11 go to Donegal ~ Dave Burke’s awesome trip!

[Spike Jackson]

Great report Blanaid!

Few thoughts from our side:

Loyal Watcher is a very comfortable and very seaworthy boat - a fact we were very glad for on the crossing! 58mile per hour winds and waves to match.

They've done a lot of work to make it a very pleasant liveaboard and touches like the 100 DVD's and surround sound system were very nice.

The ladder is gently angled and pivots so it made climbing out much easier than would otherwise be the case - very important in the constant, huge Atlantic swells. South Coast diving with a lift will seem like a doddle now!

The crew were professional and also very friendly and approachable. Darren the skipper is an experienced diver himself and so understands what us divers want.

They have a booster pump and trimix analyser onboard and "topped" up our gas fills and only charged us for the gas we used - a significant saving for those of us on OC! This of course meant they had very long days filling 9 twinsets and 20 or more stages, all done cheerfully and the fills were accurate and of decent pressure.

The wrecks are awesome but the diving is fairly deep. Most of the group were on twin 12's and, allowing for a reasonable reserve, this limited the bottom times purely due to gas limitations. Claire and I were only able to manage 25min for the 60-65m dives. Given how big the wrecks are and the fact that each dive we had to return to the shot for the deco menat that we only scratched the surface of each wreck.

One of the nicest things was how well the group "gelled". Claire and I of course already knew Juz, Blanaid, Howard and Dave but met Stu, Tony, Alex, Aaron and Mark for the first time onboard. Everybody got along instantly and it made for a fantastic vibe on board and some great times over a Guiness or two in the pub after the day's diving.

Thanks again to Dave for organising. We will be back!

[ClaireDJ]

Thanks for the great trip report Blanaid!

I was admittedly quite apprehensive about some of the dives; I had never dived below 60 metres - it was mainly a psychological barrier though! The wrecks were so awesome and I had plenty of helium to keep me comfortable!

The crossing WAS rough but I am very glad that Darren made the decision to go. We were all happy to get to Donegal; the thought of spending the week in the Sound of Mull or in the Clyde did not appeal at all!

Spike and I used 18/45 mixes on all the dives, with 2 stages, one 40% and one of 80%; a lot of helium but a nice low END kept our heads very clear, and I could remember everything I saw! The vis is awesome and you can see the wrecks spead out below you as you descend down the shot. They are MASSIVE. You would need to spend a lot of time there to get to know them. We merely scratched the surface! The fish life is amazing as well, as the wrecks are no-take zones. Darren also said that the fisherman are not actually allowed to fish on the wrecks (although we did see a fair bit of monofilament line...)

As we were kitting up for the Laurentic on day 1, Darren asked if we were happy going in, as it would be rough getting back on the boat. We all decided to go for it anyway. I was quite worried about getting back on the boat - in the end I managed - started trying to unclip a stage bottle but then realised that the sea was just too rough, so climbed the ladder with all my cylinders in place - never thought I could do it! Luckily the seas improved as the week went by and unclipping one or both stages proved manageable.

Darren and Linda have put a lot of work into the Loyal Watcher, to make it as comfortable as possible. They are very accomodating and easy to talk to! No-one has yet mentioned "Harry", the boat dog - an 18-year old daschund belonging to Linda, who lives on sausages and chocolate!

I developed a sore throat but still managed all the dives; although on the last dive on the Audacious I had to hang on the line at 45 metres for about 10 minutes until my ear cleared... the bonus was that with the fantastic vis I had a bird's-eye view of everyone on the wreck and could actually still enjoy myself! I then made it to the bottom in time to help Spike send up some spidge.

The people on the trip were all great and we got on well. I have now managed to get a few more people addicted to the "Bop-It Extreme II" game - Arran, Juz and even Richard!

Thanks to Richard for his patient hours spent at the filling station, to Darren and Linda for a great boat and an excellent crew, to Dave Burke for organising this trip. Thanks also to everyone for helping each other get back on the boat!

I would love to go back.

Claire

[Lou]

Sounds fabulous. I love reading about stuff like this. I'm not sure that we will ever be in a position to do it, but it certainly fires the imagination.

Thanks for the report, even if it has made me slightly green in more ways than one

Lou

[Juz]

Originally Posted by Lou

I'm not sure that we will ever be in a position to do it

Certainly, one shouldn't rush, but 4 years ago I said I just wasn't into deep diving and doubted I ever would be.

4 years ago, Blanaid was a single cylinder, warm blue water diver.

My route was to become comfortable at 35m over a long space of time, comfortable at 40m - again over quite a period, comfortable at 45m, then comfortable with Deco, etc etc etc

Take it slow, and enjoy the journey. Never get into the water if if doesn't feel right, never be afraid to call a dive and if it's right for you, you'll end up on the Justicia, sitting at 70m, in front of an intact and loose porthole, approx 1m x 1.5m, crying cos you haven't got the 3 x 65kg lift bags you need to lift it!!!!

Juz

[Spike Jackson]

Originally Posted by Juz

Take it slow, and enjoy the journey. Never get into the water if if doesn't feel right, never be afraid to call a dive and if it's right for you, you'll end up on the Justicia, sitting at 70m, in front of an intact and loose porthole, approx 1m x 1.5m, crying cos you haven't got the 3 x 65kg lift bags you need to lift it!!!!

Juz

And in your case Juz - not enough gas to fill those lifting bags either! See, us OC guys do have some uses!

[Juz]

Originally Posted by Spike Jackson

And in your case Juz - not enough gas to fill those lifting bags either! See, us OC guys do have some uses!

That was what the AL80 was for, certainly wasn't for bailout!!

Juz

[divegyrl]

Originally Posted by Juz

That was what the AL80 was for, certainly wasn't for bailout!!

So how come I ended up sending up the bags both days? You know you love your OC buddy

Originally Posted by Juz

4 years ago, Blanaid was a single cylinder, warm blue water diver

I still am in my heart....... if those wrecks were in warm blue water at 30m I'd be a very happy bunny!
Lou, I progressed slowly, both Caroline & you are doing it the correct way, slowly & getting more comfortable. I enjoyed every step of the way, and have now decided to take another step someone will be loosing his OC bailout!

Originally Posted by Lou

it has made me slightly green in more ways than one

there were lots of green faces around! Juz didn't get out of bed every day until we were at the dive site!

[Lou]

Originally Posted by divegyrl

Lou, I progressed slowly, both Caroline & you are doing it the correct way, slowly & getting more comfortable. I enjoyed every step of the way, and have now decided to take another step someone will be loosing his OC bailout!

Hi Blan

Yep, slow and easy - that's us. I don't see what the deal is to rush it - we love everything we see, so why go so fast ? We can happily do another few years now with the level of deco we did in Scapa, although dives like that will be the occasional at first, rahter than the rule. there are less nudibranchs the deeper you go anyway!

Now, what is the deal with the box? Hope your's will be shinier than Juz's, just because you had to wait

Cheers

Lou

[divegyrl]

Originally Posted by Lou

Now, what is the deal with the box? Hope your's will be shinier than Juz's, just because you had to wait

Juz has now got a stealth cover in black and a new (2nd hand) black Inspo wing, I'll never be able to find him now!

I'll do the course on Juz's box, then hopefully get another 2nd hand one to practice with and build up my hours on over the winter, then slowly build back up to the deeper stuff again, and whittle down my gas bill for next time! I also know a man you likes to colour the box, perhaps I could convince him to do me a purple one!

Mark who was also on a YBOD paid more for his crisps than he did for gas on the trip!

[Tim Ingmire]

Ooh nice report, I'd love to do these and was hoping to do some of them last year but got blown out.

Any piccies?