Seaford ferry Brighton

[trebor]

As the confusion (and still does) continued about which days myself and captain deco had arranged training for our tri-mix course. We decided to cann Wraysbury and dive proper like in the sea. I knew the viz was going to be 10-15metres as Ive spent three days on a liveaboard mid-channel.

I arrive at 7:45 load my kit, park van and have breakfast. On return to the boat my thoughts turn to my buddy who still isn't here, time 8.20, ropes off 8:30 The skipper extends ropes off and Cpt Deco loads kits and the boat leaves. Its a lovely day blue sky, force 1 weather conditions, Perfect!

The boat is not full which is good as most have two stages and twinsets including me and Cpt Deco. There is also two rebreather divers. One had a black helmit with two torches on. This was cool and is my next buy. The Cpt new every body on the boat which was good as I managed to piss off most before he had arrived.

On site the viz looked very good and In we dropped. The plan was down to 48metres double up on my scooter and head towards the bow, up onto the decks and finish at the stern.

The wreck is badly broken at the bow and stern. One side amidships stands up about 5metres. The bow is twisted off and upsidedown only afew metres proud.

Up on decks I spotted another divers on a single 12 @ 45metres Apparently she did 15minutes on the wreck and a return to the shot dive. At the time I was stunned my regulator almost fell out of my mouth.

The planned 30 minutes bottom time was not long enough however the current pick up and I had been to 49.4metres which is super crazy mental deep for me. Just time to pick up another crab for tea and off we fly to our first stop at 31metres.

I planned the dive on Pro planner using runtimes at each depth. It was the first time Ive used two stages. Bouyancy was Ok but my trim and comfort-ibility at 9 and 6metres was bad and I couldnt relax.

Anyway great dive max 49.4m 30minutes on the seaford ferry 74minutes runtime. gas 25% 40% 70%

Rob

[Captain Deco]

We didn't mix the dates up. I booked them off with my work specifically and you wrote them wrong. Also....I was on the boat and ready by 08:25 as you helped me load. Other non showers for the dive held the skip up.....so there.

Anyway, enough moaning - I had enough of that yesterday.

As for the dive......Very nice clear viz, ace scootering by Rob. When we stopped at the bow I rescued 2 trapped lobsters who were caught up in mono. I assisted Rob in his hunting frenzy as he bagged 3 fatty crabs for his tea. There was loads of porthole work going on, but I have one now (did you know?) so I rarely carry tools....there was some crockery but it was all smashed to fook so I rescued no treasure. All in all I had a great dive and a good practice with 2 stages. I found that Mark Powell's adjustments to my gear helped no end as I was able to move about the boat quite easily despite having 2 stages. In water I was very settled and trim was good - the stops were nice and comfy and I practised reaching for the valves loads and found that I had good freedom of movement now that the weight belt is gone. A whopping 1KG of lead in the sea, as opposed to 10KG!!!

After a leisurely kit wash I noodled off home only to find that another boat that I dive off in Suffolk had found a bell whilst I was in the deep deep sea!!!

[Captain Deco]

By the way....what did you do to piss everybody off?

[trebor]

Its was probably all in my head as I left at 5:30 and the 2hour drive to Brighton. I was abit tired.

[Tom Grain]

It was a pleasure diving with you chaps!

FYI Rob, my helmet is a Pro Tek canoing helmet which has been modified. I just cable tie the smaller torches on and a 22mm pipe clip is perfect for greenfoce 11W HID torch heads! Great for "hands free diving"

See you on the "Plant" dive out of Dover soon.

Regards,

Tom

[Paul Oliver]

Originally Posted by Tom Grain

See you on the "Plant" dive out of Dover soon.

Regards,

Tom

Robs not on the Plant Dive so you won't have to put up with him irritating you Tom

Rob if you think you are on the Plant then you need to call me

[trebor]

Originally Posted by Tom Grain

It was a pleasure diving with you chaps!

FYI Rob, my helmet is a Pro Tek canoing helmet which has been modified. I just cable tie the smaller torches on and a 22mm pipe clip is perfect for greenfoce 11W HID torch heads! Great for "hands free diving"

See you on the "Plant" dive out of Dover soon.

Regards,

Tom

.

Nice to meet you Tom. That hat is cool

[DivingDiva]

Hello Rob

It was me on the single tank on the Seaford Ferry.....I to had a great dive, maybe short compaired to yours but lovely all the same.

I had 17 min bottom time with my buddy Jim before I went up line and had 21min Deco, just wanted to say I was cheating a bit as I did go back to the line as my safety bottle was on there at 10 metres (now should I mention I didnt need to use it as still had 60 bar back on the surface!!)

Its not the norm and before anyone says is that safe, I planned my dive and dived it to the minute, the only reason I was on a single tank is I do a lot of UK diving so wanted to see if I fancy doing deeper stuff and if it suits me before I go ahead and spend a lot of money on gearing up for more deco diving.

I have done that wreck twice now in the same gear and I can see the pro's and cons of each side....still not sure even with a underwater MP3 that I could sit on line for so much deco time...although you get longer on the wreck...its this im trying to work out see if its for me or not....and could I cope with that much kit on my back!!! haha...

All said I think it was a great dive and a fab group on the boat...great day and all back safe......xx

[trebor]

Hi DD

Nice to meet you on such a great dive and welcome to YD

Rob