Saturday - The Falcon II roped off at 8:30 and then dropped uson the Maine at 10:30. The Maine lies in ~34m of water, breaking up with lots of life and big shoals of bib. Unfortunately,it was covered with monofilament fishing line and ropes, probably left over from last winter’s storms. A few divers found a discarded stage cylinder with regulator containing 80% O2 which was unceremoniously savaged (swagged). :)
The second dive of the day was Gammon Head, which was a rocky white reef sand bed lying at 17m. There were lots of reef life and inquisitive cuckoo wrasse. Gammon Head was also reported to be the site of a wrecked paddle steamer (1800?), but no one found the wreckage.
Back on land, tanks were filled, food was cooked, a generous bowl of spag. Bol. was eaten, a generous bowl of apple pie with custard was eaten and beer was drunk.
Sunday - We gained 2 more divers from the club and we travelled 1.5 hours to the Bretagne. It was an intact WW1 wreck with a lovely vaulted bow with plenty of life. She laid in 28m ofwater and 4m proud. It was easy to access the engine room and boilers. As with the previous wreck, there were many fishing hooks and lures (plenty of opportunity to use shears, knives and net cutters!). One of the divers found plenty of fishing weights who he kindly donated to a nice fisherman who stayed off the wreck whilst divers were on it.
The second dive was the Emsstrom. This new wreck was only deemed safe to dive March/ April 2014 having sunk in 2013. She laid on her starboard side in 30m of water and was essentially in pristine condition. All of her fixtures and fittings were intact (tables, consoles, gauges, notice boards, etc). We were surprised about how much life was on the wreck despite her underwater age. However, not all the team, got to dive her as a muppet from another dive boat pulled our shot off the wreck and onto a featureless seabed (despite being told not to pull on the shot if they were gonna use it)! It was a unique opportunity to dive a new and unmolested wreck, let's hope it stays like that (Ed - as if!).
Sunday’s dinner was a curry house. Curry was eaten, beer was drank. We headed home and drank whiskey under the stars.
Monday - It was an early start on Monday morning in attempt to miss the forecasted southerlies. Our dive was at the Middle Black Stone, a pinnacle lying at 8m-17m. It was covered in life (anemones, polyps, dogfish, crustaceans and scallops). We had an exciting return to the boat as we had failed to avoid the southerlies. So, in the interest of people's breakfast, we returned to shore for cream tea before heading home.
All in all, a fantastic weekend!
Addendum - Brussels sprouts do not belong on a dive trip! Whiskey, beer, dessert wine and any alcoholic beverage do!
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