2nd Dive of 2008 - The Rodean

[Helen F H]

Following the green line into the green, i await to see just quite where the shot has landed. The Rodean is a fairly broken wreck spread over a wide area, so it could be quite literally anywhere on her. A section of ribs protrude like beckoning fingers and the rope is snagged around them, i take a moment to wrap it more securely around the metal and then head off to get my bearings. The shot had landed next to a large section of plate curved in a semicircle, a feature i recognised from my dives last year.





Just so you know, the shot is on the starboard side around midships if i am right (but there is every chance i am wrong). Grappling with the camera i set out to find something pretty to snap and get used to the far more bulky and quite frankly scary housing for my pride and joy – the Olympus C7070. This is its first ever time in the water with me, so be gentle (plus i had to shrink the pics as im on a mobile dialup connection and they would have taken weeks to upload otherwise!)



Lightbulb sea squirts are one of my favourite things, little tubes of jelly with a white stripe down one side and around their bucket mouthes, small splodges of them sit amongst the urchins and the odd crop of spongy yellow and orange dead mens fingers.



There are usually lots of congers on this wreck – it being the one of the few places i have seen a free swimming slate blue monster on the prowl for something tasty. Peering under the many flat sections of plate i am soon rewarded with a pair of eyes and an open mouth. I decide that he really didnt want his picture taken and so i carry on over the wreckage. Dotted here and there are creels (lobbie pots) with their ropes cut, slowly rusting and being reclaimed by the sea.



A movement catches my eye and a big ballan wrasse comes over to inspect me to see if i am about to open an urchin for him (i'm not), so he glides out of view under a plate and away. A few finstrokes later another one appears although they all look the same - it could be the same one....
Finally i spot some other divers and by some strange human tendency end up following them and suddenly diving HMS Seabed. Deciding that i have probably been in long enough i bag off without incident and ascend through the many moon jellies in the top 6m. None of the pics i took of them seemed to come out however, so i may have to be a good little crew and see if i can get another dive before they all die off.

[GLOC]

Nice piccies Helen. Really looking forward to catching up with you lot on Saturday...

[neilh]

Nice pics Helen - keep 'em coming along with vis and weather reports please

Originally Posted by GLOC

Nice piccies Helen. Really looking forward to catching up with you lot on Saturday...

...and I'm looking forward to the pics from your trip mate - they'll be going on the screensaver until we head up shortly after

[Buoyant Babe]

Lovely pics Helen. Keep the weather and viz gods smiling for us, won't you?

Helen xxx