Imported post
The diving is cracking out there - hundreds of wrecks, hardly ever dived and more lobbies and crabs than you can shake a shi77y stick at
it has just been a case of access. Paul from Seamasters in Peterborough used to do a beach launch from Bacton but it needed to be really calm to do it. He ended up giving it up as more weekends were blown out than not. It was not a case of the sea being too rough to dive, but too rough to recover the RIB.
If you can get a reliable big RIB out of Cromer, I would be down there most weekends...
For those interested in diving in Norfolk, the following is a cut and paste job off a report I wrote for our club newsletter.
Cheers
Simon
"And Then There Were None or East of Ely" by Simon Nash
At 4.30 on Friday, my boss, asked where I was going diving at the weekend.
"About 50 miles east of K.L."
"What!!! You are going to Malaysia for the weekend?"
"Kings Lynn not Kuala Lumpur, fool." I said in my best Mr T voice.
"No, you are the fool for going diving in East Anglia" he replied.
And that sums up diving in East Anglia – not many people know that there is cracking diving, exclusively wreck diving, to be had off the Norfolk coast. One of the reasons for this is that it is very tidal and there are next to no slips or harbours around. However, this means that the wrecks are hardly dived at all.
Les and Kay had organised a trip on the charter boat Desert Moon out of Blakeney. Well, we were staying in Blakeney, getting the boat from Morston 2 miles away, but leaving some cars in Cley which was 4 miles in the other direction. Confused? So were we.
The reason for this logistical nightmare was the tides, which meant that once out of harbour the boat could not get back into harbour for another 10 hours. Did I say "harbour"; sorry that should have been a "3ft deep muddy creek where we and all our gear piled onto a 10ft flat bottomed boat with a 5hp engine to make the 15 minute journey out to where the Desert Moon was moored".
Once aboard we made our way past the tourist boats gawping at the seals on Blakeney Point and through the surf by the sand bar. Excited shouts of "whahey" as we rode the surf soon turned to a number of muted shouts of "barrff" from some of the party as we continued for a couple of hours out through the swell. It was like being in the Agatha Christie book "And Then There Were None" as one by one most of the party turned green and chundered. Nervous glances were exchanged as everyone wondered who was going to be next.
Obviously decorum (and up to now lack of financial or liquid inducements) preclude me from naming and shaming the unfortunates, but I think we were all extremely glad when we dropped the shot on the wreck of the Deodata and could get in the water. The bizarre thing was that we had gone out 23 miles from shore and it was still only 23m deep!
After the dive we headed further east to our second dive, the wreck of the Bogatyr. Finishing the dive we headed further east to Cley where we had left some of the cars. Because of the state of the tides, if we wanted to get last orders at the pub we would have to jump from the boat and swim to shore. It must have been a bizarre sight for the fishermen on the beach seeing 10 people leap from a boat (which then disappeared back out to sea), swim to shore through the surf and then kiss and hug the ground. I am sure a couple of phone calls were made to the Immigration Services! Actually, it was just that most of us were glad to be back on dry and stable land.
The next day, the demand for cooked breakfasts was down by 50 percent. Given the state of the tides which meant we would not get back to land until late, a vote determined that we would only do one dive. Our chosen wreck was a Clyde paddle steamer that had been commandeered during both world wars as a minesweeper but was unfortunate enough to be bombed by a German plane. It was quite bizarre but exciting to see the paddle wheels. Another highlight was the case full of anti aircraft shells in the middle of the wreck.
Getting off the dive boat at the end of the day was yet another jump and swim; however this time in full kit. Gordon’s request to log it as the 2nd dive of the day was dismissed on the grounds that a 15 second splash did not count as a dive. Some more shuffling with cars between villages and we were soon on our way home, tired but very happy.
So, given all the effort was it worth it? My answer is an undoubted yes. The wrecks are virtually undived so there is still a great deal to see on them and they are absolutely covered in marine life. The seabed is very very flat and the wrecks attract life like artificial reefs. I think we all lost count of the number of lobsters we saw. Added to the fact that it is not very deep, long dives can be had without venturing too much into decompression. We saw no other divers the entire weekend and you can virtually guarantee having the wrecks to yourselves. Thanks to Les and Kay for organising yet another cracking weekend away.
) to dive this coast for a while now, a few of the guys I dive with would also be interested.
