[Paul Oliver]

After some great weather but poor viz on the Dover Easter Gig so far i joined the boat for my only dive of the weekend. Dave had decided to head out to Le Colbert, a bank in mid channel to find a submarine to dive.

As we headed out the viz got better once we crossed the Varne Bank and on approaching the site of UC-64 it looked damn good

UC64 was a mine laying German sub that set off an alarm on the Dover Barrage when trying to sneak through on the 20 June 1918. There then followed a lot of depth charging by drifters of the Dover Patrol until they were sure she had been destroyed.

Soon afterward Commander Damants "Tin Openers" RN Divers were on the site, reporting the Sub badly broken up, they also used more explosives to get inside and recover code books and other intelligence items, removing the crews bodies at the same time.

Today we got on site to see some top quality viz but the wreck was pushing some of our gas fills, so several of us needed to get onto the top of the wreck at 37-38m

I had drawn the short straw and was diving with Captain Deco and we were soon in, however i straight away had trouble breathing, but decided to have a try and see if it eased. At 6m we did a bubble check and i patted my chest to show Jay i had chest/breathing problems, he then checked my suit hose was connected, which it was,

Down we went slowly and my chest got no worse, however we eventually hit the seabed at 41m with a dark but nice 4-5m of viz and i started to struggle to breath so i tapped my chest again and Jay checked my suit was connected again.

I then decided enough was enough and told Jay i was going up, he started to go up with me but Juz passed us soon followed by Getafix and Jay asked if i was OK if he joined them, OK said i and up i went nice and slowly doing my normal safety stop.

Meanwhile Chris and Svenja went past but soon aborted due to MoD's and the others had a good swim around this very interesting and broken up wreck, with big propellers, mine chutes and many other items to see. Back on Neptune i de-kitted and we soon had others returning. Soon everyone was on the boat and very happy with the wreck and the viz, except one, who was still at 6m.

Juz, Dude, Blanaid and Getafix

Yup Captain Deco was reaffirming his nickname as we took it in turn to throw things at him including Chocolate and golf balls

Eventually he was up and telling us Captain Spidge had returned

On board Jay showed us his Brass German Bedpan Helmet, Roy Plummer and Getafix look suitably impressed

But then decided it was probably a washing bowl along with an ammunition container latch

Yet another top days diving off of Dover then

 

[ChrisP]

Yet another top days diving off of Dover then

Yet another top report from Paul.

What you forgot to mention was the superb sunset - good enough to compete with any in the Red Sea

The viz seems to be improving as we come off springs so today and tomorrow should be great.

 

[PW1664]

Don't you just love views like that... FANTASTIC ! :teeth:

 

[Diving Dude]

Juz, Dude, Blanaid and Getafix

Don't you just love views like that... FANTASTIC ! :teeth:

l wouldn't quiet go that far, it's not a great picky of me

l'd agree with the dark 4-5 mtrs of vis, l had a great dive, although with hindsight l didn't need to lay a line to get back to the shot on a cigar shaped sub. We had similar, but lighter vis on the Champagne(sp) wreck on friday morning.

 

[Getafix]

A good day

It was a good dive, 5m of dark vis and a nice little wreck max of 42m. It was especially good that we had Nevil on the boat as I followed his line on both dives as I was feeling lazy! Thanks Nev Once away from the shot I only saw 1 torch, that was of the diver I was stalking.

The earlier dive on the Unity had at best about 1.5m of black vis with a lot of particles swirling about with a max of about 38m, but it was diveable. I found a broken plate that had the crest of the railway company who owned the ship, but little else.

I'll leave the Sundays dive for the whole trip weekend report to follow later.

Thanks to Juz and Blainaid for organizing this weekend, and to Dave for doing a good job in finding what little viz there is out there...... much better than some peoples ideas of chucking them in on the loanda.... or the seabed close by!!

Alan

 

[divegyrl]

Top report!

It was a marvellous day! Great to have you on board, hope the subs had as much viz today!