Recent Trip Reports
Untitled Document
Marsa Shagra, Egypt, 19-26 October
Holborn ends the dive season in style with a trip to possibly the most chilled-out dive centre in the world!
What better way to extend the dive season than to head out to Egypt in October, escaping the grey English weather and getting some great diving in at the same time?
Nope, we don't know either, so that is exactly what 13 intrepid Holbornauts decided to do when we took a trip to the Marsa Shagra Eco Village courtesy of Oonasdivers and Red Sea Diving Safari. Marsa Shagra sits several hundred miles north of the Sudanese border. While it's not the deep south, it isn't far off. Several years ago a trip to Marsa Shagra involved a spine-crushing four hour journey from Hurghada but since the new airport at Marsa Alam airport opened just a few years ago that has been reduced to a much more agreeable 30 minutes.
Arriving just after sun down everyone quickly settled into their respective accommodation be it tent, hut or the luxurious air-conditioned chalets, before heading off to the restaurant. Just as when we last visited two years ago, the food was once again excellent. Everyone went to bed with full bellies and full of excitement for the start of the diving the next day. The following morning, after the ever important period of milling for which Holborn is so rightfully famous, we all set off for a guided check-out dive on the house reef. The guide gave a thorough brief detailing how we were to dive along the South reef. Unfortunately, due to the somewhat erratic navigation of one member of the group who shall remain nameless (but who is French) Holborn proceeded to dive along the North reef instead - that's all 10 of us! Still, the guide was satisfied that we were all safe to dive on our own and we were now free to dive on the house reefs any time we liked - bliss!
The wind was a little high the first day so we decided to stick to the house reef. Although it was a little murky close in-shore being dropped off by zodiac further out rewarded us with great visability. This particular trip will probably be most rememberd for turtles. Personally I saw a turtle on each of my first five dives and on over half of the dives throughout the week. Once again, the North House reef was stunning and full of life.
On day 2 we decided to catch a few RIB rides out to some of the more distant sites as the wind had begun to drop (and proceeded to do so for the whole week). An old favourite, Ras Abu Dabbab was visited. This time we didn't enter the caves due to some current but that didn't matter because instead we dived over the beautiful coral gardens on the outer reef, known as 'Alice in Wonderland' by Sean, our Gorilla-mask wearing dive guide! In the afternoon we took in Nelson's Reef. Once again, life was all around and spectacular. Nudibranch spooters will be impressed that Elinor spotted the eggs of a Spanish Dancer - like nudibranch eggs in the UK, only a lot, lot bigger. While some folks called it a day after that a few others went off for a night dive on the house reef and were rewarded with a shower of beautiful purple (non-stinging) jellyfish - truly magical in our torch light.
Day 3 saw the whole group head off to Dolphinhouse Reef for the day. Unlike two years ago when strong winds prevented us from getting to the outer reef, this time there was no such problem. A very serene dive followed with various critters spotted, another turtle, stingrays, morays, anemonefish - you name it. Obviously one of the delights of Dolphinhouse reef is the chance to snorkel with the resident pod of Spinner Dolphins. Unfortunately these wise creatures have learned that us humans have to be out of the water by 3pm in the afternoon, which is exactly when they turn up. We had spotted dolphins the day before on the way to Abu Dabbab, so this wasn't too disappointing, and there was more to come!
Day 4 saw us visit a new site, a wreck at Abu Ghusoon. A long minibus ride south go us to this shore location and, after a short 10 minute dive along the reef we were rewarded with what many folks consider to be the best diving of the trip, a lovely wreck of a Russian freighter sitting in 17m but rising up to within just a couple of metres of the surface. Broken is two she is festooned with life with lots of little swim-throughs and nooks and crannies to explore. Where the two sections have broken away there is even a ships telephone hanging down. After a short break we dived her again, but this time without the dive guide. That really is one of the best aspects of Marsa Shagra, if the guides believe you are up to it they are quite happy to let you dive in your buddy pairs without them. That second dive on the wreck was wonderful and was capped off with the sighting of not one but two octopus on the return to shore. I shan't mention what they were doing but it was definitely 'adults only' viewing!
On day 5 several members of the group headed off for an excursion to Luxor to take in the sights. The rest of us continued diving. There was a visit to Elphinstone Reef, no sharks but a school of Barracuda, cornetfish and, oh yes, another turtle. Others visited Marsa Egla which was a nice dive apparently ruined by too many divers in the water at the same time. But later in the day several of us did a very nice dusk dive on the South reef and saw, oh yes, another turtle!
And so, all too quickly, the last day of diving arrived but we were determined to pack in as much as possible. Elinor and Jon headed off to Elphinstone (no sharks) while several others took a very early dive on the lovely North house reef. Later that morning we all headed off to another favourite, Masa Abu Dabbab, to do a shallow dive off the shore over the sea grass and see what we could see. And what did we see? No Dugongs unfortunately, but lots of turtles with ramoras attached, a guitarshark, a free swimming ramora being cleaned, a horned box fish and a large fantail ray. Great dive. After a short break it was time for the shark hunt. According to a few locals there is now a Whitetip Reef Shark living in some small caves on the North Reef. With a small map we all set off for a cave/shark hunt. However we were interuppted by cries of 'dolphins' out in the bay. While some of the group hurried out from shore, several of us hopped onto one of the boats to be dropped in a little closer - but we all got to see a group of seven dolphins frolicking (literally) in the bay, seemingly oblivious to all the people grinning madly around them. They were so oblivious that they came within touching distance - utterly fantastic. After we became bored with the dolphins we headed off in search of the caves. And we definitely found them, but there was no shark, much to some people's relief. Whether they were exactly the right caves is hard to tell, but they were in the right place and looked identical to the ones we had seen in pictures... so, we'll just have to go and take another look next time we are there...
All-in-all it was agreat trip. Well over a hundred dives were done and a new diver (Michael Roshier, son of Keith and Kate Roshier) was qualified as a Junior Open Water Diver - well done.
As Arnie would say; 'we'll be back'.
Nic
Normandy, France, 9-12 September
Holborn invades France (but in a nice way).
It is a truth universally acknowledged, or at least it is by Holborn Divers, that the standards and aspirations of BSAC 130 are so high that, as part of their Advanced Diver assessment, Zoé and Simon were challenged to organize an Exped to an “unknown location”... and chose to take the RIB by road to Cherbourg! Little was known about either the location or the diving – this was all part of the challenge. Even less was known about the other challenges to be faced both along the way and during the return journey? But more of that later...
With planning completed we fast forward 3 months and an intrepid band of ten set off in 2 vehicles to gather at the beautiful 18th century cottage in Sigueval near Valognes. Ahead of this, 2 days earlier, Zoé, Simon and Mark arrive in Portland on Tuesday evening to prepare the RIB for the long journey to Cherbourg, via Dover and Calais. With boat attached to car, a sound snooze at The Bunker before the 5am departure is disturbed by the night-long booze-fuelled antics of the other, blown out, divers. However, a smooth journey follows and around 9pm we pull up by the final track to the cottage to discover the lights on the trailer board have failed. Don’t worry though because it’s dark by now and we only have to turn the unlit trailer around using both lanes with a lorry thundering past ! This done, we reflect that we are here in France and decide to toast our fine beginning with the wine that, errrr... we didn’t bring. But being divers this calls for a rummage which turns up a fine selection of miniatures from a dusty cupboard so its chink chink and off to bed in one gulp.
Thursday rises, the wind looks set SW for several days (this is excellent for both waves and wind) and we drive to Chantereyne Harbour and with some tractor assistance get the boat in the water. With a solid outline plan of the 3 days diving ahead it seems a good idea to ping tomorrow’s wrecks so off we go for a jolly in the RIB. All the researched marks are spot on the chart but many wrecks remain unidentified owing to size, deterioration or the very strict Affaires Maritimes policy of no-take. Our first two unidentified marks know as 2112 and 2042 show nothing on the sounder so a swift change of plan puts us on the very well marked and very lumpy looking USSA for the morning. Satisfied with this we retire back to base and meet the gang. That’s day two and no mishaps!
With our own RIB in France a few extra items had to be taken including the Red Ensign, a List of Lights (local buoy ID), International Collision Regs, and N and C flags (for distress). These are the few items additional to any UK diving RIB kitted out to CDA standard. With our 12lt cylinders hired (regulations prevent UK cylinders being filled) from the local dive shop we are ready!
Time for diving now and everyone musters on time for ropes off. Slack is generally given both on chart and with local knowledge as +1 and -5 HW. We have plenty of wriggle-room in our timings and find slack on the USSA 40 minutes early, perhaps as we are midway between neap and spring? This wreck was an English steamer heading for the Western Front with a cargo of hay and wagon wheels, sunk on 3/5/17 after hitting a mine. It’s a stunning wreck with the entire engine block, boiler, prop shaft, rudder and propeller all visible and some large sections of hull standing 7m high towards the bow. Depth is 27m and whilst a little dark, the viz is excellent at 10m. After a picnic lunch the St Hubert is next. This is bang on +1HW and turns out to be a great 19m second dive. She was a French trawler requisitioned by the RN for channel patrol, sunk on 30/10/16 after hitting a mine and is quite broken but many identifiable engine parts, holds, ribs, anchor and bow. This completes a very successful day with swift wreck finding, accurate shotting and safe diving.
Saturday comes and we cast off for the most well known sport-diving wreck in the area, the Strathalbyn - an English steamer of 70m, sunk by a stray mine in 1916, carrying mixed cargo including metal beams, car axles and train bogeys. This is deemed a very worthy wreck but currents can be tricky on the short spring slack window. The smugness of our newly validated tidal knowledge fades when the shot buoy promptly disappears from view on +1 HW, pulled under by current. After 45 minutes waiting for it to appear first a crab boat arrives to pull its pots then the local dive club arrives. This additional hour making +2 HW must be slack then? All use the local boat’s shot line and come up from the wreck 30 minutes later beaming. The SW wind is increasing with gusty warnings so we opt for a safe bimble, free of current on the 14m rocky reef wall at the Digue Centrale which is the seaward side of the outer breakwater.
Our daily debrief ends with a unanimous decision to return to the USSA for the last dive of the trip, the following day. We swiftly shot the wreck on Sunday morning and all enjoy another fascinating dive, albeit in worsening viz with a little current evident despite having learned about local and accurate slack calculations. It’s getting springy, closer to the full moon now – is this a portent of things to come?
We all get ourselves and the RIB ready for the road and after a very good meal at the Hotel La Regence that night Zoé, Simon and Mark grab a small kip and rise at 3am for the long haul home. The trailer continues to dominate the wider range of “issues”. First stop, 5am and the prop bag has blown off. This is sorted with an orange shopping bag and a bungee. Second stop, for fuel, 630 am, still dark. With croissants on board we hit the motorway again. Mark seems quiet in the back of the car. “Mark do you want some coffee?” asks Zoé. “Mark?” No answer. “Where’s Mark – he’s not in the car!” The phone rings – it’s Mark. A few nifty roundabout manoevres and a double peage toll later Mark is safely back in the car. That’s a relief, we’re still on time for the ferry. Third stop now and we discover the trailer board lights are out again as the wire has ripped out from the plug. The internet comes to the rescue and informs us how to place each coloured wire into the differently numbered sockets. After 7 hours we arrive at the ferry, get across, are delayed 3 hours for berthing, arrive back at Portland and finally get the RIB and trailer put to bed at 9pm.
Phew what a journey home but that completes a successful trip, exploring new opportunities, opening and showing the way to get some adventurous foreign diving done at a low cost. On the way learning a lot, putting all our training into practice and managing the unexpected. Zoé and Simon can’t wait to join the next overseas adventure by next years prospective AD’s!
A big “merci” to Antoine Lesdos at the Affaires Maritimes, Fabien at le Grand Bleu diving shop, Thierry and Pascal at the Port Maritime de Cherbourg for all their support.
Zoé Diderich & Simon Gurney
Weymouth/Portland, Dive Leader training, 13/14 August
Beware the Roads of Portland!!!
We gathered at the car park of Portland Marina at 0930 under a blue sky with fluffly white clouds. After the usual loading of equipment and kitting up, Dan motored us out to Balacalva Bay, where we performed our first set of exercises in strong currents. Miranda and Emma were dropped off with Simon G for the shot recovery exercise, followed by Jeanette who was leading Simon P along the seabed with her right arm being pulled along by her SMB and her left arm trying to slow herself down by grabing hold of any passing rocks whilst Simon searched the rocks for the elusive Snakelocks Anemone Shrimp. Luckily the visibilty was good enough (5 - 6 metres) for them to keep track of each other. Emeka and Mia jumped off for their exercise and came back with big smiles.
Drama ensured when Emma and Miranda surfacing without Simon G (on purpose) in the rough seas (also on purpose). Fortunately it was a test for Jeanette and all eventually returned safely to Castletown for their lunch. But alas there was no rest for the wicked and we quickly returned to the seas for more exercses. The Landing Craft was the chosen location for Jeanette and Miranda's AS exercise under the watchful eye of Simon P. Whilst Simon G and Emma had another go with their shot recovery and Mia and Emeka continued with their dive leading exercise.
To demonstrate how fierce the current was, our RIB was swept close to the rocky ledge in a blink of an eye...
Finally, exhausted, the troops returned to the Portland Road Hotel to get cleaned and were rewarded with an excellent meal at 'The Boat that Rocks', with a 15% discount with the boat card, it was a great end to the day.
Sunday morning proved to be very interesting. The landlady, Natalie, had to bring the chef from the kitchen to confirm that we did not have breakfast before accpeting our payment of £30 per night for room only! But happiness was restored after we had a fabulous breakfast at the Blue Fish Cafe and, thus fortified, we motored into a calm sea under a blue sky. Today's grouping were Miranda and Jeanette with Simon P back at the Landing Craft for CBL, Emma and Simon G, and Emeka and Simon P. Another drama occured, this time it wasn Simon P who was not breathing (on purpose... he was actually breathing), but under the direction of Miranda, we managed to bring him back to the land of living and we were allowed to return to London.
Somewhere along the way, we have 2 scallops living in a bucket on the boat....
Jeanette
Weymouth/Portland, Ocean/Sport Diver Training, 30-31 July
Two long days of training left the instructors exhausted but satisfied...
Saturday 30 July
A handful of the Sports and Ocean Diver trainees made it down to Portland late on Friday evening in the hope of getting a decent nights sleep before the busy weekend of diving to follow. However what we hadn’t planned for was that Friday is Karaoke night in Portland! And when Portland does Karaoke, the whole town joins in. So some of us dozed off to the soothing shrieks and shouts of a unique rendition of Tom Jones' 'Delilah'...
Most of us couldn’t!
Fortunately for the Ocean Divers, they had a lie-in the next morning. But it was an early start for the Sports Divers and Instructors. The first dive of the day was the Cragside, which at least was a new site for most of the SDs. Alice must have gotten bored diving with Mark and Shira, so she decided to join Doug, Marek and Alex mid-dive. After reuniting her with Mark and Shira and after admiring and annoying a few spider crabs it was time to get on with the exercises - Distance lines, DSMBs and AS Ascents galore!
Once those exercises were successfully completed, it was time for the SDs to fill up on the Aqua Cafe’s own brand of grease and fat, whilst the OD trainees dived the Dredger. Once the nerves had passed they successfully completed their exercises and had done enough to earn their inaugural Aqua Cafe lunch. Poor them!
After the ODs single dive of the day, it was time for the SDs second. They had been looking forward to the planned drift dive in Balaclava Bay, but upon reaching the RIB, Zoé gave us the wondrous news that it was too choppy. So instead we’d have the pleasure of diving everyone’s favourite dive site... the Countess of Erne! After the initial disappointment it turned out to be quite enjoyable. The visibility, at times, was very good, whilst more spider crabs and plenty of fish were admired between exercises. Compass navigation, more DSMB work and simulated deco stops rounded off a very nice dive.
The days activities had gotten us in the mood for a relaxed and friendly dinner at Wester’s Bistro that evening!
Alex
Sunday 31 July
There was an early start on Sunday for Zoe, Nic, Mark and the OD trainees Mike and Emma at the Countess. The vis appeared good, and the students thoroughly enjoyed this dive as they were so excited to see a shipwreck that was still intact. Mike and Emma completed the AS and enjoyed seeing some marine biology in the process.
After a quick trip back to Castletown the OD’s jumped off and Alex, Marek, Shira, Nicolas, Alice and Gemma jumped aboard to go for some SD training with some impressively tanned/burnt faces amongst them... A quick trip to the Torpedo Range and Mark, Alex, Shira and Marek descended to have a pootle around and explore the site. Ascending on 2 DSMB’s it was a win for the girls for having the most inflated DSMB at the surface.
The guys then jumped aboard and Nic, Alice, Nicolas and Gemma descended into the choppy water. After having a little explore Alice had a go at the compass skills exercise and after this expedition Nic took us back to the Range where we continued to have a look around. Nicolas then took the group along the harbour wall and completed a DSMB deployment. Gemma did likewise, managing to reduce the visibility to pretty much nil at the same time! Alice and Nicolas rose to the surface as a buddy pair, as did Nic and Gemma, both pairs broke the surface about the same time though an impressive distance apart, minus one fin and to a RIB full of sea sickness. All was not lost though - the fin was found floating nearby and with some nifty coxing by Zoe it was saved!
The group returned to Casteltown, the SD’s jumped off for hot showers and lunch, and the OD’s jumped back aboard for the Cragside - the last dive of the weekend! Mike briefed and led the dive and was rewarded by a front seat to a boxing match between Mark and crab - all parties retired safely! A CBL to the service, and then back to the marina where the ODs were waiting with trolleys, chips and beverages. A super efficient wash down of the boat, with everyone making the journey home as swiftly as possible. Not even a stop for some cake!
A thoroughly enjoyable weekend, with a group of very appreciative students, and an exhausted Mark, Zoe and Nic!
Gemma
Brixham, 16-17 July
Holborn explores the unknown wrecks (well, for us at least) of Brixham.
Eleven divers and three NDPs (non-diving partners) spent a glorious weekend along the ‘English Riviera’. We stayed in Brixham (not to be confused with Brixton in London!) which is a picturesque little fishing village roughly half way between our well-known diving spots of Portland and Plymouth.
Some of us arrived in Brixham by early Friday afternoon and were entertained on the breakwater by ‘wing walkers’ – crazy people who do crazy things on planes… while flying. Whilst debating whether wing walking should be an Olympic sport, we spotted the resident seal who seemed adamant not to miss the show!
On the Saturday our first dive was a wreck called the Perrone (33m). It was a bit dark and silty and not a great deal of life, though its ‘ribs’ were quite impressive. Six of us attempted to dive it, but only Dan C, Simon G, Doug and myself made it to the wreck as the shot line came loose. Mark and Zoe opted instead for the Bretagne (28m)… and following their circular searches (oops, shot missed wreck) they reported an absolutely brilliant dive. It seemed like a long wait for the remaining divers Simon P, Chris, Ben and Susie, before they had their chance to ‘get wet’. Unfortunately the Galacia (18m) proved to be a bit of a disappointment for them – just a bad viz day, but we’re told it’s normally quite a nice dive.
After a tour along the spectacular coastline around Babbacombe, the highlight was the afternoon dive on the Ore Stone (c5-20m). What a stunning underwater world with gullies, rocks, crabs, lobsters, dead men’s fingers, starfish, anemones, loads of fish and even an old rusted outboard engine, all in great viz... finally!
Meanwhile back on the mainland, NDPs Karen and Andrea chose an adventurous pursuit for the day and toured the area via steam train, boat, ferry, on foot and even the local No.12 bus. Emily opted for a more leisurely pastime and treated herself to a spa for the day. Whilst stories were exchanged at dinner that night, there were murmurs that some divers were jealous of our NDPs!
But Sunday was a new day and all 11 divers ventured out to explore the Bretagne, including Sally who had thankfully recovered from her cold. I don’t think any of us have seen such an abundance of life and fish on a wreck such as this. Ben announced it was the best wreck he has ever done! Whilst a second dive would have been ideal, we all opted to head to home instead… although a couple of divers took a few days more to get home than the rest of us – but that’s another story, so I’d best leave it at that!
Thank you to everyone for a thoroughly enjoyable weekend. Thanks also to Mike the skipper for looking after us. Brixham must be visited again sometime soon!
Mia
Weymouth/Portland, Advanced Diver training, 16-17 July
The second batch of AD trainees discover the joys of rope-throwing in
suitably strong winds (again!).
Continuing the theme of poor weather and strong winds that seem to have plagued the UK since Easter, Holborn's
second batch of AD trainees headed down to Portland looking forward to gale force winds and driving rain.
Mid-morning found the group huddled in the cafe contemplating yet another piece of cake, however the rain stopped
and the wind died (a little) and so we set off.
It turned out to be a good call, as within the confines of Balaclava Bay we managed to find some shelter and
were able to proceed with the first of the days exercises, AS ascents from 20m, which proved to be interesting in a 0.5 knot current!
By now the sun had come out and it was actually turning into a nice day, so after a brief stop at the marina for lunch we
headed out to Bally Bay again, this time for some rope-throwing rescues. Note to future AD and Lifesaver trainees, when throwing
rope to a casualty it's a good idea to hold on to at least one end!!!
That evening saw us braving darkest Portland to eat at the New Inn, a pub near Easton, a place where few of us had ever ventured.
The highlight of the visit was the rock band, seemingly made up of 11 year olds, that struck up mercifully just after we had eaten, much to the delight
of the little old ladies in the restaurant!
Fortunately, a late start the following day meant we could avoid the dubious breakfast served in the B and B and instead eat at
the delightful Blue Fish, much to Blobby's delight. Suitably fortified, Sunday followed the same pattern as Saturday,
with miserable grey weather giving way to lighter winds and sunshine. Back to
Bally Bay we went, this time for the 20m CBLs plus tows with RBs, all done in a nice 2m swell! Exercises completed, we
headed back to the marina for more cake and a debrief.
All-in-all the weekend was a great success and it proved that it is often worth heading down to the coast even if the forecast
is against you. Oh, and the sight of a cat strolling along Chesil Beach in th midst of F6-7 westerlies is also one that none of us will forget!
Nic Weeks
Wraysbury, Sport Diver training, 16 July
Rainy weather didn't stop Holborn's SD trainees making a day of it.
It was a rainy Sports Diver Training weekend at Wraysbury and yet the trainees and instructors continued with what
we all set out to do, to dive and be trained in areas such as SMB deployment, CBL, distance line, rescue and compass navigation.
The trainees included Alice Heaton-Ward, Alexander Creed, Marek Pietrasz, Nicolas Joliot and little me.
Although some trainees covered most of the topics and others have to redo, the main aim of Sports Diver,
I have learnt, is to be confident and prepared for any situations thrown at you. So if it takes a while to be trained
and continue training, it is safer for yourself and indeed any future buddy that dives with you.
We also had helpful instructors that I would say have so much patience and dedication in what they do.
They included Zoe, Alex Day and Doug.
Those that took their time to help with the Sports Diver Training included Richard and Emma Elliot and Mark Brill.
Holborn BSAC 130 work as a team to enable other club members to become competent divers, such a great club and I am not selling anything!
Besides, the weather rained profusely and we still continued our second dive in the rain with water temperature of around
19 to 20 degrees according to my dive computer, but the visibility was questionable!
However, what I did notice about this particular dive training experience, especially practising the distance line on one of
the wrecks, was that there were lots of fishes all grouped together, perhaps initially watching Emma demo the distance line and then
watching me. I do hope they enjoyed themselves because I certainly felt pleased to see fishes coming out from their hide
outs when it rained. Pleasant!
Signing off
Shira Shariff
Pembrokeshire, 9-11 July
Crustaceans aplenty, but none for the taking. Holborn dives the marine reserve in Wales.
From the 9th to the 11th July, ten of us travelled to Pembrokeshire for Chris and Sally's superbly organised and highly enjoyable Annual(?) Pembrokeshire Dive Trip. A fabulous weekend was had by all: all our diving needs (and demands for seals) were met by the lovely Howard and Steve at Pembrokeshire Dive Charters; we stayed in a spacious cottage in Hook, a short drive from Neyland Marina; air fills were provided on time each day by Grumpy Ivor; Zoe rustled up a Thai feast/apple crumble combo to feed the starving hordes; and we experienced an underwater bomb disposal. What more could you wish for? Dolphins, perhaps? Yep, we saw them too!
Our first dive on Saturday morning was at Skomer, on the North Wall, with sealife aplenty: lobsters, crayfish, starfish, jellyfish, and, above water, puffins and guillemots to keep us amused. Howard and Steve thoughtfully moved us to a more sheltered bay for lunch, then it was back in the water for a dive on the site of the wreck of the Lonsdale at Midland Isle. This being a Proper Pembrokeshire Wreck, it was, shall we say, rather fragmentary. The attraction of the site was really the nearby reef, with its Technicolor plant life, carpets of mussels, crabs galore, scallops and yet more lobsters. Tantalisingly, it was a no-take zone. As if that was not enough whilst Sally & Mark hovered for ‘3’ at 6 metres much splashing and movement was seen just a metre or so away as a Cormorant dived in heading downwards for his lunch. After waving goodbye to the protected and frankly cocky crustaceans, we headed back to land for a well-deserved glass or two and a slap-up meal at the Cottage Inn.
On the way to our first dive site on Sunday morning our boat was accompanied for a while by a family of dolphins, part of a large pod frequently seen in the area. Cue much squealing and ahhing from the boat (yes, the boys too). After this excitement, we kitted up to dive the wreck of the Nicolaou Virginia at Bullslaughter Bay. In amongst the wreckage and kelp, many of us came across the same metallic remains of a tool of some sort from the ship. We all left it where it was, not seeing the point in lugging some old bit of metal back up with us...only to be told that it was actually an army training round from the nearby range, made of titanium and probably worth a couple of hundred quid. We consoled ourselves with tea and Hobnobs.
In the afternoon we relocated to the site of the Behar, sunk by a mine in 1940. Zoe and Chris had a great dive here, returning to the boat with tales of a stunning wreck with great swim-throughs. The rest of us dived the more barren Area Around The Behar, due to the winning combination of a drifting shotline and poor visibility.
But we're not bitter...mainly because of the following: now as we all know, Holborn BSAC has developed the art of combining diving with fine dining and on this trip we were not disappointed. Astonishingly, Mark and Zoe managed to produce a full three course extravaganza of spring rolls and gyoza, amazing Thai curry and apple crumble (cream or custard with that sir?). No mean feat after a very tiring couple of days. The bar is set pretty high for the next trip!
Onto the final day, and thankfully for Chris and Sally, who lured us to Pembrokeshire with promises of diving with seals, on Monday we did exactly that. Yes, we DIVED WITH SEALS! Sorry, some of us were very excited about this. It was a lovely shallow dive at Skokholm, with plenty of stunning starfish, and SEALS! Back on the boat, we were told that the seals had been just as amused as us: they liked to sit on the rocks looking down at the strange creatures beneath them, with odd metal backs and decidedly inferior buoyancy skills...
Towards the end of this dive, several of us were scared silly - sorry, mildly intrigued - by an extremely loud bang, felt as much as heard as a powerful thud in the chest. There followed a rather swift period of checking our buddies and equipment for damage. All was well: we had just overheard the controlled explosion of a World War II mine, found off Skomer earlier that month.
The final dive of the trip was the wreck of the Dakotian, sunk just a few days before the Behar, also by a mine. Its cargo of Christmas puddings and bicycles has long since vanished - but that didn't stop us looking! A great dive to end a great weekend with fantastic weather and great vis!! Many thanks to Sally and Chris for organising it all so beautifully, and we can't wait to go back next year.
Susie
Weymouth/Portland, Deeper wrecks, 2/3 July
Taking advantage of some rare good weather, Holborn explores some deeper wrecks.
The promise of some excellent weather (at last), and a cancelled OD
weekend gave us the opportunity to explore some deeper and rarely
dived wrecks off Portland.
First up was The Sidon. It has an
interesting history, as this submarine sank as a result of the
hydrogen peroxide propellant, used in the torpedoes, exploding. This
strange occurrence happened again nearly 50 years later with the
former soviet sub, The Kursk. After sinking in Portland Harbour,
Sidon was refloated and sunk again off Portland Bill. Lying in 35m,
it’s an excellent dive and a refreshing change from the M2. Some
excellent team-work deploying the shot, meant it was lying perfectly
over the wreck. Giant Pollack and over-sized Blennys were everywhere,
making for a very pleasant dive. In the afternoon we drifted between
Balaclava Bay and Grove Point, collecting a large bag of scallops
between us.
On Sunday, Ben and Susie started with a dip on The Torpedo range,
which offered a large shoal of Pollack. For the deeper divers, we went
on The Frognor, a first (I believe) for Holborn Divers. This Norwegian
steamship sank in 1918 and is one of Portlands less-dived wrecks. Lying in
35m there is plenty of wreckage standing a few metres off the seabed.
Once again, some great shot-work by the team and some help from
Scimitar on the marks meant another great dive. Lying in 35m,
The Frognor is covered in white jewel anenomes, more giant Pollack,
Bass and some daring lobsters wandering around.
After a weekend of
great diving, we headed back to the marina for the inevitable Sunday
afternoon’s coffee and cake. For those who think that Holborn only
does shallow training dives, this weekend is evidence that we are very
happy to try out both new and deeper wrecks.
Mark Brill, DO Holborn 130
Weymouth/Portland, Advanced Diver training, 18/19 June
Gale force winds didn't deter a group of Holborn AD students from diving, and they had Portland to themselves.
Gale force winds greeted a group of Holborn Advanced Diver candidates down in Portland this weekend, with most dive centres in the area having cancelled all diving. Undetered (although slightly unenthusiastic it has to be said) this intrepid group headed out into Weymouth Bay to undertake some gruelling training in suitably challenging conditions. Luckily (!?!) the wind was from the west so the east side of the Bill offered some protection. The word 'some' is key here.
We sought the shelter of the Torpedo Range for our first dive, where it was reasonably calm close to the harbour wall. Unfortunately, we needed 20m depth for the AS Ascent exercise and so had to head well out into Weymouth Bay, where it was horrible. Still, we were there, so we decided to go for it. We probably set a record for the speed at which these exercises were completed, so keen were we to get out of the uncomfortable conditions. The trip back into the marina was interesting - I, for one, had never seen such big waves and white horses inside the harbour!
A hearty lunch re-inforced our resolve and we once again headed out, this time to Balaclava Bay in search of calmer conditions in order to do some rope-throwing and surface swim rescues. Rope-throwing in a gale force wind is quite... challenging. After several (hundred) attempts we decided to abandon the exercise and move on to the swimming rescue, which was a lot easier. At least we were able to complete that exercise before heading back to the marina - the most popular exercise of the day being unloading the boat and heading to the hotel for a nice hot shower. A tasty dinner at Westers Bistro helped to revive us a little, and we decided that an early start in the morning was (unfortunately) a good idea.
The Portland Roads Hotel has an unusual policy when it come to taking payment for accommodation - all the staff stay in bed! So we sloped off mumbling something about going diving and returning to pay later, and once again headed out to sea. The wind had dropped slightly - it was now only Force 4-5 instead of Force 5-6 gusting 8! Returning to Balaclava Bay we were able to complete the CBL exercises including the 50m tow with RBs, very demanding in those conditions. Afterwards we took advantage of the slightly lighter winds, tucked tight into the Bay and managed to complete the rope throwing exercise as well. By then we were knackered and decided to call it a weekend.
So, despite the very strong winds we were able to run through a number of exercises, which at least saw the RIB in action on a day when, otherwise, we wouldn't have been out. And at least it didn't rain too much...
Nic
Wraysbury, OD/SD training, 18 June
Wraysbury: A novice's guide.
The fishes at Wraysbury were just about distinguishable from the silt on the first dive of the morning. Soon though, the sand coloured creatures were indistinguishable from their habitat, which swirled around the memory of a hundred flippers, er I mean fins. Holborn Divers were not the only club with newbies in the water: swarms of pubescent and pre-pubescent creatures were also being taught how to breathe underwater, along with the correct diving lingo.
Trainee ocean divers Emma and Mike successfully navigated from the train station to the dive centre, thanks to women knowing how to ask for directions. Instructors Mia and Tim were not far behind. The weather forecast was wrong: the sun was almost shining. First lesson of the day: dive tanks come with different attachments for screwing on. Mike was kitted out in a semi-dry wetsuit, composed of a bottom and top (each 6mm), giving him 12mm around his core. Emma went into the water with kit kindly lent: a 5 mm wetsuit, underwetsuit-thing, swimming costume and tights gave her around 10 mm. Apparently though, we were lucky: the water was 17 degrees. Both ocean divers hired weights of 10 kilograms.
First dive of the day happened around 11 am. Emma and Mia headed into the water first, reaching 7 metres and staying in the water for 38 minutes. Fish were just about seen. Young boys were avoided. Masks were cleared, and Emma saw her best buoyancy of the day (mediocre). Mike and Tim went deeper: 7.2 metres, but got out of the water rather rapidly after 20 minutes. Mike’s mask clearing exercise didn’t go too well, so he fled, earning him a wee red arrow on his dive watch. Next up was the arrival of Emma 2 and Richard – and lunch. Everyone had brought theirs, except Mike and Tim who queued in the rain for their sausage and bacon sandwiches (Mike with nothing more than a rash vest to protect his top half, while Emma huddled under a thermal vest, thermal polo neck, fleece jacket, ski jacket, hat and gloves.)
Emma and Mia studied the dive tables from the dive bar, where Emma 2 found a dry suit hanger (£9.99) hard to resist, while Richard was tempted by some mask attachment (‘some people find that useful’ remarked Tim). Fortunately for morale, the rain didn’t last and we all headed back into the water in limp sunshine.
Emma and Mike followed Mia down onto a platform for their second 42 minute dive, where much kneeling, successful mask clearing and AS rescue were performed. Maximum depth was 6.7 metres. Emma’s hood wasn’t tucked in properly giving her a nice trickle of water down her back. She emerged cold and feeling like she’d undergone an ordeal. Meanwhile Mike’s first words on leaving the water were: ‘That was awesome.’ Richard headed into the water for his first dive with Tim, but they managed only 10 minutes in the water (depth 5.6 metres) owing to the fact that gaffa tape let Tim down and his drysuit turned out not to be so dry. The exercise was, however, carried out successfully. Visibility was low. Fishes were no longer visible.
Recovering over a hot chocolate, the talk in the dive bar was would Emma be warm enough to do a third dive. Mia and Mark were dead keen to get back in the water, and Emma 2 confirmed that Emma’s hands were no colder than Mia’s, so Holborn divers went back out even as saner people packed up to go home (we were the last ones to leave). Something weird happened on the first attempt, however, with Emma leading everyone to the surface with absolutely no idea that she was ascending. It was, for her, the most fun part of the day, but she didn’t realise she was not deep until she was practically at the surface. A second attempt was made and we all stayed down successfully for 36 minutes and a maximum depth of 6.5 metres. Mia abandoned her intention to practise the controlled buoyant lift to practise simple buoyancy and we spent the time hovering around various silty platforms until we couldn’t see each other anymore. At this point, Mia decided enough was enough and shot a string to the surface, which we ascended in a controlled manner.
More hot chocolate was consumed, before everyone headed back to London. Unfortunately trains from Wraysbury had stopped at 4 pm, so Emma and Mark’s trip home took somewhat longer than expected...
Emma
Connemara, Ireland, Scubadive West, 5-9 June
Before heading to the wedding of the year, a group of Holborn divers headed to Ireland's west coast for some spectacular diving!
After nearly a year of planning, a group of Holborn divers made the long but pleaseant journey over to Ireland's west coast for a week of diving in beautiful Connemara. The new motorway between Dublin and Galway City made the journey a smooth one, and after seeing the stunning scenery of the National Park, expectations amongst the group were high. If it was this beautiful above the waves, what would it be like below them? Arriving in Letterfrack on Saturday night to the sound of traditional Irish music being played in the pub where we were staying, everyone went to bed looking forward to what the following day would bring.
After a refreshing sleep in the quirky, but delightful, Bard's Den, we set out along the narrow, twisty roads of the Renvyle Penninsula to the dive centre. Scubadive West have been operating for nearly 20 years, which suggests they must be doing something right. And indeed they are. The purpose-built centre is well laid out with everything you could need just a stones throw from the slip where divers were picked up each day. Breffni and his brother, Cillian, were friendly and helpful and made every effort to find us the best dive sites each day despite the fact that the winds were strong throughout our visit.
The first dive, at a sheltered site called 'Doonee Beacon', was a gently sloping wall down to about 20m. A simple site so Breffni could effectively check out the group, it was pretty enough - although a hard swim back to the boat after surfacing made us appreciate how challenging diving in this part of the world could be - definitely not for beginners! Unfortunatley the DM discovered a hole in his drysuit (I won't say where exactly) during the first dive and had to skip the second while it was being repaired. The rest of the group went to a nearby site in Killary Harbour (actually the only Fjord in Ireland or the UK) to hand feed congers! Unlike the shy creatures encoutered in England, these congers were very friendly and quite fearless, free swimming around the divers and changing many of our groups perceptions about these, supposedly fierce animals. They also encountered a monster lobster, the result, no doubt, of the policy of not taking shellfish when using scuba. So far so good then, but with the wind still howling, would we be able to get out to Inish Turk for our two-day island safari the next day?
The answer was 'yes'. The following morning we struck out and, due to the fact the wind was from the south-west, we were able to dive a couple of sites on the sheltered north side of the island. And what stunning sites they were! The first, called; 'The eye' consisted of two deep gullies at right angles to each other. Swimming south led to a small cave in the island itself while swimming east took you through the eye, a large fissure in a small headland - although there was too much swell to attempt that this time. Swimming north took you out to sea along a plumrose and jewel anenome encrusted gully. I counted four lobsters on the dive before we turned around and headed back to the intersection. The viz was a delightful 15-20m, making the views looking back along the gullies and up to the surface quite breath-taking. Once again though, we were reminded how challenging the diving can be when some of the group got caught in a big swell at the end of the dive.
After a warming lunch at the guesthouse we would be staying at that evening, we set out for the afternoon dive. Once again a big swell greeted us at Carraig Coisceim, a deep gully that led into the heart of the island. The start of the dive invloved a well-timed surface dive down a deep crevice that bottomed out at 18m. Once again the viz was great and the view looking back at the other divers on the surface was beautiful. Lobsters and conger eels poked their heads out from the rocks. After swimming over a shallow plateau and around a large, pink boulder, another hard descent was required into the second chamber. And further along, through a twisty channel and past a couple of restrictions, there awaited a final chamber where you could surface into an almost completely enclosed space. Wondering why my buddy hadn't followed, I looked back towards the entrance to see a large seal blocking the way. Trapped between half a dozen Holborn divers, dive lights ablaze, and myself, the poor creature didn't know which way to turn. Eventually it bolted out past the waiting divers to freedom like a torpedo. A truly memorable dive.
That night we enjoyed the hospitality of the guesthouse on Inish Turk, and some wonderful food. The diving was excellent, but most of us would return there just for lunch! Once again refreshed from a good nights sleep in the comforatble lodgings, we set out the following day but were very limited in our choice of sites due to strong winds again. While being quite pretty, these sites couldn't hold a candle to the two dives on the previous day. Most of us departed the waters around Inish Turk determined to visit again one day.
Wednesday brought the worst weather and limited us once again to Killary Harbour. So it was another dive to feed the congers and then a delightful dive at a very pretty, shallow, life-festooned wall - and these are their fall-back sites! We were all still amazed at the size of the scallops we encountered - and as for the starfish...
The wind died a little on the final day so we were able to dive the wreck of the Julia T, a flat-bottomed supply vessel sitting upright in 30m. Covered in plumrose anenomes, she made a great dive, with free-swimming congers, dogfish and nudibranchs amongst the plethora of life about her. All-in-all it was a delightful week, but you couldn't help but wonder just how good the diving could be if the winds had been a little lighter. A week of dives like those on the first day at Inish Turk would be spectacular!!!
After another relaxing drive through Connemara we arrived back in Dublin ready for the following days festivities. It had rained, albeit lightly, every day we had been in Renvyle, but on the day of Angela and Lucas' wedding the sun shone and there were no showers. The church was, fittingly, situated on the beach as was the hotel where the reception took place. Once again, the view was stunning. A wonderful meal while we were serenaded by a tradtional (!?!) Irish/Filipino three-piece band rounded of a delightful trip. We will be back.
Nic
Weymouth/Portland, DL training, 14/15 May
Beware the Eggs of Portland!
Instructors: Mia Scaggiante (DL course organizer), Mark Brill, Zoe Diderich, Simon Gurney.
DL Trainees: Christine Birch, Sally Pembery, Emeka Mosanya, Emma Elliott.
Friday the 13th was an apt precursor to the eye opening and muscle aching Dive Leader Training Weekend on May 14th/15th. Four innocent DL trainees were asked to put their skills and training into battle against four merciless instructors hell bent on putting the new DLs through their paces (and thoroughly enjoy themselves in the process) during the first 4 DL open water assessments.
Saturday 14th dive 1 kicked off with the Dive Leader demonstrations (essentially a scallop hunt) along Balaclava Bay. As would be ocean divers we were reminded to equalize and put air in our BCDs during the descent, respond clearly to all signals given and check our air consumption when instructed. A good dive was had by all and the scallop haul was very impressive – Simon was however at a disadvantage as we both forgot our goodie bags. Before lunch we performed casualty weight belt jettisons /self weight belt jettisons just offshore in Castletown. This quickly developed into a lost weight belt scenario with 4 very buoyant, de-kitted DL trainees and two instructors scouring the rocky bottom for the missing essential item (not easy in zero viz). Luckily a deteriorating set of rubber drysuit boots was able to discriminate the shot weight from the rocky shore and the item was recovered - phew.
The second dive for the day involved a quick trip to the Dredger to find the 15m-depth requirement for mask clearing and controlled AS ascents to 6m –hardly a challenge for DL trainees I hear you say but our main skill tested was navigating to find the depth requirement in the first place!!! - at 15mins into the dive we thought we’d have to start digging. However, at the close of Day 1, with all exercises completed, we headed to the Nothe Tavern for some well earned dinner and a debrief before bed.
Day 2 saw an early start, and a near fatal incident as Zoe nearly laughed herself to death at the state of the poached eggs and bacon which were served up for breakfast by our kitchen inmate (see photo) – the LOVE + HATE tattoos across the knuckles were very impressive. Finally we arrived at the marina for a change of Cox’n to “hot lips” Zoe and a return trip to the Dredger for CBLs from 15m with 50-metre tows /surface rescue breaths. Mark demonstrated how to tie a shot and Emeka and Chris deployed the item with precision. Everyone completed their skills set (with Simon picking up more scallops and a crab for dinner) but we had all forgotten just how knackered you get towing a casualty and 50m is a LONG way!!!. In fact, everyone was so exhausted we decided to call it a day and ditch the second dive in favor of a hot shower and cake.
Four very relieved and utterly exhausted DL trainees were driven back to the marina for a decent lunch, a debrief and a share of the scallop haul from the weekends antics. Admittedly the weekend had thrown up a few surprises with fake blood and missing divers but all trainees have been sworn to secrecy about these additionally knackering events…
A well-deserved “thank you” goes to:
1) The Instructors, for their continual time and effort in training us.
2) All the other DL trainees who were put through their paces and ‘survived’.
3) Chris, who as my buddy during the AS ascents, recognized I had a problem during the reg replacement and was intent on not letting me go!
Well done everyone! You have until August 12th to recover…
Emma xx
Weymouth/Portland, OD/SD training, 7/8 May
Richard gets a net cutter and Ben gets crabs!
A weekend of OD/SD training kicked off with a trip to Balaclava Bay (or 'Balacala Bay', according to Wendy), just outside the Portland harbour wall. A quick mask clear and SMB deployment/handling, among other skills, left us with time to learn the art of scallop hunting! A mild current carried us south as we learned to pick out the distinct shell shape amongst the (mostly) rocky bottom. Spider crabs and dogfish were also spotted but not necessarily destined for our cooking pot (except for Ben, who was determined to make a crab soup – possibly he earned the right after a particularly aggressive encounter with the fabled ‘ninja crab’ species). The scallops were later tried sashimi style right on the boat (it doesn’t get any fresher, folks!) but later divvied up for Sunday dinner (we had ours ‘spaghetti marinara’ style with some prawns thrown in…mmmmm…).
The second dive was less spectacular on the seafood front, with distance line, SMB and compass skills performed on the Dredger. But the highlight of the day (well, my day!) was surfacing to find the RIB adorned with balloons, it being my birthday (yes, 29….again!). It was very kind of everyone to sing me ‘happy birthday’ as well and thanks again to Zoe and Mark for the mesh cutter (divers say it with a sharp cutting implement). Dinner at Westers Bistro in Weymouth was a great finish to the day, where oddly enough Ben feasted on a starter and main containing scallops! He just can’t get enough...
On Sunday we ventured to Durdle Door Reef/Bats Head Reef, but the 2m swell put us off and a consensus was quickly reached to try the torpedo range – much calmer but not great vis (the whole weekend really). More skills carried out (AS ascents/SMBs etc) before we called it a day. Thanks again to Nic for cox’ning and Mark and Zoe for instructing. I’m completely knackered after 3 weekends in a row of diving, but it’s a nice kind of knackered...
Richard
For more pictures plus a video demonstration of how to open up a scallop shell, click here.
Newhaven, 29 April - 2 May
The mission: one boat, 10 divers, an unknown location and visibility not much better than pea soup.
The Holborn RIB was taken for a jaunt along the south coast from Portland to Newhaven for the second four day weekend this year. The aim to was to explore a possible location for the RIB during 2012. We were lucky to have a weekend of glorious blue skies but less lucky in that they were accompanied by a fairly constant strong wind. On Friday Nic and I headed to Weymouth to collect the boat and take on the epic four hour tow to get the boat from Weymouth to Newhaven. Things didn't run 100% smoothly - most of the Holborn tow kit seemed to have gone AWOL - but after a considerable (but not unexpected) level of faffing we finally hit the road eventually getting to Newhaven moments before the slipway closed for the night.
The first days diving started with the disappointing sound of whistling wind and clacking of rigging in the boat yard. We decided that sticking our nose outside the harbour without any divers on board would be the best plan of action to check out the sea conditions - the dive plan had fallen at the first hurdle. Although the wind was relatively strong, it was a north easterly which meant we had good protection for inshore sites. The first Newhaven dives were along the coast off Peacehaven very close to the meridian line – a few miles west from Newhaven. The water was a lovely green colour due a particularly heavy algae bloom, this dramatically reduced the visibility down to less than a metre. Although difficult to see, the underwater terrain was very interesting with many wide gullies running out from the coastline.
The second days diving started with a bit of luck – Richard the skipper from Newhaven based RIB, Top Knot, was heading to the wreck of the City of Brisbane and asked if we’d like to follow him and use his shotline. It wasn’t on the plan but we jumped at the chance of not having to find and shot a new wreck!! The sea conditions weren’t entirely friendly – not the most comfortable place for those on the boat but underwater it was far more pleasant. The wreck was a huge area of twisted metal plates, it wasn’t clear which part of the wreck we explored but we had a thoroughly enjoyable dive. Again the visibility wasn’t great probably in the region of two metres – but definitely better than the sites further inshore. The second and third dives of the day were on Seaford Ledges and the Harbour wall.
The final days plan had been to dive the Harbour wall and head home early, this plan was scuppered for two reasons: 1. we’d dived the harbour wall on the previous day and discovered the visibility was the worst of the weekend (less than 50cm) 2. the wind had increased so getting any further than the harbour wall would have been a struggle. So we all packed up and headed on our merry way back home or back to Weymouth with the boat for Nic and I.
All in all the weekend was a great success – with the exception of the wind and the poor visibility everything was great. We’re already discussing heading down there again for a weekend on charter boat when the conditions are better.
Could this be the home for Holborn Diver in 2012? Definitely maybe!
Thanks to Nic for his sterling work as dedicated cox’n and chief tower and to Glen at Newhaven Scuba and Richard from Top Knot for their help during the weekend.
Watch the video, curtousy of Az Ahmad, here.
Matt
Weymouth/Portland, Easter Dive
Perfect weather makes for a perfect start to the dive season.
Six hardy Holbornite divers descended upon Portland outside Weymouth for a bumper four days of diving over the Easter weekend. For many of us it was the first dip of the season so we started nice and slowly with a dive on the wreck of the Countess of Erne followed by a drift off Grove Point/Durdle Pier. These first few dives were a good opportunity to iron out any small issues with kit such as my DSMB which had developed a hole over the winter and emerged out of the water only to disappear back after a few seconds much of the bewilderment (and later amusement) of the other divers!
For our second day of diving we headed out to Bat’s Head reef. As the reef is quite shallow (3-15m) it is perfect for divers of almost all experience levels. It was an excellent rediscovery as this site would have been very popular in the days when dive clubs had no boats (it can be dived from the shore) and in recent years has probably been overlooked in favour of more distant sites. Luckily the fish had copped on to the absence of divers and the reef was full of life!
The weather was getting better and better over the course of the weekend with almost no wind and glorious sun on Easter Sunday so we decided to go round Portland Bill and use the marks we had to try to find the wreck of the Royal Adelaide. Not long after we arrived in the area we found an interesting object in the echo-sounder and jumped in the water. It turned out to be a metal platform with a large boiler beside it (i.e. not the Royal Adelaide) but the first divers actually stumbled upon the Royal Adelaide after a couple of minute’s drift with the tide. The second pair of divers didn’t find the Royal Adelaide but instead found the Nor propeller (which was huge) and another wreck called the US Landing Craft. It was a very impressive wreck complete with a resident lobster and conger eel at only 14m. For the second dive of the day we headed to Durdle Door reef which is a continuation of Bat’s Head reef we had dived the day before. On our final day we went back round Portland Bill for those who had not found the Royal Adelaide to take a look (which they did much to their contentment) and for the others to dive another excellent wreck, the James Fennel.
Overall the weekend made for a great four days of diving. Thanks especially to Richard for the lovely paprika chicken he prepared for us on Friday night, John for finding the fab cottage we all stayed in on Portland over the weekend and Nic for cox’ing, sourcing the minieggs and entertaining us with his fantastic jokes!
Angela
Weymouth/Portland, 16/17 April, SD/OD training
The Sushi Sisters and the King of Condiments.
Saturday 16th April
The weekend saw some new comestible-based nicknames for some of our divers. Makiko proved herself a worthy UK diver, not only by getting a good number of scallops on her second UK dive, but also for opening and eating some scallop sashimi on the way back to the marina. Ably assisted by Wendy, they have now been named the 'Sushi Sisters'.
Whilst raw scallops proved a tasty dish for some, others in the group couldn’t eat their food without lashings of condiments. When asked if he would like some ketchup, mayo or brown sauce with his lunch, John Lee simply answered ‘yes’ ... as in, 'yes, I’d like all of them'. John proceeded to eat all of the condiments with a bit of food on the side to help them go down better!
Sunday the 17th was (hopefully) the final training dive for half of the first batch of 2011 Sports Divers. The dive took us to the Dredger, a wreck that was becoming somewhat familiar (by the end of the dive I had calculated that 42% of the time I has spent underwater in Portland up to that point had been diving the Dredger). Although some might consider spending so much time diving a single wreck a little repetitive, this was the training dive where I had to lead the dive so familiarity was no bad thing.
After rolling into the surprisingly warm water (a balmy 11 degrees!), we (Josephine, Zoe and myself) headed down to the soft sea bed. When comfortably settled and relaxed, Josephine preceded to practice a few mask clearing repetitions. Once the mask clearing repetitions were over, we were ready to head off into the green and explore the nooks and crannies of this well dived wreck. Almost no current disturbed us as we gently finned up her spine; the lack of current was due to either diving exactly on slack or (more probably) due to the Dredger's location in a sheltered spot no more than a few metres from the harbour wall. Following the delightful scenic swim, I spotted a opportunity to add a (very) small touch of excitement. After checking with my buddies, and receiving enthusiastic 'ok' signals in return, I led the way through the renowned Dredger swim through!
After all three divers emerged into the light, airy and green water on the other side it was time to do a few more Sports Diver exercises. I had to have another go at the compass navigation; in the previous attempt I had won the race of who could navigate away from and back to the wreck fastest, but the speed at which I had successfully navigated the sea bed meant my buddy only glimpsing my fins as I sped into the distance. In the de-brief after that dive I learnt that diving wasn't a competitive sport, so for this second attempt buddy proximity (rather than making it back to the wreck first) was the objective. I am pleased to say this objective was successfully met.
At the end of the dive we swam back to the line and did a couple of AS ascent drills before getting back on to the RIB. Overall we had a very relaxed dive while polishing off our final Sports diver skills; an enjoyable end to a weekend in Portland.
Mark Brill & John Lea
Wraysbury, 19 March 2011, Sport Diver training
7 degrees in the water! It must be Wraysbury in March!!!
Instructors: Mark Brill, Zoé Diderich, Nic Weeks, Emma Deas
Sport diver students: John Lea, Richard Elliot, Josephine Msindai, Wendy Liu
On 19th March 2011, eight of us went down to Wraysbury to practise some Sport Diver skills. The weather was so far the best of the year. It was sunny and the temperature reached 14 degrees in the sun and around 6-7 degrees in the water. For most of us, it was our first open water dive in the UK this year. The vis was around 2 metres. It is considered excellent in Wraysbury I heard!
We did rescue Sport Diver training in the morning and practised compass navigation and DSMB in the afternoon. We were a very lucky group of sport diver students as we had four instructors, that’s a ratio of 1:1. How much more attention we can expect?! Most of us completed the training very well. Apart from me as I managed to create a free flow incident - luckily it happened to be the time when we were doing AS ascent training! Well, it was a genuine AS ascent!!! My reg was spinning under water as the air was leaking out loud from my tank. It created a dramatic water effect both under and above water. Thankfully it was all under Mark’s control and I am grateful that my buddy Jo and I were exceptionally calm. Well, I did feel safe as long as I had the air supply from Jo’s octopus. At least it happened at a training section. That was a good learning curve!
Although it was a sunny day, we felt freezing after 10 minutes in the water. We were dying for Zoe’s hot miso soup as soon as we got to the shore. Miso soup was perfect for that weather! Highly recommended! Thanks Zoe! And, of course, followed by the ever so popular cheesy chips for our break.
Who says there is no life in Wraysbury! Richard saw a lobster in the lake which he believed was American!! How did he end up there? He must have jumped off the plane!
It was an interesting and fulfilling day. We look forward to completing our Sport Diver skills in Weymouth. Many thanks to all the instructors and my fellow divers, especially to Mark and Zoe’s help and tolerance for my mistakes.
Wendy
Holborn BSAC 130: 2010, the year in review.
2010 was a busy year for the club with the second highest number of dives (over 800) since records began and the highest number of RIB dives ever! Besides Weymouth, where the boat was based at the excellent Portland Marina, we've had some great trips elsewhere: Plymouth, Angelsey, Lyme Regis, West Wales, Swanage, Skye and the Scillies and even France.
We've also had an excellent range of courses including all the diver grades, oxygen admin and boat handling. See below for accounts of many of the trips we went on this year. To see the dive schedule for 2011, click on the link on the home page.
Vobster Quay, 4-5 November 2010
Another one bites the dust!
Ignoring the wind and rain, and in search of better visability than Wraysbury
ever seems to offer, 2010's last remaining Ocean Diver student, Shira, set off
with her intrepid instructor to this excellent but
little used (by Holborn that is) inland dive site.
The theory was that diving there at the end of the week would
mean less divers and, therefore, better viz, especially after nearly a full week
for the silt to settle down after the previous weekend. A good theory, but
would it hold up?
The answer was a resounding yes! The first dive was just a quick refresher
after a few weeks lay off. Putting together kit that, at this time of year,
is used to hibernating, we could see that the water was beautifully clear. Wading in
by the rocky slip we were delighted to find 6m, maybe 7m viz! Things looked
promising for the following day when the real exercises would start.
Despite light rain the viz was just as good the following morning and Shira
enjoyed a dive leading demo that took in a large plane wreck, broken up into
three sections, swim throughs through large concrete pipes, numerous car wrecks and
a large plastic wizard!?! We peered over the abyss to the crushing works below,
swam by the entrance to the tunnel (didn't go in though, very dark and menacing)
before finally ascending up the gravelly slope to the exit point. Lot's of
grinning from Shira after the dive, who remarked how nice it was to actually be able
to see something underwater for a change! A short (but not too short) surface
interval later and it was back into the water for Shira's final exercise, the dive lead.
All went well and she emerged as a fully-qualified Ocean Diver. Wraysbury may
never seem the same again!
Next stop? 'Somewhere warm please!'
Nic
Portland 16-17 October 2010
Sports Divers are GO!
Assistant Dive Marshalling (ADM) is part of the Sports Diver training program.
Whilst students are delegated the responsibility of recording depths and times
of divers, including when they’re due to surface, the instructors thought
it would also be a good idea to also delegate the story writing of the Sports
Diver training weekend... (!)
On Saturday, Lucas Gut was the ADM and here is his account of the day:
Despite my last Sports Diver training in May this year was half-a-metre visibility
and 8 degrees water temperature, I was looking forward to my last dive this season
which turned out to be just the opposite. Seven of us headed down to the luxury
Portland Marina to complete Sports Diver skills. After refuelling the RIB we
headed out to the Torpedo Range located just outside the Breakwater. As it was
a windy day we weren't sure we could do the dive but Mark safely dropped in divers.
The dive turned out to be one of the best dives with great visibility (8-10 metres!).
Because of the wind, Mark and I decided to do our first dive on the Dredger instead –
still great viz, 15 degrees water temperature. I spotted a wrasse and a big lobster.
After our pit-stop in Castletown for an air fill and to swallow an aqua-hotel
torpedo down our throats, we headed out to Balaclava Bay for a drift dive. At this
time of the day it was already getting dark but Ben and Mia had enough viz and
light to spot some juicy scallops. As the scallops wouldn't have been filling
enough for a bunch of hungry Hobornites, we decided to have our dinner at the
Portland Marina and then have stroll back to our hotel in Castletown...
On Sunday, the ADM responsibilities were handed to Gemma March and this is her story:
The day started out looking rather rough and overcast – there were murmurs of
discontent amongst the ranks as it was thought that we may not be able to dive.
We started our journey by travelling to the Torpedo Range (again) and the Dredger
(again), hoping that the weather had improved, and the wind had fallen. All appeared
lost, but we tried the Countess ofErne and it was very calm! Mark and Ben, and
Mia and Lucas dived and came back with stories of high visibility and a thoroughly
enjoyable dive. Ben also christened his camera in the open water!
Zoe, Susie and myself then descended into water with highly-reduced visibility,
but a thoroughly enjoyable encounter of a wreck nonetheless. Also, a particularly
good dive to try out those important compass skills! We then took a well-deserved
break for air fills, and the delights of the Aqua Cafe at Castletown.
Returning to the open water we went to Balaclava Bay in the hope of some good old
scallop hunting. Descended into kelp we found this improbable, but a completely new
experience for those training to become Sports Divers - and good fun, apart from
those who felt the effects of sea sickness underwater! Back to Portland Marina for tea and cake,
and qualification-book signing, we had three newly-accredited Sports Divers:
Ben, Susie and Lucas. A great way to end a season, and with the sun shining we left.
And finally, a few words from Susie:
Lured by the promise of warmer water than air temperatures, and by a desire to
finish our Sports Diver training, Gemma, Lucas, Ben and Susie, along with
Zoe, Mia and Mark, headed to Weymouth for the penultimate weekend of club
diving this season.
The weekend got off to a choppy start - but only for the sea. Our first dive
at the torpedo range was a great success. Good visibility, shoals of fish,
successful compass navigations...what more could we ask? Unfortunately,
the sea had become just a little too energetic by the time the first wave
of divers returned to the boat, so Mark and Lucas had to dive at our backup
site. Their verdict? An all-round excellent dive on...drumroll...the Dredger.
Yes, you did read that correctly. After a surprisingly edible lunch at
Castletown, we finished the day with a drift dive in Balaclava Bay.
The occasional lobster and crab was spotted, and Zoe and Gemma managed
to return to the boat with enough scallops for all (thanks guys!).
A lovely dinner at The Boat that Rocks (where we were amazed to find
that they serve food even to people who are not wearing dripping wet
wetsuits), a good night's sleep at the Portland Roads Hotel, and we
were ready for another bracing dip in the sea. The Countess of Erne
was our chosen spot for distance line practice, DSMB deployment, or
simply a jolly for those who had already completed their skills.
We all managed to avoid getting frostbite while waiting on the boat,
and duly rewarded ourselves with lunch. We finished off the weekend
with a try-to-swim-in-an-interesting-direction-but-give-up-and-go-with-the-drift
dive at Grove Point, complete with kelp galore and lobsters to please
those of us who are still excited by such things!
Many thanks to Mia for organising the weekend, to Mark for not losing
anyone over the side of the boat, and to both Mia and Zoe for an
excellent Sports Diver training course.
Swanage 2-3 October 2010
Swanning about in Swanage!
On 2-3rd October, ten of us went down to Swanage for the first time
this year to dive off the Mary Jo and Divers Down hardboats. We
planned to dive the Fleur de Lys, the Carantan and the Kyarra, and to
throw in a couple of drifts as well.
Planned I said.
Swanage diving is always convenient as you have the dive shop,
trolleys, etc on the pier and lunch is never far away. It wasn't an
early start which gave everyone the chance to flop about, but somehow
we were still rushing to get to the hardboats on time! The Carantan
was a lovely dive at about 30m, though the visibility wasn't the best.
The visibility on the Fleur de Lys was the same but everyone was
pleased to get a dive and to see the sun come out. In the afternoon,
the drifts were very dark but still enjoyable.
Owing to the fact that Swanage was the most popular destination in the
world that weekend, and that B&B owners laughed when we tried to book
as late as three weeks in advance, we decided to stay the night in
Poole. We had a delicious dinner at the Storm Fish restaurant and
rolled ourselves back to the hotel.
It was pouring with rain, and at
night, the storm woke us up. We were still hopeful that we would be
diving the next day and even got as far as the pier, but the skipper
rang and sadly cancelled due to gale force winds!
We didn't retreat to
Monkey World, but some of us went to Corfe, and had a very lovely day!
Zoe
Weymouth 26 September 2010
Sport Diver trainees take on killer sharks... erm ... dogfish in Weymouth!
On Sunday 26th October, seven of us went to Weymouth to complete some
Sports Diver skills. It was a bit windy but luckily the sun had its
hat on.
Our first dive was on the Countess of Erne, though you
wouldn’t have known it as the visibility was rubbish! Good thing then
that we were doing distance line exercises as you couldn’t see further
than the end of your fingers.
At lunchtime, we went to Castletown
(just to get fills though – we could not face another frozen baked
potato with sawdust hmmmn I mean cheese from the Aqua café and could
actually not be bothered to bring disguises to wear for the privilege
of ordering our meals without getting our heads blown off by the staff
about wearing wet gear in a diver’s café – mind the mahogany parquet
my dear). We decided to go back to the Portland Marina for a lovely
lunch in the sun at the Boat that Rocks. No shouting involved.
In the afternoon, we did a drift at Durdle Pier just up from Grove
Point for a change. The drift was very fast and our students got the
chance to handle an SMB and collect scallops. It was really whizzing
and we drifted about a mile. A dogfish was also spotted but I think it
was definitely a shark...
After a lovely day at sea, nobody wanted to go home! Oh well, there’s
always next time!
Zoe
Wraysbury 26 September 2010
Holborn Divers and the monster Perch of Wraysbury!
Having had a freeflow on her second open water dive in Wraysbury a
couple of weeks before, cutting short her training dive, Shira was
eager to get back into the water and catch up with the other students.
So it was that we found ourselves back at Wraysbury two weeks
later. And what a difference two weeks can make! A warm sun had been
replaced by an icy cold wind from the north and the water was a couple
of degrees cooler as well.
Despite this, Instructor and Student braved the water to complete, not
only the second and third open water dives, but also dive number four as well.
Just a couple of dives in Weymouth to go!
As for the diving itself well, let's just say, Wraysbury didn't disappoint!
As usual, the vis was a stunning one metre, if you're lucky, and the
lake was full of trainee divers happily reducing it even further.
That said, a number of fish were spotted, including several small Perch
swimming between our fins by the main exit/entry point. Clearly looking for
food, they were quite fearless and you could probably pick one up if
you had quicker reflexes than I do!!!
And to top it all, in amongst the containers and dozens of wrecked boats,
we came across a huge (and I do mean huge) monster Perch. Just a vague
shadow in the murk, but probably not much less than a couple of feet long.
Who says there's no life in Wraysbury?
Nic
Portland 18-19 September 2010
Holborn Divers lumping it!
A group of Holbornites headed down to Portland near Weymouth for my first
experience of running a dive weekend on 18/19 September. Things didn't start
too smoothly when Laura (assitant dive manager) and I, turned up at our hotel
to find that it was completely locked up and all the lights were out! We
were contemplating sleeping rough on Castletown beach when a diver from
another BSAC club who was also staying at the hotel miraculously appeared
and saved us from our misery. He informed us that there was a sixtieth
birthday party down the road and that the whole of Portland was at the party.
Laura bravely volunteered to crash the party, retrieve our landlord and drag
him back to our hotel for the keys. It all ended in smiles when we were
invited to join the party too!
Despite the rocky start, we woke up on Saturday to a glorious day for diving.
The sun was out, the wind was non-existent and there were barely any waves.
This is as good as it could possibly get in Weymouth and we were there!
We had not planned to go round Portland Bill that day but the plans changed
to take advantage of the glorious conditions. We had a very smooth run round
the bill and the idea was to dive the James Fennel which is a sheltered
wreck just off Blacknor Point. We droped the shot line in between the two
marks we had for the wreck and jumped in. Got to the bottom of the shot
line but the wreck had vanished! Instead we dived what we christened
"the lump" which was actually a group of "lumps" or boulders on the
reef where the wreck lies. The viz was excellent and there was plenty
of life around. Dalia and Chris had a particularly memorable dive when
they drifted on to the wreck of the Gertrude, what an experience!
For the second dive we dived the wreck of the Dredger just outside the
harbour wall which makes a very pleasant dive because as well as the wreck
divers can examine the harbour wall next to it which is a preferred
hiding spot for many critters. Our many thanks to our valiant cox
Peter Vojak for coming down on Saturday to help us on the boat.
On Sunday the wind had picked up a little so we stayed quite close
to the shore and settled on a drift dive off Grove Point. There is
nothing easier than drifting with the current during a dive, you literally
don't even need to swim. The water temperature was 17°C so it was
very comfortable. After some lunch in the swanky new marina where
we keep our boat we did a second dive on the Torpedo Range which
like the Dredger is just outside the harbour wall. There was lots of
life on the Torpedo Range, the only trouble was that the viz was not
great and so it was not that easy to see it well! This is all part of
the experience of UK diving and we enjoyed it nonetheless. As with
the Dredger, we were able to check the harbour wall for all the little
fish and crabs that live in it. Our thanks to Nic Weeks for driving
the boat for us and especially for the Percy Pigs!
All in all it was a very fun weekend of diving and all of us on the
trip got to know each other a little better. Many thanks to Dalia,
Chris, Doug, John and Laura for coming along and looking forward
to next time!
Angela
Wraysbury 11 September 2010
Holborn dives en masse at West London!
This year’s seen some exciting trips to Weymouth, Lyme Bay, Anglesea,
The Scillies, Plymouth and Skye. So it came as a bit of a surprise
that a low-key Ocean Diver day at Wraysbury turned into a major club
outing.
There were 13 divers there (6 of whom were instructors or
ACIs) undertaking a range of (diving related) activities: Shira, Alex
and Marek from the OD course successfully completed their first two or
three dives, ready for the sea in Weymouth. Trainee Sports Divers Ben
and Susie finished off their rescue dives - see our previous Wrasybury
report to find out why they couldn’t finish them the first time
around!
We also had three new diving members: Emma, Richard and Jon
all surviving their first dip with the club. Although it may seem a
bit nanny-ish asking new diving members to come to Wrasybury, it
proved useful. For example, someone found out that the neck seal on
their dry suit had split (and that diving in a rented semi-dry is a
very cold experience).
We also had a surprise appearance from Mike (El
Presidente) and Jan Maloney who were testing their new ‘magic’ filters
on their his ‘n hers underwater cameras. Apparently the magic filter
can put added colour into underwater shots, negating the need for
strobes. Unfortunately the magic filters cannot take the crap out of
the Wraysbury water, so Mike and Jan came back with some nice
underwater shots of erm … silt.
Nonetheless plenty of training got
done and a good day was had by all. As always my thanks go to the
instructors: Nic, Zoe, Mia and Sarah for their hard work.
Mark
Portland 4-5 September 2010
Life's a (Chesil) beach!
Despite the near perfect neap tides, other indicators for this weekend were
less favourable: easterly F4-5 forecast both days. But if we could make it
around the Bill, the M2 might still be achievable at stupid O'clock on Sunday morning ...
So, with an optimistic spirit we checked out the sea state before breakfast
and decided to abandon plan A (the Alex) in favour of some dives around the west
of Portland Bill. The idea would be to take kit for two dives in the boat,
drive it around the Bill and pick up the other divers from Chesil Beach.
Genius, what could go wrong? So, armed with a new paddle and radio checks
complete, the fearless cox, ADM and DM (Damian, Miranda and Dan) headed out.
It wasn't long before we were drenched by one wave after another. And we were
still in the harbour. Nevertheless, we pressed on south out of the harbour
like true salty sea dogs. It took us all of about 5 minutes in the boiling
cauldron of the sea that awaited us to turn around; we decided there was
no glory featuring in the next Perfect Storm.
So, with plan B abandoned, we decided to check out the Countess of Erne in the
harbour. A rib was moored over her already, so we approached to find out what
the vis was like. Just at that point the engine started tilting upwards and
did not stop. Rumours that the crew was somewhat perplexed that the person
driving the boat should choose now to trim the engine are not entirely
unfounded. Anyway, the engine carried on lifting without stopping, despite
there being no finger on the tilt button! After some quick scrambling
(thanks Damian), the engine was cut and the electrics switched off. Just as
we were about to throw out the anchor, the other boat departed. We waved
them down and they kindly towed us into the marina. Thanks to the scuba
club from Bristol for rescuing us!
By this time the long suffering divers had walked all the way over to Chesil
Beach and all the way back again. So in true Holborn style, most decided to
reward their exertions with either a sunbathe or nap on the pontoon. With no
chance of getting the boat fixed over the weekend, we resigned ourselves to
a shore dive off Chesil Beach. While it was a pain to lug stuff across the
beach, we were out of the wind, the sun was shining (intermittently) and
people enjoyed a dive with 5m vis.
With all thoughts of the M2 dashed, we decided on Sunday to check out the
feasibility of diving the Royal Adelaide from the shore. While we all
enjoyed the walk, none of us was particularly keen to attempt it again
in tanks and fins. But the crashing surf finally decided it - the Adelaide
would have to wait until Angela's weekend.
After much deliberation and milling over a coffee at the café, the options
were narrowed down to another dive off Chesil Beach, albeit in a slightly
different spot. A pleasant dive with pretty reasonable vis was enjoyed by
most of us and some were rewarded with a cuttlefish encounter. Photographic evidence
courtesy of Martin.
What goes on tour stays on tour, but Holborn may have to add Wedding
Crashing as a speciality course. However, we did ask permission before barging
in and a glass was raised to Carl and Jenny at some point in the evening.
Unfortunately we have no photographic evidence of the alleged break dancing
that followed, although it would explain some of the bruises that Martin and
Damian displayed the following day. And while nothing can yet be pinned on
newbie Justen, we're keeping an eye on him! All of which just goes to show
that Holborn can still have a good time against all the odds. Thanks to
divers-cum-party animals Daniel, Damian, Lucy, Justen, Martin, Miranda and Emeka.
Dan
Plymouth, 27-30 August 2010
Another visit to one of the UKs top diving destinations!
August bank holiday trip to Plymouth is always a highlight of the season. Diving is superb there, and if the weather doesn't work as least you get a relaxing weekend in beautiful setting.
Full of expectations, Simon and Nic drove down to Weymouth to pick up the boat on Thursday evening. Hard work it is indeed, thus breakfast in lovely Blue Fish Cafe on Friday before they left to Plymouth. Miranda and Dan met them in Mount Batten sailing centre, where they launched and moored the boat.
The rest of us met them at Heybrook Bay, a coastal village near Plymouth. We stayed in a lovely decorated and old but well-maintained house, where Gretchen and her daughter Nicola showed us our rooms. They were curious about our diving, and when we left our diving kit or suits to dry in the garden they kindly collected them in the evening, so they wouldn't get wet overnight. Just don't leave a reel with the line drying out and the ratchet lock in an open position - or they may roll it back in the wrong direction, with good intentions indeed.
The location is fantastic. Who would ever go to the French Riviera after seeing this. A picturesque quiet village in the hills, with steep cliffs and rocks above the water. We could see Mew Stone, one of the dive sites on our list. First night we went to the local pub, just a stone's throw the house, where they serve big tasteful portions.
After rich breakfast made by Gretchen on Saturday morning went a standard diving drill. We drove to Mount Batten, got the kit ready and loaded it on the boat. The first site was Hilsea Point. Nice galleys and a narrow tunnel for those who found it. It was a bit windy and swelly if you stayed at 15m or shallower. We returned for a quick lunch and airfills to Mountbatten. The afternoon dive was at James Eagan Lane. Dark and bad visibility for what is otherwise a spectacular wreck.
Saturday night we ate at the Mussel Inn in Down Thomas, a neighbour village. Some of us walked up there and then we shared cars on the way back. It's a fairy tale world out there - the places have strange names, the roads are narrow, GPS and mobiles don't work, people are nice. They must have taken us for giants, therefore serving us good food in big portions.
The weather turned worse on Sunday, so we only got to Mew Stone. Still we saw happy faces as our divers got out of the water. Then the weather turned pear-shaped. Windy and raining, all diving we could foresee was near the Plymouth Sound. So only Matt and Sarah went out. Having just two divers and a boat crew, they could go out of the Sound, and dived the Scylla. Normally an excellent wreck, but under those conditions visibility was very low. For the dinner we went a posh Indian restaurant in Plymouth. The food was very good and plenty.
Monday was the last day. The sea was oil-flat, the sky clear - just like the Med. No need to travel to dive in Malta or France! We only dived in the morning at an excellent site - Hand Deeps. A wall washed by currents is fully underwater, and beautiful anemones of various colours live there shallower than at other nearby sites.
Then we got back to Plymouth, got the boat out of water and rinsed it. Boat magicians then towed it back.
A lot of hard work, good diving and a wonderful time. So, are you coming with us this year?
Peter Kehl
Portland 21-22 August 2010
Through the fog emerges the sleek shape of the M2.
When the six of us reached Weymouth on Friday 20th of August, under
fog and rain, we knew that the adventurous diving weekend trumpeted at
our club meeting was compromised. We were going to dive the M2 but as
the weather forecast was going from bad to worse, the spirit was
heading South.
Saturday morning, four to five westerlies, backup plan, we sheltered
on the east side of Portland Bill for a drift dive on Durdle Pier.
Four to five meters of visibility was all we needed to appreciate the
convoluted landscape and its' inhabitants. It wasn't enough on the
other hand to prevent the separation of two of our divers who prefer
to remain anonymous.
In the afternoon, as the wind did not weaken, we had to limit
ourselves to sites close to the harbour, short of diving the harbour
itself. After some discussion, we settled for the Hartlepool, a 5500
ton merchant vessel victim of a torpedo on July 5 1940.
Unfortunately, the swell did not allow our sonar to detect any piece
of wreckage and we had to dive the torpedo range. Surprisingly, good
visibility and several schools of fish made this unloved site a perfect
compensation.
To recover from this hardship, we consoled ourself at the Blue Fish Cafe, a
well known restaurant off Chesil Beach.
On Sunday, we were ready for another rough day but, at our surprise,
the wind dropped off during the night and the westerlies turned East.
We gathered the team at breakfast, all agreed to attempt diving the
M2, which implied a certain sense of urgency as we were already very
late. Navigation was far from comfortable due to the tidal race
around the Bill but as soon as we reached the other side, the sea was
gentle with us. We reached the M2 and were lucky to have a commercial
dive boat on site and were allowed to use their shot. The M2 was a
fantastic dive, seven to eight meters of visibility, hundreds of fish,
three huge conger eels. On the way back, the rain and the wind could
not erase a dreamy smile on our faces.
Our six members were Nic Weeks and Dan Clark as dedicated coxes and
Peter Kehl, Martin Rishton, Aurelio Martegani and Emeka Mosanya.
Emeka
Wraysbury 21 August 2010
Holborn has AA lovely time in Wraysbury.
On Saturday 21 August we went to Wraysbury for Sports Diver open water
training. There was a lot to get through (rescues, mask clearing, SMB
demos, compass navigation, eating of cheesy chips). All the students
did very well with the exercises.
It all seemed quite uneventful until our lovely pair, Ben and Susie,
locked the car key in the boot of their
car. Luckily, they were already in wet suits and had the full dive
gear by the side of the car, so we did a quick compass navigation
whilst waiting for the AA van. Typically, it arrived early while we
were still in the water, we had never swum so fast!
The saga continued
when the AA man was unable to help without pulling the whole car
apart, so an expert came to the site. Ben is now famous in Wraysbury
for his posh impractical car. The club may encourage him to buy an old
plumber's van instead...
We ended the day with lovely cookies baked by Marco Pierre Gemma and
said our goobyes.
Zoe
Swanage 14-15 August 2010
A gentle stroll under the pier.
Swanage Pier is undoubtedly one of the most famous shore dives in the UK. Generations
of divers have been sampling the delights of it's piles (!?!) almost since the day
scuba began. So it was that three generations (Tom, Gemma and Nic) of Holborn divers
went down for a stroll under the pier on a slightly overcast weekend in August.
After an interesting drive down to Swanage, wondering if we were going to make it as
the car kept stalling, we booked into our lodgings, the White Horse pub just a couple
of minutes walk from the pier. A near perfect location, even if the rooms left a
little to be desired. Unfortunately we had arrived after 9:00pm so Swanage was...shut!
Eventually we managed to find a (very) good pizza place to eat and unwind in - they even
did a children's menu for Tom. First thing on Saturday we headed out early (6:30am)
for Nic's constitutional and to ensure ourselves a parking spot on the pier itself.
It was hard to believe just how many cars were already on the pier when we arrived -
it was over half full already!
After retiring back to the B&B for some extra sleep and breakfast, we headed to the pier
to start our day's diving. First up were Nic and Tom. It was Tom's first sea dive and, after
rebuilding/repairing his borrowed kit, we were ready to go. Despite vis of about 2m, there was
a lot of life lurking under the pier - pollock, bib and thousands of Tompot Blennies although,
strangly, not a single crab.
Next up it was Gemma's turn to try out the pier as well as her brand new Mares HUB
(Human Underwater Breathing System - ooher!). Don't laugh, they cost about £800.00 and
she was given it for FREE! Yep - not laughing now are you! Once again, the pier didn't
disappoint. The highlight was a large pipefish that swam rapidly away from Nic and
into Gemma's outstretched hand.
After a spot of lunch (a bag of chips on the seafront cafe) we set off for the final dive,
Tom dive leading Gemma with Nic acting as chaperon. All went well, although we did get a little
lost and circle around a few times before heading back to shore. So that's one more qualified
Ocean Diver. We had discussed the idea of doing a night dive under the pier but decided that
food and beer would be a better option, so we headed out into the centre of Swanage, which
many people say rivals London's West End for night life - but only people who
have never actually been there!
Sunday we had a date with the Skur, a shuttle belonging to Diver's Down, to go and dive
the diminutive Fleur de Lys wreck. Due to the fact that two other divers failed to turn up
we had the entire catamaran to ourselves - quite nice for Tom and Gemma's first hard boat dive.
As usual, the Fleur was - well, small! She was, however, covered with life, with huge shoals
of fish everywhere you looked. We did a couple of circuits before heading off for a very
gentle drift over the nearby reef. Finally we found a few crabs, including one large Spider
Crab and a medium sized Edible Crab, both intent on devouring the two novice divers!
Luckily, their intrepid instructor bravely fought off these fearsmome beasts!!! The
highlight of the dive though, must have been the tiny baby cuttlefish (or possibly squid)
caught briefly in our torch beam - very cute.
After such a nice dive we decided to call it a weekend and packed up our kit. After another
fish and chip lunch on the seafront (during which we realised why there were no crabs under
the pier - crabbing seems to be the number one pastime in Swanage) we headed home, exhausted
but satisfied.
Nic
Weymouth 31 July - 1 August 2010
Not the Blackhawk!
Having one stray Ocean Diver trainee to 'finish off', so to speak, a
group of Holborn Divers went down to Portland to get the job done. Since
the dives were all going to be shallow, a few 'rusty' divers (that is,
divers who hadn't done any UK dives so far this year, not ones who'd
stayed in the water too long) decided to come along as well.
The good old Dredger was the chosen site for the first day, perfect as
it is for a first sea dive and various exercises. Ben Burns was the tadpole
in question and, by the end of the day, he was a qualified frog-person. To
celebrate this momentous event, we had a slap-up meal in the Blue Fish that
evening - a great way to celebrate.
Having got the training out of the way and with two brand spanking new Ocean
Divers eager to discover the joys of UK diving, we set off bright and early
(06:00 start - urgh!) to head out to the Blackhawk Bow. 'Looks like there is
someone already on it' said the cox'n as we approached the dive site, 'always
a good sign, must have got the slack right'. As it turns out, it was a
commercial vessel doing some kind of survey and none to keen to have us around.
Lots of wild gesticulating followed, resulting in our brief speculation
about the parentage of certain of the commercial vessels crew members, before
we headed off to find an alternative site.
The alternative site was Lulworth Banks where we proceeded to have an enjoyable
little drift. The Ocean Divers were very happy at seeing starfish! Oh to be so
young and full of joy! The final dive of the weekend was another gentle drift down
at Durdle Pier, just north of Church Ope Cove. Despite poor vis (about 2-3m) this
didn't disappoint. Very interesting topography and a fair amount of life. A refreshing
shower and a nice bit of cake later (at least for some of us) we headed off back
to London, exhausted but satisfied with a job well done.
Nic
Isles of Scilly 17-24 July 2010
Warning: this text may contain unbearable smugness!
There are few places in the World, let alone the UK, that have such a fearsome
reputation to sailors as the Isles of Scilly. In a few square miles of craggy
rocks and Islands the quantity and quality of shipwrecks is extraordinary.
Twelve Holborn picaroons set sail for the Scillies …
The Isles of Scilly are a group of islands 28 miles west of Lands End that are
surrounded by razor shape granite rocks many of which lurk just below the surface
of the sea. Unfortunately for sailors over the centuries these rocks had a certain
magnetic quality which has led to the loss of many ships. From the days of dead
reckoning there are a plethora of stories which run along a similar pattern: ship
makes navigation error -> a thick sea fogs falls -> ship finds itself impaled on
a rock -> ship sinks. In the days since satellite navigation, similar stories have
continued but usually with a bizarre twist: ship’s crew sets a bearing on autopilot
-> ship’s crew go to sleep -> ship finds itself impaled on a rock -> ship sinks.
Holborn Divers did five days diving on the Scillies which contained a mix of
wrecks, reefs and Seals. On the wreck front the favourites were, the Cita – a
cargo ship that went down in 1997, the Plympton and Hathor double-decker – two
wrecks on top of each other and the HMS Collosus a wooden ship that went down in
a storm in 1798. Each of the wrecks had their own special quality. There are
very few wrecks around the UK as recent as the Cita and certainly there are none
of its size, we dived the bow section which is a huge area of twisted metal –
the bow itself is still intact with the mast still standing from the deck.
The Plympton and Hathor wrecks are a stunning sight – one on top of the
other in a cross, we made it down to the propeller of the Plympton (the bottom
and smaller of the two wrecks). The HMS Collosus is an amazing site
to dive, the wooden hull is still visible in the sand and there are canons standing up
in the sand still in their gun ports, if you look carefully on the dive you can see
nails, muskets and rigging wheels lying on the seabed.
A high point of the diving was the ‘Seal experience’ – an hour diving with
particularly interactive seals!!! One rather large bull seal was especially
keen to get to know Holborn Divers, to the point where it was borderline lecherous!!!
Having worked his way around most of the divers in the group – giving each a full
body massage, he finally settled on Lucy whom he didn’t want to let go of.
Visibility was certainly much better than Portland – generally between 5 and 8 meters
and water temperatures were a balmy 13C!!!
Out of the water Holborn had a fantastic time too – the Islands have some excellent
restaurants many of which the Holborn Diners group managed to sample.
Various groups managed to walk around the islands, most bought ‘Weird Fish’
fleeces (this seemed to become to Holborn uniform on the trip) and there was
international standard napping!!!
Thanks to KKD for organising a fantastic trip!!
Weymouth 10-11 July 2010
The Dredger and a Bag Full of Scallops
Training weekends can be hard work sometimes, but a combination of
good weather and great Ocean Diver students made sure this Weymouth
trip was a highly successful, enjoyable couple of days.
Saturday started off with The Dredger. For seasoned divers it’s a bit
of a ‘last resort’ dive - the place you go when you really can’t dive
anywhere else. But for new divers the Dredger can be great. It looks
like a wreck and it has fish. Saturday’s dive saw some good viz on The
Dredger, with four of the OD students observing a dive leading demo.
In the afternoon we did a gentle drift in Balaclava Bay – when I say
‘gentle’, there was almost no current at all. Most of the instructors
showed the students how to find scallops and we half-filled a goodie
bag with them.
Sunday was essentially a repeat of the day before, but with poorer
viz. The OD students needed to do their dive as a leader (OO5), so we
started with The Dredger as it was now a familiar site, which made
navigating underwater easier.
In the afternoon almost everyone was up
for more scallops, so we did a drift from Balaclava Bay towards Grove
Point. The scallop collecting skills were now honed, and we managed
fill the goodie bag – enough for everyone’s tea. What’s more four
Ocean Diver students; Wendy, Gemma, David and Susie, all completed the
course. Well done! Thanks as always to Zoe and Nic for all their hard
work instructing on the weekend.
Mark Brill
Portland 3-4 July 2010
Holborn Divers to the rescue!
The First Day: Sat 3 July – Dreams vs Reality
Dream - set off at 9:30am round the west of the Bill to explore Stennis Ledges, have nice sunbathe on
Chesil Beach in drysuits, pootle around the James Fennel, then back for scrumptious tea at Blue Fish Cafe.
Reality – boat not launched, westerly winds, one diver with no wetsuit, one with no air, and one (me) with
no brain.
Retire to Marina for tea and cake.
New dream – set off at 10:30am to Alex van Opstal as new to even the most seasoned members, then sunbathe
at Lulworth Cove, pootle along Lulworth Banks, then, as before, back for tea at Blue Fish Café.
New reality – current running like the proverbial train (not the South West type one), gruelling swim to
just beside Alex, half-fainting diver, so drive to Lulworth Banks to do drift. Then slack arrives.
Retire to Marina for tea and cake.
Another dream – head to Earl of Abergavenny to see historic site, still a little sunbathing time, then back
for tea at Blue Fish Café.
Another reality – head out north exit and straight into hundreds of sailboats delicately circling the Earl.
Continually. Drive off to Grove Point for the express service to the Bill. Watch as divers swept out to sea.
Retire to Blue Fish Café for wine and scallops.
The Second Day: Sun 4 July – The Rescue
Head out to Binnedyk for slack 2.5 hours before HW. As drawing close, notice unusual boat profile in the distance.
Water gently lapping over transom and engine, deflated tubes and one remarkably stoic driver sitting on the last
remaining bits of the bow above the waves. Six divers in the water and no lifeboats…
Holborn Diver to the rescue (cue fanfare and special uniforms)! Dah da da dah daaah da, da da dah da daaah…
Four more divers, with twinsets, and we almost went the same way as their previous boat. We survived and headed
off when far more qualified rescue parties came.
Arrived at Binnedyk perfectly on slack. Down another boat’s shot. Beautiful dive with lobster, scores of
bib and several conger.
Retire to Marina for tea and cake.
Back out to Balaclava Bay and very pleasant drift with scores of crabs.
And finally, retire to Marina for tea and cake.
Must be karma.
Anglesey 26-27 June 2010
Holborn Divers cer at Môn (which I think means “Holborn Divers go to Anglesey” in Welsh)!
Seven Holborn Divers and a few non-diving partners (NDPs) braved the long journey up to North Wales
to try out some sites near Anglesey. We were diving with skipper Scott Waterman of Quest Diving Charters
on his fantastic big RIB (with toilet and lift – brilliant!)
Uncharacteristically for North Wales, the weather was gorgeous (this was arranged by the Dive
Marshall, Rachel). We headed from Menai Bridge into Liverpool Bay on flat calm seas on Saturday
morning, spotting a porpoise on the way, and dived the Penrhos, a 30m steamship that apparently
hit a mine in 1942 while carrying limestone chippings to Liverpool. She sits in about 20m and
is absolutely encrusted with plumose anemones. Stern and bow structures are relatively intact,
but the midships are sunken into the sand. The skipper described her as a nursery wreck and there
were indeed huge shoals of small fish, with baby flatfish skirting around. Doug and Karen spied
an eel like creature about 30 cm long, with mottled skin. Another diver suggested it was a
butterfish; one for the fish ID experts?
In the afternoon we headed back to Puffin Island and dived with a few of the seals in the colony there;
the first dive with seals for two of us. As we hung about on the bottom at about 5m, they were
a bit timid, but made a few return trips to suss us out and have a little nibble on some fins
(yellow preferred).
Sunday was a bit windier but we were able to go out into Liverpool Bay again and dive the Chacabuco,
a sailing ship that sank in 1873 after colliding with the Torch, another steamship. This dive was
about 35m to the seabed so was fairly short, but visibility was better at around 6-8m and there was
a lot of life. The wreck is pretty broken up and also covered in plumose anemones. Some structures
remain, including part of the bow and a section of mast, which is now covered in a trawler net.
Some yummy looking lobsters were seen lurking in parts of the wreck. A very atmospheric dive, spiced
up by having to navigate through a beautiful but treacherous jellyfish cloud
on the way down and back up.
The afternoon dive was also north of Puffin Island, where there’s a long slack water period.
It was a pleasant mooch around, with carpets of brittlestars, lots of starfish, crabs and a
few docile dogfish spotted.
Good food, good company, good weather, good diving – fantastic weekend!
Wraysbury 26-27 June 2010/Ocean Diver training
A new batch of students takes the plunge.
Question: when is the best time to do your open water training at Wraysbury? Answer: on the hottest weekend
of the year so far!
The latest batch of Ocean Diver students, along with instructors Mark, Zoe, Mia, Nic and Nick Watson, headed over
to the Wraysbury Dive Centre on a beautiful sunny weekend to start their open water training.
Armed with some brand spanking new/borrowed/hired kit the students finally got their first taste of UK open water.
As usual, the viz was poor as a result of scores of students kicking up the fine silt (not the Holborn students,
obviously) but that did nothing to dampen everyone's enthusiasm. Saturday saw all of the students complete the first
two open water dives, OO1 and OO2, so everything was right on schedule - possibly a first for Holborn!
On Sunday everyone was back bright and early and, amazingly, still full of enthusiasm to complete the remaining two
training dives. Several controlled buoyant lifts, AS ascents, tows and bowls of cheesy chips later, their weekend
was done - and all in time to get back home to watch the big game; England vs Germany. Hmmnnn... maybe they shouldn't have
bothered!
All in all the weekend was a resounding success - the tadpoles have grown legs. Next stop: Weymouth, to complete
the last couple of dives and then - hurrah - they will all be fully qualified frog persons.
Portland 19-20 June 2010, Advanced Nitrox SDC/Sport Diver
A New Wreck for Holborn: The Alex Van Seabed.
The aim of this weekend was to both cover the Advanced Nitrox dives,
but also to do some advanced diving techniques for decompression and
of course, dive some wrecks. Four students and two instructors came on
the trip off the club RIB.
The plan on Saturday was to start with the Elena R, but due to some
strong north easterly winds we stayed slightly inshore to dive ‘The
Benny’. As this was all about advanced diving techniques, the course
students had to plan the dive including any deco time and their air
requirements. For some, it was also a chance to actually work out
their personal breathing rate for the first time.
The other technique on this dive was to learn how to use a lazy shot.
After successfully shotting the wreck the first group of divers took
in the lazy shot, tied in with an all important prussic loop. The
wreck is on a shingle seabed and in spite of the still lingering
plankton bloom, it was a bright dive, with reasonable viz.
We were using 2hrs before Portland HW for slack time. However, by the
time the second group dived the current had started to run and the
shot had dragged. This was a great chance to practice running a
distance line into the wreck. The ascent also showed how useful a lazy
shot can be. Dragging our way up the main shot line we reached the
lazy, clinging on to the current like flags in the wind. We pulled the
lazy away from the main line and instantly we felt the relief from
drifting with the current. Using a buoy and line to decompress is far
more comfortable and less task-loaded then using an SMB for this sort
of dive.
The afternoon dive was the good old Countess of Earne. It is ideal for
practicing wreck penetration techniques: it has plenty overhead bits
around the holds and is suitably scuzzy enough to require a
penetration line. The nitrox students also used a rich mix of 36% for
the dive, they practiced side-mounting ponies for the first time and
did a mid-water SMB deployment. The linning out on The Countess proved
to be interesting, with the viz going to less than zero at times.
Saturday evening’s dinner was at The Cove Inn. The food is OK, but not
great, however the view over Chesil Beach with a mid-summer sunset was
fantastic.
Sunday’s weather improved quite a bit, so we set off for the Alex Van
Opstel, a 30m wreck not previously dived by Holborn. We used 2.5hrs
before Portland HW for our slack time, and in the end it gave us
enough time on a neap tide for both waves of divers. The advanced
nitrox divers planned their dive, and carried side mounts for a gas
switch at 6m. Using some marks borrowed from a commercial skipper we
found the wreck easily enough. It was helped by the fact that another
boat was already on it. We decided to put our own shot on the wreck so
that we could use our lazy shot again. Bad move. The shot ended up on
a tiny piece of wreckage. It was only big enough for a home to a large
lobster. On lining out the first group could not find any more wreck,
and the dive was renamed the Alex Van Seabed. The second group did
better. We swallowed our pride and used the other group’s shotline!
The wreck is quite broken, but there are plenty of large lumps and
some pretty life. If you haven’t done the Alex Van Opstel before it’s
certainly worth a visit.
After the dive we went back to the lovely Portland Marina for the all
important post dive coffee and cake. All in all the skills went very
well and the students felt they had learned a lot about using more
advanced diving techniques and planning for decompression dives.
Portland 12-13 June 2010, Sport Diver Open Water training
Sport Diver trainees take it to the next level and discover one of the oldest diveable wrecks in the UK.
On 12-13 June we ran a Sports Diver open water training weekend in Weymouth. The plan was to complete all the open water skills such as mask clearing, compass navigation, DSMB use and AS ascent in deeper water. We attempted to dive the Himalaya but we couldn’t find the wreck on the GPS, so we decided to go for the Spaniard (Enecurie) in the harbour instead, but the visibility was terrible. We decided to put the second wave of divers in for a drift instead on Balaclava Bay, where they found some lovely scallops! The next dive in the afternoon was around Balaclava Bay to Grove Point again, where we found yet more scallops!!
The next day, we dived the Earl of Abergavenny, which is an archaeological survey site, which you need to get permission to dive. Our first set of divers didn’t see much as their finning stirred up a lot of silt, but the second wave really enjoyed it. There was tagging for the survey and a beautiful anchor to see.
In the afternoon, we finished off our training on the Dredger, which had nice visibility and quite a lot to see (including a squid!) as the wreck is in two parts.
The weather was beautiful and sunny, we ended our weekend with a piping hot shower and a nice slice of cake and a coffee in the Marina.
History of the Earl of Abergavenny
Three 'East Indiamen' were lost on Dorset's coast between 1786 and 1815: two were outward bound and had been at sea only days - the Halsewell, wrecked at Worth Matravers in 1786, and the Earl of Abergavenny off Weymouth in 1805 and the Alexander, was almost home from Bengal when she came to grief on Chesil Beach in 1815.
The Earl of Abergavenny, a ship of 1,200-tons, left Gravesend at the end of January, 1805, for Bengal and China carrying some 51 passengers and 159 troops calling in at Portsmouth en route. As she approached Portland Bill on 5 February, 1805, the weather started to deteriorate and Captain Wordsworth, brother of William Wordsworth, decided to wait in Portland Roads rather than rounding Portland Bill and cross Lyme Bay, with the risk of becoming embayed and ending up on the Chesil Bank.
However, shortly after taking on the pilot the vessel struck the Shambles Sandbank, where she lay from some hours, being pounded by the sea, and suffering serious damage to her bottom. When the tide had risen sufficiently to float her off an attempt was made to sail for Weymouth sands, but the ship sank 2 miles from her destination leaving the tops of her masts showing. Of the 402 passengers and crew some 260 souls lost their lives, being unable to cope with the severe cold of winter : bad weather, it is said, preventing rescuers coming close to the wreck until daylight.
Collioure, France 5-10 June 2010
Friendly giant Bass and a multitude of Octopuses greet the intrepid Holbornites who travelled to this pituresque part of Southern France.
On Sat 5th to Thursday 10th June we went diving in Collioure and the marine reserve at Banyuls in the south west of France, just by the Spanish border.
Essentially it is where the Pyrenees meet the sea.The scenery consists of dramatic gulleys and pinnacles. As it is a marine reserve there is a good proliferation of life, from large
shoals of fish to giant, friendly bass and numerous octopuses. The Banyuls reserve has been listed in the top 100 dive sites in the world as it is one of the best of its kind. We dived a range of
sites, mainly reefs with beautiful shoals of multi-coloured fish, and one small wreck. Dive sites: Collioure, Cap la Vieille, Cap Béar, and Renyacans. We almost had the boat to ourselves
as there was only one other diver (who turned out to be our neighbour!), and the atmosphere was very laid back, as we usually left the bay around 10.15 as it’s not tidal.
There can be strong winds in the area, but a number of bays provide good shelter so diving can take place in most conditions. However we did get blown out as strong winds ruined the
visibility, so we took refuge in some local rosé…
The diving operation we used are called Centre International de Plongee (CIP). They have a large day boat which leaves from the small port; the equipment is good and they are a safe, well-run operation.
Collioure is considered the prettiest town in the region. It is also famed as a home and inspiration to many artists such as Picasso, Matisse, Derain and Charles Renee Mackintosh.
Josephine Baker and Charles Trenet (wrote ‘La Mer’) also lived there. The point is that this is a fantastic place to wander around or just sit on the terrace by the sea drinking wine and
watching the world go by. We had rented an apartment which turned out to be tiny, luckily some brought ear plugs! But the view was beautiful. It’s just at the foot of the Pyrenees so there
are lots of good walks nearby or cute villages and towns to visit. We visited Céret and Castelnou in the mountains, which is a good way to beat the disappointment when you are not able to
dive, and fun for non-diving partners!
Portland 5-6 June 2010
A small but perfectly formed group of some of Holborn's more experienced divers took to the seas to dive on some of Weymouth's deeper wrecks.
On Saturday the weather gods were smiling upon us - gentle summer sun with a very light breeze resulting in a virtually flat calm sea, great for a smooth ride to our first site; the Aeolian Sky. The Sky was a 14 thousand tonne
Greek cargo ship that went down in the late seventies. The wreck is spread over a massive area and is very difficult to miss on the echo sounder - even by Holborn!!! Divng on the wreck is an interesting experience, because of the scale of the site it's really difficult to tell where you are - lucky for us we had Nic on hand to tell us that we were on the keel (that's the bit that runs along the ENTIRE length of the underside of the ship) ... Glad we got that figured out!!!! Viz was really good, between 5 and 6 meters. Second dive of the day was a drift south of Grove Point which was a bit of an exploritory dive and proved to be a good choice. Initially we hit gravel - always a disappointing sight of a drift dive. As the drift south continued we travelled over a really varied set of terrains. First up we came across what came best be described as a boulder field. Some enormous boulders appeared out of the murk, some so big that you felt you were about to discover an unknown wreck not seen for centuries. After the boulders in shallower water we came across a kelpy reef with plenty of fish life. Also of note on the dive was a spider size of a small house!!!
On Sunday the weather closed in and our planned trip to the M2 got canned. Instead we headed to the Binnendijk - another site with wreckage spread over a large area. This was definitely a great attribute because 6 other dive boats appeared on the site with us so there was plently of room for everyone!!! Although we initially thought out shot was a little off the wreck in actual fact is was almost perfect - right next to one of the boilers. The reports before the dive was that it was almost flat and there was nothing to see - but in actual fact its a very varied site with some big structures still visible. It's not a wreck that is "ship-shaped" but definitely worth doing. The dive was thoroughly enjoyable with excellent visibility and we only saw one other buddy pair!!
Portland Late May Bank Holiday, 29-31 May 2010
Is it a bird? Is it a plane? No! It's Holborn...dressed as Superheroes!!! What the..?
Several of Holborn’s elder members (Miranda apart) mustered at Weymouth’s fine new marina for the Club’s inaugural Superhero dive… The rain was driving, the wind was howling, temperatures were low but spirits were high! Our mutual objective became clear: we’re here so we go for a dive. A dive. Each day. Then we get warm and have a good meal.
That suits us all so we load up and poke our noses through the outer breakwater to fall in on a silty drift dive featuring fine sand and lumpy rocks. Riding the swell amongst us are the local charter boats so we feel good that we made the optimum decision given the prevailing conditions. (Note for log book – “weather poor”). We’ve had our dive so off to the YHA. We feel even better after a tremendous meal at the Bluefish Café.
On Sunday the skies are clearer, although my notes blow across the car park. We are all still keen as we motor out to Lulworth Banks and take the opportunity to scan for marks with the new Hummingbird side scan sonar. A pretty drift dive ensues and with all happy we are home satisfied.
Portland 22-23 May 2010
Susie and the Holborn divers enjoy the hottest weekend of the year so far.
What a weekend! We had near perfect weather - calm seas and glorious sunshine. Saturday was 24 degrees and Sunday about 27! Wind speed had dropped considerably compared to what had been forecast, little more than a gentle breeze. Everything went to plan. Visibility was good for the first dive, the Countess (well, it was the first dive of the season for a lot of people) although the May plankton bloom was out in force for the rest - at least that means the water is warming up.
The slightly warmer water meant that there was more life to see than on previous dives recently. The Countess was teeming with shoals of fish including one particularly friendly Cuckoo Wrasse. Our second dive was a drift at White Nothe Point although their wasn't actually a lot of current. Crabs were everywhere; Brown, Hermit and, mostly, Spider. Hightlight of the dive had to be spotting a large Anglerfish which several of the group hadn't ever seen before. After the dive with so many crabs it seemed only fitting that we went to the, now infamous, Crab House Cafe for dinner - our little crusty friends didn't disappoint - yum!
Sunday morning's dive was The Spaniard, inside the harbour. Once again, thanks to the bloom, vis was a bit poor but, despite this, we did manage to spot a nudibranch. Sorry Dave, don't have it's latin name! After lunch we headed out to Balaclava Bay for the, by now almost traditional, scallop hunt. With only a gentle current and reasonable vis, we were able to gather quite a few scallops and so could look forward to a tasty meal once we got back to London.
All in all, a great weekend. In particular, we stayed at Boscawen House near Castletown which worked out really well. At just £18.00 per person per night it was great value for Portland and there was plenty of space to leave your kit out to dry, so we'll definitely be going back there soon - well recommended!
Weymouth 15-16 May 2010
The Dive Leader trainees take advantage of a bit of sunshine down in Portland.
The aim of the weekend was to complete the first four Dive Leader practical exercises. For some of the later DL exercises it makes sense to do them in a sheltered area in or near the harbour but for the earlier ones it's possible, conditions permitting, to venture out to somewhere more interesting. Conditions certainly did permit on the Saturday, it was warm and sunny most of the day with light winds from the west.
So on Saturday morning we headed across to Worbarrow Bay to dive the bow section of the Black Hawk. Even though it was sunny and we were bang on slack we still had the wreck to ourselves, which made a pleasant change. The water was still cold, around 10 degrees, but vis. pretty good at 4 metres or so. It was still too cold for there to be much active marine life around, but there were a few bib and a lot of ballan wrasse. The markings on the ballan wrasse looked particularly striking and colourful (perhaps because it's their breeding season? Note to self - must ask Dr. Dave about this). Oh yes, and there was some wreckage and general metal bits and stuff too. There was also, bizarrely, a modern lump of metal that looked suspiciously like a shell (as in explodey-type shell). Is the senior service really firing shells, even if only dummy ones, at one of the most popular dive sites in the area?
After lunch, and a quick nap, in Lulworth Cove we headed out to Lulworth Banks for a drift dive. As ever there were large numbers of scallops, in fact more than I can remember having seen before. It always amazes me how the scallop population manages to replenish itself here when the site is so easily accessible and so many divers are picking up a few for tea - not to mention the more commercial groups such as the one we saw at Lulworth Cove landing at least a dozen large sacks stuffed full of scallops.
Dinner in the evening at the Blue Fish Cafe was something of a highlight, I thought the food was really excellent. Scallops with black pudding as a starter was a revelation and my main course was the tastiest lamb I've ever eaten - good find Nic!
Next day the weather wasn't so kind and the brisk westerly wind meant we were restricted to staying in the lee of the Isle of Portland. We started with a drift dive off Grove Point at around 15 metres - quite colourful and interesting directly off the point, but less interesting to the north and south. For the second dive we needed slack water for some exercises with a shot line so we ended up in dependable old Balaklava Bay. This is a useful spot for exercises, but not the most exciting dive going and I have to admit that having done the exercise and had a brief potter round I was looking at my watch wondering when we could reasonably call a halt to proceedings.
One final, food-based, highlight was the cake at 'The Boat that Rocks' cafe - highly recommended!
Weymouth 8-9 May 2010
And so lies a new undiscovered wreck in the Portland area – that of the HMS (Her Maj’s Snapper) Canon Ixus … lost in a fateful incident on the 8th May 2010.
Holborn Diver was back at home in Portland Marina after its exotic holiday in West Bay so we took her out for some simple early season dives around the Harbour. First up on Saturday was the Portland classic: the (Unidentified) Dredger. Visibility had dramatically improved since the last time the dredger was dived a few weeks ago – you could see 5-7m. There were loads of spider crabs on wreck – a number happily making there way to a recently dropped lobster pot and a couple probably not-so-happily ensconced in the pot already. After the dredger we header to Balaclava Bay for a drift dive, again vis. was very good. The current took us south toward Grove Point, the sea bed certainly got more interesting the further south we headed with some larger rocks and boulders. As we were de-kitting to get into the boat, Sarah’s camera made run for freedom by cleverly detaching itself from the strobe mount and dropping to the seabed. A horrible way to end a really enjoyable dive.
On Sunday – we decided to launch a full scale seabed search to retrieve the camera. We relocated our approximate position but found that we had a current like a proverbial steam train, not the most ideal conditions to perform any form of delicate finger-tip search. After 15 minutes of fun – and some very unfamiliar underwater terrain we headed to surface, aware that the last small chance of us finding the camera had slipped through our wrinkled fingers. Sigh!!!
To console ourselves we headed to the Spaniard, which we helpfully missed but dived on the Cragside instead. Visibility was appallingly bad (probably about 1m), the merest misplaced waft of a fin over the silty seabed caused the little viz we had to reduce to nothing. You’ve got to love UK diving!!
If you happen to find a camera somewhere near Balaclava Bay please contact Sarah!!
West Bay 1-3 May 2010
West Bay – the final frontier … Holborn divers step into the unknown. Nick Watson organised a trip taking Holborn BSAC to new territory as part of his Advanced Diver qualification.
The challenge was to dive from a location new to the club (rather difficult when the club has been around for nearly 50 years) and with multiple waves of divers. Nick chose to take the club RIB from its home in Portland Marina to exotic West Bay to explore Lyme Bay reefs and wrecks.
Saturday’s dive consisted of a Scallop-feast on Sawtooth Ledges – which was a considerable relief considering Sunday’s BBQ was reliant on a sea food bonanza. The dive itself was an enjoyable slow drift with really good visibility of around 5 metres. The bit of Sawtooth Ledges we saw wasn’t as exciting as the name suggests – we found one small drop off which was a little jagged. The second dive of the day was on the Baygitano just outside Lyme Regis, it’s a pretty beaten up wreck but the boilers and parts of the engine are still standing. Again visability was really good. The evening was rounded off with a Girls v Boys skittles match (note: the boys won by a substantial margin) and some fantastic Thai food cooked by Mark and Zoe.
On Sunday some of us made it out to the wreck of the St Dunstan in distinctly average weather conditions. Kitting up on a small boat in rolling seas with a chilly northerly wind is usually the point at which I start dreaming of shore diving in some tropical location – but it is the challenging conditions that make UK diving so satisfying. The wreck is at around 30 metres and is reasonably intact but slightly twisted. Visiblity was very poor – the lights were switched off below 15m, which made it a really atmospheric torch-lit dive. Weather conditions had worsened above the surface during the dive, the trip back to West Bay was a slow grind through some heavy waves. Despite the dubious conditions the BBQ was wheeled out on Sunday evening with BBQ’d scallops and Lamb koftes on the menu.
Monday’s diving was a quick jaunt to the West Tenants reef to wrangle a few more scallops for supper!
Thanks to Nick and Sarah for organising a great weekend!
Weymouth 17-18 April 2010
Our intrepid Ocean Diver trainees take their first plunge into UK waters and find, to their surprise, that there is life down there.
Having cancelled the inland training scheduled for late March due to water temperatures of less than 5˚C (ouch) this was the Ocean Diver trainees first experience of the open water. With the cold weather continuing the sea temperature was still only a mind-numbing 7-8˚C, but those extra 2 degrees made all the difference. More importantly, it was the first sunny weekend of the year and the winds were light, so pretty ideal conditions.
After an early breakfast on the Saturday morning the instructors, boat crew and first wave of students set off for the swanky new Portland Marina. Our dive site for the day was the wreck of the Dredger just south of the harbour wall in Balaclava Bay. In just 7-8m of water it makes an ideal first dive site. The vis was disappointing due to recent storms but the first wave of students; Greg, Alistair and Marc, all coped remarkably well and even said they enjoyed the experience (though they might just have been being nice)!
An equipment problem meant Nadia couldn't go out on the next boat so Az was all by himself with five instructors and boat crew - talk about being pampered! Nadia eventually got into the water on the last dive of the day, along with the rest of the students doing their second dives. Everything went smoothly and we even managed to finish the day right on schedule, which surprised everyone, particularly the Dive Marshal.
The following day saw the student numbers fall as Nadia and Al fell ill (food poisoning and sun stroke were the suspects) but Marc, Greg and Az went out for dives on the infamous Countess of Erne and, later, Balaclava Bay. The vis was still poor (it does get better - honest!) but, once again, the students all came up smiling after their dives. Once the boat was put to bed (a much easier task these days due to the fact she doesn't have to be recovered onto the trailer) we settled down in the café for a well deserved hot drink and a debrief.
All in all, a successful weekend - now it's off to Wraysbury to complete the training. Thanks to everyone for taking part and making it all happen.
Weymouth 10-11 April 2010 - Boat Handling SDC
The next batch of wannabe Cox'ns take control.
The weather was as grey and cold as you would expect this early in the season, but that
didn't dampen the spirits of the five intrepid Boat Handling trainees who came to Weymouth
intent on thrashing the life out of the (nearly) brand new RIB!
On Saturday it was the turn of Matt, Christine O'Brien and Peter to start the long journey to
coxhood (!?!) by learning all about displacement hulls, high speed turns, kill cords and
man-overboard proceedures. After a good look around the boat, it was off for a gentle pootle
around the harbour practising slow speed maneouvres or, as the boat handling instructors
like to say, the 'important stuff'!
After a brief but welcome stop for lunch, it was back out into the raging seas beyond the harbour
for some high speed work or, as the students like to call it, the 'fun stuff'!
Day one over with Matt, Chris and Peter all headed off home to be replaced by Sally and Christine Birch,
all ready for their turn on day two. The evening was spent in the delightful company of Peter Vojak
and his family. A former member now living in Dorchester, Peter was kind enough to invite us to
dinner over at his place that evening - a very kind gesture that was very much appreciated by all.
Some careful planning the following morning ensured that, after an early start for the
boat familiarisation, we were able to have a relaxed, tasty breakfast at The Boat That Rocks
restaurant at Portland Marina, rather than at the delightful Aqua Café in Castletown - result!
The wind had dropped a little and so Chris and Sally were able to get on with the course in
slightly calmer conditions than the day before - although they still managed to get Roy soaked
during the high-speed runs - another result!
The early start meant an early finish and we all made our way back to London, tired but satisfied that
another group of Holborn Divers had successfully completed the SDC and were on their way to
becoming qualified cox'ns.
Nic
Weymouth 6 March 2010
Tropical, sun-drenched, sizzling? Three words that you usually wouldn’t associate with UK diving in early March. Holborn Divers first UK trip of the season sadly proved that they’re still not.
Holborn’s hardiest headed down to Weymouth for the season starter, the bow section of the Black Hawk, a 7,000 ton American liberty ship torpedoed in 1944 with a maximum depth of 16 metres. Under leaden skies we embarked from Castletown and headed the 10 miles to the site of the wreck. The seas were slight, and even with a chilly, northerly wind spirits were high. Surprisingly, there were three dive boats already on the site when we arrived, an impressive show of like-mindedness by the local charter boat skippers.
A pre-dive hot chocolate warmed the fingers before the cold, wet stuff began. The water temperature was a positively un-tropical 5˚C, a firm reminder that the dive season had officially begun. Visibility was rather poor at around 2-3 meters. The wreck itself is very badly broken up, a combination of a) being hit by a torpedo b) being blown up in 1967 to make way for a pipeline. With the lack of vis and the fragmented nature of the wreck it was difficult work out which bits of the ship you were looking at. Amongst the twisted metal there were various recognisable parts of the ships structure but on the on whole it was difficult to make out.
It was a very poor show from our fishy friends: a couple of crabs (a common crab and a spider crab) and a sluggish tiddler of unknown species (to me anyway).
We returned to the RIB after a pleasant but wintery 40mins. The merry faces of the rest of the Holborn crew were already back on the boat looking distinctly less-warm than they had prior to the dive. Talk of a second dive was quickly superseded by talk of warm fire places and local ales.
Roll on the summer and balmy water temperatures
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