Moldavia & Warilda 10-11th July

[divegyrl]

Well Juz and I finally got to use the mix that has been in our sets since the end of June!
Juz was in our LDS, Dive 69 who told him that Surrey Aquanauts had booked the boat for a weekend and were struggling to fill spaces. So we immediately signed up!

Saturday dawned bright and sunny and we headed down to Littlehampton to pick up Defiant with skipper Paul Childs. Very spacious boat, comfortable kitting up space and a big cabin with a hot air heater!

A fast trip out to the Moldavia, which meant we were waiting at station for slack for a little while which didn’t help the sea-sick peeps on board. People kept calling for Ralph, but I never met him!

Juz and I were the second pair in; we dropped down the shot through water that was filled with particulate and there she was! Viz was 8-10m, much less than I had back in May
She was surrounded in shoals of fish, guess not many divers around for the past few weeks
Juz found a hole that he went into, I stayed outside like the wimp I am! All too soon our 35mins was up and we shot our blobs and started our slow ascent. We were on 22/28 (thinned out whilst waiting 3 weeks for a dive!) with 70% deco gas. We had planned for a 95 minute run time, but our VR3’s let us come out earlier. (Even with an extra 5 minutes safety at 3m!) I’m starting to love that piece of kit!

Back on board & a fast run home methinks the skipper was on a promise!

Sunday dawned grey and wet, and we pottled back down to Littlehampton. Juz & I could only get air tops so were on a very lean mix with 70% deco stages! 3 of yesterday’s group decided not to face the seas again as the trip out to the Warilda was 30mins longer. Paul reminded us that IF a chopper was called that we went to France for the pot, I didn’t have my passport! It was another fast run out, with a wait for slack not sitting well with some constitutions!

We went in as a 3 with Alex (fellow YD’er from Nottingham) and followed a long shot down into the dark! We had landed near the stern so followed the wreck round to the prop, (pausing only whilst I was sociable with another buddy pair )
Juz found a conger, which he just had to interact with!

We called time at 25mins as Alex was diving on tables, we all shot our blobs and started our ascent, dive time was 66mins.

When we got to the surface it was rather bumpy, we had to wait for a while for the YBOD diver to come back (50mins BT with a 2 hour RT!) Ralph joined us again, but we were not formally introduced!

Another fast run back to shore (I snoozed in the cabin & shared chocolate with the skipper!) and the weekend was over!
I’m looking forward to doing the Warilda again, she is massive & has so many more places to explore, on mix!

A great weekend, another new wreck for me to add to my list of "must do again!". It was good to meet with Alex who is going on Dave Burke’s Ireland & France trips next year. It was great to finally get in the water after such horrible weather, I’m just keeping my fingers crossed that our trip to Cornwall next week is sunny & warm, with NO wind!

Blanaid

[beanie]

Originally Posted by divegyrl

Paul reminded us that IF a chopper was called that we went to France for the pot, I didn’t have my passport! It was another fast run out, with a wait for slack not sitting well with some constitutions!

Laminated E111 is good to carry when diving in the channel just in case, keep it in you undersuit pocket

[divegyrl]

Thanks Beanie,
I had never thought about it before, something else to add to the list of things to take with me!
It was a bit late to tell us on the way out to the dive site!

Blanaid

[Alex]

Hi Blanaid

It was nice to watch you and Juz on decompression stops
Don't forget you promissed to correct my English during our Ireland trip...

Alex

[Juz]

Originally Posted by Alex

It was nice to watch you and Juz on decompression stops
Alex

Watching bored people just hanging there!!

I hate stops!!

Course I forget that by the time I'm booking my next dive!

Juz

[Alex]

A mate of mine says 6 m stop is the best part of a dive, an opportunity to relax and meditate

Alex

[Mark Chase]

Your M8 needs help

The only long stops I enjoy are the ones on reef walls. The UK ones are a meens to an end. I did have a great set of stops on my last dive with 1000's of jelly fish but thats the only good UK deco I can remember.

ATB

Mark Chase