Four Days in Plymouth. You missed a cracker!

[FOOW]

Paul, two Richards and myself meet up during the morning and travelled down from Yorkshire to sunny Plymouth arriving in Turnchapel late afternoon. We went straight to Deep Blue Diving to sort out locations for the following days diving. Agreed 8:30am on the pontoon with the necessary fills. On to the Boringdon Arms. Real local with would you believe it, Timothy Taylors Landlord as a guest beer. Home from home. We settled in and planned our following day. We also met up with Chris and Kelly from Yorkshire divers who would be diving with us on the Tuesday.

Day One 10th May.

We arrived early at the shop to collect our cylinders and despite one of the staff needing to take his shoes and socks off to complete the count of cylinders all was well and onto Seeker. The two Richards buddied up as did Paul and myself.

Dive 1, SS Persier
She was launched as the War Buffalo, a WW1 standard “B” class ship. Weighing 5030 tons she was some 412 feet long. She now lies on her port side in some 30m. It We dropped very near the boilers and headed towards the bow. Plenty of critters and life including large shoals of Bib and Pollack. Fairly well broken but easy to navigate, Paul and I followed the bow around and back towards the stern across the broken superstructure. Then we found our first conger. The two Richards found another that could be seen to be 8+ feet long. After a good rummage we turned back towards the hull expecting to find the stern, only to find we were just aft of the boilers again and back on the shot. We had a poke around but our time was running out so up we came.

Dive 2, what we had all come for, HMS Scylla
The last of the Leander class frigates built in Devonport in 1968. Now sitting in some 25m of water. Not sure what the weather would do to use we thought it best to dive her early just in case. We dropped in on the bow and settled on the deck in some 15 metres. Vis was about 6m so we decided on an initial orientation along the Port side before dropping off the stern. Paul and I then started to carefully explore some of the holes in her side and eventually found our way into the main corridor on deck 2. This was really cool and we continued swimming along it toward the bow. Eventually one pops out in a cut out on the forecastle. We then dropped to the seabed at the bow before returning to the shot and out. A fantastic dive.


Day Two 11th May.

Some of the Deep Blue staff joined us to complete some of their own staff training. We also rotated buddy teams as Richard Farrand was diving air and this let Richard Foster make the most of his Nitrox fills with Paul.

Dive 3, SS Rosehill
This British owned armed merchant ship was 314ft long and weighing 2,788 tons. She was torpedoed by UB-40 on 23rd September 1917 and eventually sank along with her cargo of 3,980 tons of coal. She is now well broken and flattened in 32m max, general dive depth 28m. We dropped onto her boilers, standing some 4m proud of the bottom. Richard and I headed North-ish and out across some of the plates. Richard stayed on top of them and I had a poke about underneath. There he was, the fourth massive conger of the trip. Another was also spotted by other divers near the shot. Usual critters and fish but the vis was dropping to 4-6 metres. We followed a circular route and finally arrived back at the shot. Time was up and out we came.

Dive 4, James Eagan Layne (JEL)
A classic wreck dive in 24m. She was 442ft long and 10.414 tons. Built as a WWII Liberty ship she was torpedoed by U-1195 on 21st March 1945. An attempt was made to beach her but she sank a mile short of Whitesand bay. She now sits upright on a flat sandy seabed lying North to South with her bows facing North. We dropped onto a fairly intact bow section rising to 6m. We dropped off the port side and onto the seabed at 24metres. Following it along we found two nice Dogfish in addition to the now ubiquitous Pollock and Bib. Even a few Wrasse were around. The Stern was well broken and we followed it around to the starboard side. We were warned that he overhead structure that is distinctive of the JEL was unstable near the stern following the winter storms. So we continued forwards up the starboard side and about 1/3 length down from the bow made our way inside and had a good look at the holds. Finally we made our way to the bow and followed this up to the forecastle, which was nicely at 6m for our stop before returning up the shot.

In the evening Tony and Andrew joined us at the Bori, ready for the next two days diving.

Day Three 11th May.

Unfortunately Andrew did not feel too well during the night and decided to sit out the diving. Paul buddied with the two Richards and I buddied with Tony. Again Deep Blue used Seeker for some of their own training dives. Originally they tried to drop onto HMS Elk, but the weather was not helping on the exposed point so they agreed to divert to use our first dive site as well.

Dive 5, HMS Scylla.
We decided to return to Scylla as the weather was deteriorating and we wanted everyone to get at least one look at her. Tony and I stayed on the main deck for the most part briefly dropping to the seabed at the stern once Tony was settled. We returned to the main deck and on to the upper decks, passing the bridge before returning to the shot and out. The other guys poked around the machinery spaces ably guided by Richard. Can you believe it, five dives and five times we all made it to the shot. A record if ever there was one.

Dive 6, Glen Strathallan.
The vessel was built as a trawler of 330 tons in 1928, 150ft long with a beam of 22ft. Later multi-millionaire Colby Cubbin bought her and spent £30,000 converting her into a pleasure yacht. In WW2 she served with the Navy as an escort ship and after the war Mr Cubbin got his yacht back and used it for cruising until his death. In his will he stipulated that she should be used as a training ship for boys, which she was, and added that when she became too old for that, she was to be sunk in deep water. She now sits in some 15m amid a forest of kelp south of the Shag Stone outside Plymouth Sound. The boiler is really the only recognisable part left and she is well dispersed. We dropped onto the boiler and just had a good rummage dive across the bottom. Small bits of wreckage mostly covered with Kelp. At last, an excuse to use my SMB following a nice steady dive. A good test for Tony doing a free ascent using me as his reference.


Day Four 12th May
Andrew felt a lot better so we decide to re-visit Scylla for a third time to give him a look. Also Graham who had been under instruction with Deep Blue joined us for the final day. Again the wind had strengthened

Dive 7, HMS Scylla.
The two Richards buddied and were intent on following the main corridor stern to bow. Paul and I shadowed Tony and Andrew onto the deck of Scylla. Once they were confirmed OK buddied up and circumnavigated the main deck and superstructure. Paul and I dropped into the same corridor as the two Richards, with the intent of following it bow to stern and meeting them in the middle. Imagine a 180m swim-through. Cool! We met almost in the middle with torches heading towards us out of the gloom. These corridors are common to all UK warships and are normally straight. On the Leanders there is a dogleg near the middle, a fact Paul forgot as he headed off into what looked like the kitchens! Still, we sorted this out and continued on to the stern. All in all a 20-25min swim. We then dropped to the seabed and had planned to enter the engine room. However, an increasing surge was passing across the wreck and this was causing currents in the large open cavities of Scylla. So we aborted this bit of the dive. Headed back up the port side and into the Captains Cabin and then up and onto the bridge. A quick loop around the upper decks and funnel before one last time over the forecastle and back up the shot.

The day was going off rapidly so we took shelter in Plymouth sound itself. We had Planned on a second dive on JEL but that was considered blown off. The Skipper suggested a nice steady dive in the Sound on a Scallop hunt.

Dive 8, Jenny Cliff Bay inside Plymouth Sound.
We dropped in as three buddy pairs in about 8m. Almost immediately we were stuffing Scallops into our goody bags. Due to the shallow nature of the dive each buddy pair had a permanent SMB deployed. It was a really nice steady drift dive. Everyone enjoyed it except Tony who had to abort early due to a suit leak. Even hardened wreckies spotted plenty of marine life and Paul found a Greater Pipefish. All in all we recovered some 30 Scallops and proudly marched back to the Bori with out catch.

Friday evening and we dined on fresh Scallops. I have to thank Barry for helping me to clean them and his wife Liz for cooking them so well. The ideal way to end a great week. Eight fun dives, no issues and no incidents. UK diving almost at its best, only the vis could have been better.

Thanks Guys, I hope you all enjoyed it as much as me. Thanks to Deep Blue for helping me out on the Boat side and to Barry and Liz at the Bori for looking after us in a home from home. Now the serious bit is over, time for the ridicule to begin.

[Johnny Boy]

Sounds a good trip. I've dived down there since i was 18 (34 now) and love it. Not done the scylla yet, but done all the other wrecks. Persier is my fave, followed by JEL. Rosehill twas medium to naff. Next time get them to do Hilsea Point for some scenic stuff. Cuckoo Wrasse follow your ass.

[FOOW]

That was on the agenda for Friday morning but the weather was starting to impact were was sensible. I was keen to do Hatt rock or Eddystone reef but was overruled by the wreckies. Hilsea Point was a compromise but alas, we ended up doing a 180m swim through of Scylla .

Either way a really good week and I would recommend both Deep Blue and The Borringdon arms to any who chose to follow.

[Adrian Kelland]

I don't think the journey to Hatt Rock or Eddystone would have been much fun on Friday. Glad I wasn't there

You got a lot done anyway.

Adrian

[CotoChris]

Last year during easter week I did a very similar trip. Dived with Deep Blue, going to Persier first then Scylla on the Seeker. I also stayed the the Bori having great food & Beer. Only did a days diving but it was great, viz at 12m and water still as a pond. On both sites we found discarded or fallen weights. Loved the Persier, would love to do it again.