3 days, 6 wrecks and 25 Ponies Part 1 of 3

[divingniknaks]

Part 1 more to follow


Friday 26th May.

The teams assemble at Oban in Scotland for 3 days aboard MV Loyal Mediator with Skipper George Mair. This was to be a repeat of the trip done last year.

The fun started on the Thursday night with a phone call from the Handsome Davey Willo to yours truly, where the conversation ran along the lines of "are you excited yet ?" etc etc. Talk about a kid in a sweet shop and Davey Willo wasn’t any better either !

So Friday morning, kit checked and loaded, leave Carl in charge of the shop with a cheery shout of "Enjoy putting up that Pergola mate, I’m off diving" I wont sully the readers eyes with his reply

Drive up to St Helens to meet Neil and John my travelling and diving buddies for the weekend, as we’ve never met before this was hopefully my first experience of the "turn up and dive" effect of the GUE way. I have to say it worked great but more of that later.

A good journey up to Oban which was only marred by the traffic in Glasgow and what John thought was a Gorilla with lipstick on the loose somewhere in Hillhead. We meet the rest of the gang and adjourn for a "fish supper" and a beer.

The Gang is all here !

Davey Willo, Dave Dowson, Jen Cowling, Phil Osborn, Rick Huggins, Andy Bryson, Neil Sykes , John McFennel and myself retire to the comforts of the salon onboard to plan the next day. It was at this point dear reader that the conversation somehow turned to the benefits of moistened toilet tissues, the design of cubicles in Gentlemen’s conveniences and haemorrhoids all of which were unfortunately to become a recurring theme during the weekend.

Much mirth and merriment later sees us all early in our beds awaiting the 2 dives on day 1.

Day 1 Dive 1.

The conditions in the Sound of Mull were such that the planned T1 dive on the Madame Alice was deemed a no go, so the backup plan of the Rondo came into play.

This was in a way ideal as 3 teams of 3 could go in, 2 T1 teams and 1 32% team as this wreck lies on a near vertical with the seabed at around 48m and the top of the wreck at about 6m.

Wreck Tour 35 - The Rondo- January 2002 - DIVERNET from Diver Magazine

I’ll leave one of the T1 divers to describe their dive.

Team Colonic on the Rondo

Neil, John and I had a good potter about at the top with max depth of 26m to start us off nicely, a few Wrasse and one fleeting glimpse of a nice inky blue coloured Conger Eel, the rest of the wreck covered in anemones. Viz approx 5m.

I have to say from a personal point of view the Rondo isn’t a great wreck, due to her position in the sound she has taken a battering over the years and doesn’t resemble too much of the ship she once was. But as a starter a great dive, the "team" approach worked really well as the 3 of us communicated well, each of us knew our place and did the job assigned us.

A nice ascent with Neil on the bag and John running minimum deco and yours truly failing miserably to just look cool. Nothing new there then.

Back on board and we are deck bitches for the T1 teams as they complete their dives. Many hoots and hollers and big big big grins signal the start of what was to become a top trip.


Day 1 Dive 2

The Hispania

Now this is a top class wreck, I dived this last year with Rick Huggins and had a cracking dive. John and I decided to do this as a pair as it suits pairs teams better than threes really.

Today the Hispania lies pointing towards the shore on the Mull side of the sound, on a slope with the stern in 32m and the bows in 24m, lying upright with a slight list to starboard.

The moving part of the history of this wreck is that this is one instance of the Captain opting to go down with his ship. Captain Ivan Dahn was last sighted saluting his crew from the bridge as she slipped below the icy waters of a December day.

The holds are easily accesable with some great swim throughs from the stern holds to midships superstructure and then to check out the topside for the remains of the masts, spars and winches and then into the forward holds.
This is a great dive for those who love to explore inside and also for those for whom the outside of the ship provides more interest.

Leaving this wreck was a real wrench but as all good things must come to end, John and I opted to ascend the shot and did a nice gentle min deco ascent. Time to brush the rust off our wings

All in all a fabulous dive thanks to a great buddy, if there was such a thing as an Underwater Jack Russell, then I dived this wreck with one. Thanks John.

Back on board to the now customary chattering and multiple grins from all around.

Dinner followed by yet more in depth discussions, again unfortunately the conversation turns to the subject of haemorrhoids, which was in no way aided by the choice of VHS provided by the skipper. Gentle reader I will resist enlightening you to the titles, some things are best left on Tour

A great way to start Day 1 and of course it only gets better !



More to follow from Team Colonic and Day 2 tomorrow...........................