First Sea dive...wreck dive...boat dive...great day!

[ShinyD]

I thought I'd attempt to post a quick report on the days diving with Terry H and the others on the Wight Spirit from Lymington earlier today.

As the title says, this was a day of firsts for me, so after being blown out yesterday (same boat and crowd) I was elated to see today dawn sunny and wind free (at least initially)!

We dived 2 wrecks - the Betsy Anna, asteamer of 880 tons which sank under tow in 1926 (lying in 25ish metres), followed by the War Knight, a steamer of 7951 tons, mined in 1918 (lying in 14ish metres).

The first dive, on the Betsy Anna, was great, and scored all the firsts for me, and what a great wreck to remember as the first! I remember the (now upright) bows slowly appearing out of the gloom, loads of fish, a few lobsters (including one huge one that retreated into it's hole as we approached), crabs and the conger eels. The congers are huge! I made sure Terry was between me and them at all times...just in case they fancied a snack...

The dive lasted 30 minutes and I was happy that buoyancy and acsent and descent seem to be coming under control now, so I was more relaxed and enjoyed it.

The second dive was marred a little by the fact there were three dive boats circling the wreck like sharks, the wind had got up a little and the sea state was becoming a little jumpy, and the dive lift broke on the boat. The dive itself was a bit of an anticlimax after the first one, but still worth doing. This wreck is in a far more broken state than the first, and there wasn't that much life to be seen (where we were anyway). I kep seeing other divers, so that might have had something to do with it.

So...2 dives, one at 24.4 metres and one at 13.8 - both 30 minutes and no problems. Great day!

A huge thank you to Terry H and the others (some of whom are members here, but I didn't catch forum names in the intros ).

I did end up with one problem following the dives. A badly swollen top lip that was too painful and stinging too much to even have a hot drink on surfacing the second time .

I've noticed this before and think it may be a reaction to the material the reg mouthpiece is made from, so I'll have to replace it. It's still swollen and stinging now...

ps. See Tel...I can write short reports

[Sparky750]

Good report well done glad you got to go diving

[purple vonny]

Well done Dave! glad you got in the sea and enjoyed it. Sounds like a good day out

[TerryH]

Oi you! That would barely fill an A4 page

Glad you enjoyed it Dave. Not so sure about the conga baiting idea

Your fellow YD'ers (amongst a pretty fun bunch all round on the boat
today, I thought), were Zee, SML & Scuby.

Yep Betsy was a good dive, but you are right, no idea what the other
two dive boats were upto, very strange.

Tel.

[ShinyD]

Originally Posted by TerryH

Your fellow YD'ers (amongst a pretty fun bunch all round on the boat
today, I thought), were Zee, SML & Scuby.
Tel.

Yup - a good bunch - apologies guys for not picking up the names

[Gav]

Nice one Dave

[RogerViking]

good great one to remember as your first

[paramedic paul]

Nice report Dave, glad you had a good trip!

[Madfish]

Great report Dave - first of many I hope!
Dianne

[endoman]

Originally Posted by Southern_Dave

I thought I'd attempt to post a quick report on the days diving with Terry H and the others on the Wight Spirit from Lymington earlier today.

As the title says, this was a day of firsts for me, so after being blown out yesterday (same boat and crowd) I was elated to see today dawn sunny and wind free (at least initially)!

We dived 2 wrecks - the Betsy Anna, asteamer of 880 tons which sank under tow in 1926 (lying in 25ish metres), followed by the War Knight, a steamer of 7951 tons, mined in 1918 (lying in 14ish metres).

The first dive, on the Betsy Anna, was great, and scored all the firsts for me, and what a great wreck to remember as the first! I remember the (now upright) bows slowly appearing out of the gloom, loads of fish, a few lobsters (including one huge one that retreated into it's hole as we approached), crabs and the conger eels. The congers are huge! I made sure Terry was between me and them at all times...just in case they fancied a snack...

The dive lasted 30 minutes and I was happy that buoyancy and acsent and descent seem to be coming under control now, so I was more relaxed and enjoyed it.

The second dive was marred a little by the fact there were three dive boats circling the wreck like sharks, the wind had got up a little and the sea state was becoming a little jumpy, and the dive lift broke on the boat. The dive itself was a bit of an anticlimax after the first one, but still worth doing. This wreck is in a far more broken state than the first, and there wasn't that much life to be seen (where we were anyway). I kep seeing other divers, so that might have had something to do with it.

So...2 dives, one at 24.4 metres and one at 13.8 - both 30 minutes and no problems. Great day!

A huge thank you to Terry H and the others (some of whom are members here, but I didn't catch forum names in the intros ).

I did end up with one problem following the dives. A badly swollen top lip that was too painful and stinging too much to even have a hot drink on surfacing the second time .

I've noticed this before and think it may be a reaction to the material the reg mouthpiece is made from, so I'll have to replace it. It's still swollen and stinging now...

ps. See Tel...I can write short reports

Well done for the diving, sounds great, wish I could have been there.

I'm trying to fathon out the lip thing. If it was an allergy to the mouthpiece then you would expect it to affect both top and bottom lips. Do you have allergy to latex that you are aware of? Other thing could be pressure forn the reg on the upper lip causing localised increased blood flow.

Swap mouthpiece and see what happens. I assume there are plastic rather than latex based mouthpieces out there.

Take some antihistamine, hayfever type stuff and see if that makes a difference.

Bill