Plymouth - August 2014

Last week a group of us went down to Plymouth, the plan being to dive the off shore reefs from Falcon of Dartmouth, a boat and skipper that a few of you know. As luck would have it Ben's leave from the navy coincided with the trip so he was able to meet us in Plymouth and join the trip. 

The first evening we met up with ex DO and long time member  Dr Lee Johnstone and his wife for a very enjoyable evening in the Fox Hound. After a long spell of great weather we woke up on the first days diving to heavy rain and strong winds. To be fair to Tony and Lol they gave it a go and we poked our nose's out past the break water but although the weather had improved the swell was just too much to get out to the Eddystone. Unlike a lot of skippers out there, Tony refused to put us in just anywhere for the sake of a dive and canned the day at great expense to himself. "Well try again tomorrow" Sitting in the pub (funnily enough) that evening we get a text saying that" the wind has swung round and should flatten the swell enough to get off shore" ,so next morning in bright sunshine we head out to hands deep. 

In keeping with the vis all along the south coast this year I wouldn't describe the vis as great but at about six to seven meters it was a very good dive. Lots of jewel anemone's of differing colours covering the cliff face, small lobsters and other crustaceans, couple of small congers and lot of Pollock. I'm sure I even heard Craig comment on the actual dive and marine life as well as his equipment and deco ect. The second dive was on the Eagan Layne. A couple of locals on the boat had told us that the winter storms had taken their toll on the wreck and we found that a lot of it had collapsed and quite  a bit previously hidden have been exposed, still a great dive with vis of about 6 mts, lots of life. 

Despite the disappointment of losing a days diving it was a very enjoyable trip.

Gary