Plymouth April 2008

Indepth Diving embarked on a trip the weekend of the 11th, 12th and 13th of April to Plymouth in search of clear calm seas and some fine wreck diving with a healthy dose of "apres dive" afterwards.

Divers   Non Divers

Alex Heroys Paula Cullen
Chris Thorpe Joan Thorpe
Jenny Barnes Vanessa Heroys
Sid Gray Isabella Heroys (Screamer)
Peter Askew
Jamie Slater
Joe Sheekey
John Stewart
Martin Miller
Graham Harrison

Friday 11th April

We were welcomed by Noeleen from Aquanauts dive center on Friday morning and left the jetty at about 1pm for our first dive on the Le Poulmic wreck. Our skipper, Doug, dropped us directly onto the wreck with a good 10m visibility, after a healthy dose of shouting to get us going! where we encountered "Sharks" (sort of) and Jenny experienced the deadliest catch!

The seas were very rough and some of us were a little green around the gills after the dive!!

Le Poulmic

Le Poulmic was an old French trawler that was requisitioned by the Brits during the 2nd world war. She was put to work as a minesweeper and surprisingly hit a mine off Penlee point. Now well broken a few ribs are left and parts of the hull are now home to small shoals of fish. We like this wreck because of its depth and variety of life,

Saturday 12th April

Saturday was as windy as ever and with a full compliment of ten divers we set off at 10am ish! to try the Scylla and the Egan Lane. One dive on the Scylla in the morning set us up well to run to calmer waters. Jamie "sea sick" Slater deserves a mention for stubbornly refusing to let the emptying of his stomach deter him one bit!! Jenny "barf" Barnes deserves as much credit on Friday for nearly throwing the skipper over board when he tried to take a picture of her losing breakfast. Another honourable mention to Graham for diivng in the dry suit equivalent of a wet bag!

Our second dive was on the Nap Panta Shoal , a pretty reef with calmer seas!

Scylla

Scylla Reef is the wreck of F71 HMS Scylla, a Leander-class frigate, that served in the Royal Navy between 1970 and December 2003. During her commission she performed a variety of roles, from patrols in Icelandic waters during the second and third 'Cod Wars' to royal escort duties for the Queen's Silver Jubilee. She also provided humanitarian relief in the Cayman Islands during 1980 when hurricanes threatened the lives of many of the inhabitants, before being modified to have Exocet and SeaWolf missile launchers fitted. After being decommissioned, she was bought by the National Marine Aquarium and sunk on the 27th of March 2004 in Whitsand bay near Plymouth, where she now lies creating an artificial reef for divers, the first of its kind in Europe.

Sunday 13th April

Sunday was a much calmer day, unless you were John Stewart who made his dives on the great "Armitage Shanks" wrecks. We set off in calm seas to the James Egan lane in the morning ,which was one of the most fantastic dives I have done in a very long time. We had fantastic conditions with great visibility and witnessed a truly rare event, pictured on the left, Chris Thorpe smiling after a dive!

The afternoon was spent on the Glen Strath Allen, a lovely wreck, spread across the sea bed with a true monster of a conga!

James Egan Lane

This old US Liberty ship used to be the most popular dive site in Europe. Torpedoed by U-1195 on the 21st March 1945, she was towed to Plymouth, but denied entry, so they attempted to beach her in Whitsand bay. Just before they got there the stern section broke off and she sank in minutes. Upright and now shaped like a large canoe since the decks have fallen through, the James Egan Layne is a beautiful historic site.

Glen Strath Allen

She used to be a millionaire's gin palace, lent to the Navy during the 2nd world war and was then converted into a training ship for the merchant navy. The original owners wishes were that once she had no further use, she was to be sunk rather than scrapped. Fort Bovisand got wind of this and persuaded the trustees to sink her near the Fort so she could be used as an underwater classroom. She sank very close to the Shag Stone. Unfortunately becoming a hazard to local fishing boats, she was later dispersed during some explosives diving courses.