of pristine port holes. The vis today was 6-8m. The Salsette sank in 1917 after being struck by a torpedo.