Clutha on the Clyde

[Dundee]

Just a mini report.

Six of the Dundee University club (DUSAC) spent saturday on the Clyde courtesy of the MV Clutha out of Inverkip Marina. Skippered as usual by the lovely Elaine and crewed by Neil.

6.00 am start in Dundee, picking up buddy Tim on the way and we hit the road West. Clogged traffic on the M8 in Glasgow slowed us up for half an hour but we eventually reached the marina at Inverkip at 9.00 am. Two of the gang had driven down from Oban (Jill and Clive), one from Edinburgh (Alex) and another from Dundee (Steve).

The sky was grey and the Clyde was starting to bubble up to about a force 4. Classic Clyde conditions! We loaded the Clutha and set off for the Wallachia. Now while we are heading out I will describe the Clutha: Its a purpose built "chubby" style dive boat with a high bow upon which sits the wheelhouse. From here, Elaine can see all around her, which is a comfort when you are bobbing up and down as the Clutha bears down on your position.

The deck has well designed benches for kitting up with the added advantage of overhead cover.There is an onboard compressor which hieds under a hatch until required, the hoses are long enough to reach any of the benches and therefore any cylinder.

Elaine also provides hot soup, coffee, tea, kit kats etc before and after dives. A major plus point in December on the Clyde!

The design of the boat makes light work of the swell and we hit the Wallachia site in about 40 minutes. The shot is dropped each time due to the proximity of the ferry route. Elaine put the shot on midships (exactly where she said it would be!) and then gave us a very accurate and useful brief. Its usefulness became apparent when Steve and I hit the wreck at 31m. The vis was 2m max and the Wallachia is well know to silt up easily.

We did a quick tour of the accomodation then headed to the bow, Steve annoyed every edible crab from its hideyhole on the way. The wreck has an eery feel to it, the water is ink black above you and as you look over the side of the wreck, there is no temptation to check out the sea bed (for me anyway). We hit the bow and then turned back to the accomodation block, passing the shot line on the way (for comfort). As we pootered about over the engine/boiler room, which looks a bit like a metal green house, Steve pointed out a plaque on the flat roof. The plaque is in memory of a diver that was lost in the wreck in 1995. At this point Steve gave the signal for heading for home, can't blame him, but we managed another couple of minutes midships before the threat of deco sent us slowly up the shot.

One of the skipper's good practices(?) is to get one of the divers to attach a large boy with a two metre flag post to the shot. the line is long enough to allow half a dozen divers to hold on and wait to be picked up. The top of the post has a dive flag attached. This hugely increases the visibility of any divers waiting to be picked up. Not a bad thing with the ferries so close!

We enjoyed the soup etc and headed back into inverkip as the forecast was beefed up to force six on the radio.

After lunch, the wind calmed and we headed out to the Akka. The promise was of "probably" better vis and the chance of some light penetrating the Clyde's silt layer. The vis was still 2m max. The Akka is bigger than the Wallachia and takes a bit more effort to get around. With a shot line already on the wreck we started at the remains of the accommodation block. This is the highest point of the wreck at about 19m. Dropping over the side you can enter the companionway and from there we pootered off to the stern, over a few winches, a carpet of brittle stars, more edible crabs (which Steve ignored) and very few fish. The stern has a raised area with another companionway whihc takes you round the steering gear and turns you around to head back towards the midship area.

We crossed over a couple of cavernous holds that were exaggerated by the deck which was in the process of decaying down into them. This gives the sense of the sides of the holds being at a 45 degree angle. It was very silty so we decided to explore the accommodation block a little more. Realising we had lots of air left and no sign of deco for about 14 minutes, we ambled forwards and looked down into the forward holds ( well as far as 2m vis allows) before calling it a day and heading back to the Clutha.

We managed about an hour or so underwater in crap vis and crap weather. However, everybody agreed that this was still time better spent than the alternative December weekend activities. Back at the marina we all paid the skipper (£24 each), remarked on the good value and headed home.

I know that none of this is remarkable, we all have great days with great vis and blue skies, especially in the Sound with dolphins, minke whales etc. But this day was just a bog standard dive day on a very high standard dive boat with an exceptioanl skipper in good company. We learned that Elaine's day job (mon to fri) is a primary school teacher. She takes the Clutha out any weekend that divers book, and you get the same outstanding service whether there are six or twelve of you.

I would highly recommend the Clutha and its skipper and look forward to our planned return next year with YD.

Sorry, didn't mean to go on so long.

C

[Fiona]

Nice report Chris, especially about the dolphins and whales. Agree with you about the Clutha we had a weekend on her last year.

Now if only I had seen dolphins yesterday my day would have been complete.

[Adrian Kelland]

Good report Chris,

A report is not long while it has interest. Yours has plenty.

Adrian

[fatboy]

good report bruv. just wish id been there

[Ali_Mc]

Yes, it sounds great! Always nice to hear about different experiences and I would definitely like to go out on this boat!

Ali

[Dundee]

I just re-read "what I wrote" and recognised that post-dive smug nicey feeling that only we get, knowing that the majority of humanity do not see what we see! even when the sea and sky are grey.

I like diving.

I am sitting on the sofa, drinking a glass of wine wearing my YD alpha t shirt and thinking life is good.
xx
C