French plongee

[Graham Sykes]

This is a first attempt at a trip report so bear with me...

Ive just returned from a great holiday in France, 2 weeks on the Med coast with of course a bit of diving thrown in. Ive posted on here before about the lack of information or publicity on diving over there. this is the 4th year I have dived there and all have been great.

This year I chose a different outfit to dive with. Not because the other was bad but to get some different sites in. I went with Club Sous l'Eau.,link to website who operate out of port St Lucia in St Raphael. which is about an hour west of Nice.

They had an English speaking (just) operator Phillipe, and the rest of the crew were very friendly. Also an English instructor/guide Alex, who was a help with translations. I had a 6 dive package from them which cost E212 including 15l cylinder on each dive. the dives were from a large hard boat with plenty of room, enough to carry 40 divers. I wasnt asked for any medical certs or French qualifications, just the usual PADI card.

The first trip was to a site known as the Pyramides Isle d'Or. A spectacular scenic dive to @ 25m onto 3 large pyramid rocks. Loads of life on the rocks and around it, the water was 25'c and vis around 20m. I saw octopus, morays, grouper, thousands of damsel fish and the colours were striking as the rocks in the area are a orange/red colour. The dive lasted over 45 mins and it was back up to the boat.

Onboard, in the blazing sun i had to bring out the bandana to cover the follically challenged bean, which earned me the nickname gramases, (ramases, egyptian, gettit ? no i didnt either) but it was all great fun, with the Frenchies making me feel very welcome.

next day on to a site called Black Hole. this was a cliff dive off of the boat onto a reef and a drop off which kept going down. we bottommed out at just over 30m bot couldnt see the bottom. again loads of life but past the thermocline at 25m the water dipped to 17'c. again a 45+ dive and when back at the port it was time for aperatifs while doing the logs. all very civilised but watch out for the orange punch, a liquid breakfast makes the head spin...

a choice of dive on the earlier start on Saturday, Wreck day. Either the Peniches d Antheor, WW2 barges sunk by the RAF. 23m with loads of congers and grouper. or a Roman galleon at 20m with strewn potterey and wooden beams.. I dived the barges last time so opted for the galleon. A roman galleon streches the imagination a bit. I think Stoneys galleon is better....Very pretty though and some interesting broken pot bits. but in hind sight I would have liked the barges more.

A bit of a disaster struck the 4th dive. one of my buddies BCD inflator jammed and wouldnt budge so he had to get back on bnoard for a replacement, as he got back in another buddy snapped a fin strap so had to go back for a spare. eventually we got down on a strong drift dive around a reef which was great until we had to swim against it to come back. to cap it off when I surfaced I must have whacked the computer on the boat cause there was no dive recorded, and I know it was working at the safety stop. ah well.....more aperatifs..

%th dive onto the pyramides again which they said were called Isis, Osiris and Cannabis. hmmmm.saw a large red scorpion fish aroung 75cmlong looking well hard.

Final dive onto a site called Disney Village. a load of dolls housed spilled off a passing ship litter the sea bed looking like an abandoned (small) ghost town. also a giant archway like Stabb's Cathedral Rock and loads of life there including a Turkish Wrasse .. odd..

Any way a great weeks diving with a great friendly operator, i still dont understand why the area is not better publicised. or perhaps its better kept a secret for me to dive more..

G

[blondie]

Nice, having lived in france before becoming a diver i've now even more desires to go back there!

[CotoChris]

Always good to read a trip report, especially somewhere unusual. You said the boat could take 40 divers, did take that many when you were there? I just can't imagine 40 dives on 1 dive site.

[Graham Sykes]

I think the max we had was @ 20 divers. in groups of 3 or 4. it wasnt crowded, but enough for good crack....

G

[Graham Sykes]

here is a Link to some photos I took on the dives.

G

[blondie]

what the monkeys is number 38?

l

[Graham Sykes]

Thats "Scorpy" the scorpion fish...

G

[nigel]

Nice to see you back you can go back to work and listen to " Where have you beeeeeeen !!
Two weeks to go to my well earned Caribbean break



Nigel