Ahhhh..so that's their names Jack - now I know who Bill, Ben, the Viking, Lloyd Bridges and StewartTAYyyy actually are :D
If Jan writes up the Carthaginian dive, I suppose I could add a few brief words about our two warm up dives on Laurentic on the first day. This is a 'dive anytime' site as it isn't effected by tide - only swell, depending on wind strength & direction - on our day it was pretty much flat calm & sunny, so the trip over to the mouth of Lough Swilly (from Malin Head) was very pleasant. The wreck had already been shot (around the boilers) so it was just a case of getting kitted up and getting in in our teams - Derk & Dirk, Jack, Jan & me and, finally Kevin & Stuart. The viz was excellent (easily 20M) so we had a relaxing dive around the boilers and down towards the stern,looking at various bits and pieces, and back again. The shot was easily located and we had an easy (and short) deco back up to the boat.
Back on board, we slowly motored towards the eastern shore of Swilly and anchored about 1/2 mile or so off-shore for a relaxing lunch, top-ups & sun-bathing (& its not often that you can do that in Donegal!).
For the second dive Jack & Dirk were sitting things out so the teams were Derk, Jan & Myself and Kevin & Stuart. This time we made our way toward the bow and had a look around the remains of this, the bow-rail, anchor etc before making our way back to the boilers for a quick circuit and up the shot for another unevenful, lazy deco.
21/35 & 50%.
The laurentic (in 40M absolute max and with no strict tidal window) is a great dive for a warm up, a second dive of the day or just a nice relaxing dive in it's own right without over burdensome obligations although it is very much blown to pieces. The viz here won't be as good as the off-shore sites but even when it's bad, it's still very good!
This is an area positively dripping with dive sites of all kinds which is usually blessed with fantastic viz
but an exposed place often cursed with lousy winds
Claire, enjoy your trip to Donegal next year - just keep saying your prayers about the weather! - if you're curious about anything else in relation to the dives here, please feel free to PM me.
Oh and Jack - I'm sure no-one will bother to write up our 'bored about being blown out' mid-week harbour dive!
best
Paul