Plymouth Sound - 27th ~ 28th June 2005:
Sunday 26th June saw 9 divers travel down to Plymouth for two days diving in Plymouth Sound. The main attractions were to dive the Scylla and the James Eagan Lane wrecks along the west coast from Plymouth.
The trip was organised with the Deep Blue dive centre, taking advantage of the £50 per person per day including 2 dives per day, accommodation and air fills, but no food. The dive boat was a 7.5 meter RIB, the Kara C, which had a powerful in-board motor. We originally thought this looked too small for 9 divers all with 15L and 3L ponies, however with planned loading of the kit in reverse order, the travel to dive sites and kitting up at the front of the boat was very good.
Accommodation was at the Mount Batten Centre adjacent to the Deep Blue dive centre and directly in front of the dive boat jetty. Human fuel came from the cafe supplying a full breakfast for £5 and evenings were spent in the local pubs, 10 minutes walk away, or a short ferry ride (£1) across the sound back into the Plymouth Marina, where a glorious evening sitting outside the many pubs, in the sun was had.
Monday saw a perfect day for diving, very hot calm and sunny. By 9am the boat was loaded and off to the Scylla. A short delay fixing the steering and we soon got to the dive site, a swift 20 minute ride down the sound and along the coast to the west. Located close to the shore, too far to shore dive, the Scylla sits in about 26 meters of water with shot lines at the bow and stern.
Dropping on to the bow at 15 meters in a slight current, the visibility was quite poor, 7 meters. The various buddy pairings then made different trips, one pair swimming the full length to the stern shot line. Our group of 3 made an exploratory dive of the bow section, dropping to the sea bed, then swimming in and out of the many holes at different levels. Large holes have been cut into the hull at many levels to allow entering the wreck.
Later in the afternoon, after returning to Deep Blue for fills, and a surface interval of 3 hours, we dived the James Eagan Lane. In the same bay as the Scylla and at a shallower depth, 22m to the sea bed and only 6m to the bow shot line, the wreck was well decorated with sea life and swarming with fish. Looking back up the bow from the sea bed was the starting point for an excellent dive, then back into the wreck and a good long swim around at 15 ~ 17 meters dropping into holds and various swim throughs. All agreed this was an excellent wreck to dive.
Tuesday saw rougher weather, a second dive on the Scylla was cancelled after a very rough crossing. Instead we made two dives in Plymouth sound close to the eastern shore where the water was calmer. Not as exciting as the main wrecks but a lot of good experience was gained by some members who were novices to RIBs.
Nick Leathley.