PLYMOUTH 14/15 SEPTEMBER

With the weather not looking good and a 300 mile drive to Plymouth we were wondering weather we would do any diving this weekend, we all arrived at the hotel on the friday for a pre dive planning session in the bar, the skipper of Fintan  was happy to go out next day as the weather did not look to bad. We woke early to bright sunshine and little wind and off for breakfast. The boat left from Queen Anne’s Battery marina which was  five minutes from the hotel, our first dive was on HMS Scilla a type 52 destroyer sunk off the coast as an artificial reef, we had dived this a few years ago, and was surprised at the deterioration and the marine growth  since the last visit. The visibility was good and had a 40 minuet dive , lots of life around the wreck.

Our second dive was on another old favorite, The James Egan Layne, a second world war liberty ship which was torpedoed of the coast, after 70 years the wreck has opened up the holds to show the remains of the farm equipment which was part of here cargo and made nice swim  throughs  amongst the skeletal remains. It was time to retreat to the bar for a debrief and a few pints to wash the salt out of our throats and to look forward to an evening meal with the wives and friends.

We awoke next day to a much stronger wind and with a discussion with the skipper decided to head for sheltered water off of Penlee Point for a bimble amongst the kelp, lots of marine life was sheltering  under the kelp an was rewarded at the end of the dive with Mark spotting a cuttle fish swimming over the open sands. A short trip was taken over the ever increasing rough seas to the old fort just inside the outer harbour wall to take our last dive of the weekend, the vis was not great but still managed a 25 minuet dive, only to surface to heavy rain for the run in back to the jetty.

Thanks to all the club and wives (who were happy with the shopping trips ) who made this such a good weekend, and to Chris and Alan the crew of Fintan for there efforts to get us diving in less than calm conditions.

John.