The DIR-UK team got together last weekend for a trip out of Weymouth and managed to fit in a few dives.
Saturday we ended up starting out with reasonable weather but a potentially dodgy echo sounder. This was the first trip out on Grahame's new boat Outcast so he wanted a big wreck that was easy to shot. As it was the first dive of the season we didn't mind too much that we went to the Salsette. I’ve dived the wreck far too often now as it’s a favourite for skippers in rough weather. It is however often described as the UK’s best wreck dive and the 5800 ton P&O liner can be a very nice dive.
Divernet | Wreck Tours | Wreck Tour: 11, The Salsette...
Iain got a little wet re-securing his twinset.
The dive went fine albeit with not great vis. There was no ambient light deeper than 36m so it was a rather dark dive. The current was pushing us into the wreck so I spent most of the dive being careful not to get swept into a opening.
When we surfaced the weather had turned from a 3-4 into a 6-7 and was rather nasty. We got back on the boat and had a lousy ride back to port. Most of us put our hoods and masks back on and clung onto our gear while the water broke over the back of the boat repeatedly soaking us. I’ve had better boat rides as have most of the group!
On a personal note this is one of my more expensive boat rides. We were the last team back onto the boat and Graham set off like a scalded cat given the bad weather. I ended up falling asleep while leaning against my kit as the trip was exhausting as did several of the divers. Unfortunately I didn't notice I'd lent on a 2nd stage and managed to loose all the trimix I'd saved using an RB80. As Joe remarked at the time "so you saved all that gas on the dive and then just used it on the boat". One £40 fill later I was still a bit miffed with myself but it lightened everyone elses mood!
Sunday and we set of for the wreck of the Iolanthe. I’ve only dived this one once before so was quite looking forward to returning to it. We dropped down to the wreck and all ambient light vanished at about 25m. We picked our way around the wreckage identifying various features, there are several winches still on the boat and the bow rises up several metres from the seabed. The lack of light again had me being cautious about swimming into the wreck. There are a few items scattered about and I looked at a couple of bottles and other little items. I was on the look-out for another one of these:
Clare picked this up on our last dive on the wreck back into 2006 and fancied turning it into a pair! She's since had it cleaned up and it does look pretty good now.
For those interested in a bit more detail the Divernet wreck tour can be found:
Divernet | WRECKTOUR:101 The Iolanthe 
The group gearing up
Overall a nicer day with a reasonable trip back to port.
Monday and we were off to dive something rather new. Back in January 2008 a greek registered cargo vessel the Ice Prince sank 26 miles off the coast of Portland. The sinking was widely reported in the UK media at the time as the wood cargo washed up on shore. Lots of people were recovering the wood and using it for fences, sheds, etc.
The link to the BBC news story is below:
BBC NEWS | England | Timber ship sinks in rough seas
We would be the first group to dive it and were excited about the prospect of seeing a very new wreck. Weather was excellent with only a small swell left over from the earlier rough weather. We reached the site and Grahame Knott got ready to start searching for the exact co-ordinates of the wreck. Almost immediately he found it as we began to slow down, “well that’s my job done, you lot better go diving” was the response. It's worth noting the wreck is still under salvage at the moment so it we were under strict instructions not to try and recover the bell or anything else.
BBC news pic
The wreck lies in 60m of water with the top of the wreck rising to 45m. I was diving with Clare and Mal and we were the first team in and off down the shotline. There was still a little tide running so we had to work down the line. My first thought was “blue” which of course because the paint was still on the wreck. It was lying on its port side and the visbility was excellent at around 10m. We moved along towards the bow and could make out lot of rigging still on board; there was also some of the timber still trapped. We followed one of the deck cranes out along the seabed. I noticed that the seabed was hard stone and gravel so there is a good chance the vis will remain good at this site.
This was our deepest dive on the RB80's so far and they worked absolutely fine as expected. I looked up at one point and got a mouth full of drool which was not very nice but other than that no issues. We also dived in a mixed RB/OC team on the last dive which was nice to put into practise on something a little deeper.
All too soon we had to leave the site and bagged off from the top of the wreck. Lots of smiles back on board the boat and a great end to the weekend.
Hopefully David Martin will be along with some underwater photo's shortly!
Cheers
Al