Diving - My Continuing Adventures underwater
Swanage Wreck Diving
A couple of weeks later we were down to Swanage for a day's wreck diving.
The tide times meant that we'd have a long day at Swanage, with our first dive not until 11:10AM, but the second leaving the pier at 5 to 6.
The weather was kind again, with air temperature in the low to mid 20s and mostly clear skies with just a few fluffy clouds and only a gentle breeze meaning a comfortable time on the boats of Swanage Boat Charters.
Perfect weather for diving in the UK
A major fire in the New Forest had closed the A31 for a couple of weeks before this trip, but luckily it was reopened a few hours before John and I set off from home, making it a much easier and shorter journey to Swanage.
Remarkably, despite arriving at 9:30, we still managed to grab a place on the pier! Result!
It was also great to bump into old friends and former club mates, Dawn and Julian, who were diving on the 'other' SBC boat to us that day. They now run their own club, via a Whatsapp group, so I may well join them for a few dives in future.
Our first dive was on the Betsy Anna, about midway between Swanage and the Neeedles and I chatted with Bryan, the boss of Swanage Boat Charters as we headed out as it had been some time since I'd been skippered by him.
We got the 10 minute warning and started final kitting up and Bryan dropped the shot onto the wreck.
We descended and found ourselves just ahead of the boilers, the main one and the smaller, donkey boiler that powered machinery on board.
We swam forward a bit but then got turned around somehow and found ourselves back at the boiler, so we swan aft from them passing winches, lots of hull plating and other wreckage, before reaching the stern section, now quite broken up and not that obviously the stern, unless we'd managed to miss the main section somehow.
Some video from the dive
We then turned back and headed along the wreck's starboard side, passing lots of wreckage again until we finally reached the still fairly intact bow, which stands up some way from the seabed.
We explored that for a few minutes before we started to get low on gas and I deployed my DSMB, we carried out a 3 minute safety stop and then surfacted to rejoin the boat.
The dive was good, with decent, if not remarkable, vis and a huge number of Conger Eels, some very large as well as big shoals of Bib, some big crabs and a couple of good sized Wrasse at the bow.
Overall, an enjoyable dive on the Betsy Anna.
Back in Swanage we all got some lunch and relaxed for a few hours ahead of the second dive.
After a 3 hour plus surface interval, we set off for the Firth Fisher/Castlereagh.
I had good memories of diving this is stellar vis, where we could see the whole shape of the hull from 10M above, but today it wasn't that good, although it was decent (3-4M, I'd estimate).
The shot line was a bit too long, so it was a long diagonal swim until we reached the end of it, but it was snagged securely into the wreck's hull.
The nice thing about this wreck is that it sits upright on the seabed and the hull remains mainly intact, making it very easy to navigate around, even in poor vis.
We arrived at the wreck, just ahead of the boliler and initially swam aft, up over the stern deck and then I descended down the rudder post to the propeller stub, although the prop was obviously salvaged long ago.
From there (around 36M), I swam back up to the deck and we went forward back past the boiler and then along the hull, passing the large winches and then reaching the still recognisable bow.
Some video from the Firth Fisher - It wasn't that dark!
We turned around and headed back long the port side of the wreck, before we reached around 5 minutes deco time, when I launched by DSMB and we headed up to carry out a 6 minute deco stop at 6M.
We had topped our cylinders with air, which gave us a 24% mix, we probably should have gone with a full 32% refill for a longer dive or no deco, but it was still an enjoyable dive to end the day.
John's photo on our return to Swanage
Our journey home (and down that morning) was delay free, but it was still 10PM before I reached home.
A long, but enjoyable day diving on a couple of interesting wrecks
Next up was a horrible dive at Wraysbury.
I wanted to see how badly my Hunter Drysuit was leaking, as my Seaskin suit was leaking through the valves and I thought it may be a better bet, so I joined some others for a bimble.
Sadly it had developed a massive leak, which turned out to be hole in the right wrist seal, which appeared to have perished.
Added to that, the vis was terrible 1M at best and often worse.
Justyna (diving in a drysuit for the first time this year and first time full stop since February) and I dropped in from the car park jetty.
We swam out to the small boat near there and then bumped into 3 of our other divers, who had stirred up the silt as they went.
I headed in a different direction and we eventually found the plane and the boat alongside.
Justyna held onto my arm for much of the dive, so we didn't get separated, but after 20 minutes she had had enough of the vis and I was soaking wet, so happy to end the dive at that point.
