Advancing on the Open Water: A Tale of Two Wrecks

Well, I’ve taken the plunge and signed up for the Advanced Open Water course to become qualified to dive to 30 metres. I want the choice of the majority of dives on offer with my club rather than having to stick to sites above 18m. I also want to be able to deep dive when I head off on my travels to Australia next year, which was what drove me to start scuba diving in the first place. Snorkelling may be enough for some on the Great Barrier Reef, but I want the best experience I can get!

In the last two weeks I’ve completed two of my five adventure dives towards the qualification. There’s a list to choose from, along with a couple of mandatories, which includes the deep dive which takes you to 30m. The main one I really wanted to do was the photography module but the visibility hasn’t been too great lately as the days get colder and darker so it looks like I might have to put that on the back burner, get the course done, and do that as a guided dive some other time.

I’m becoming increasingly aware that the sea’s getting colder (no sh*t Sherlock) and my wetsuit, though thick, may not be thick enough to give me a comfortable dive in the depth of an English winter (albeit on the warmer side of the coast). But I’m going to give it a damn good go!

Location: HMS Abelard – Type: Scattered Wreck – Max Depth: 11m – Length: 34 mins – Surface: Clear

As I set out for this dive from home at 8am the air temperature outside was 6c and inside my house it was 13c (yes, I did turn the heating on after that wake up call). The day before I’d been asking various people what the chances of the sea being warmer than the surface temp are. It wasn’t looking promising, but you learn something new every day. The sea is most certainly not like your bath (as in it doesn't cool down quickly, obviously I'm aware it isn't hot with bath bubbles) and I was surprised (shocked) to find it was a reasonable 14c. I was more than comfortable in my 10mm of neoprene. The boat trip on the other hand was a bit chilly. Fortunately the dive site was just off Plymouth’s breakwater, so it wasn’t much of a trip.

This dive was logged as my boat adventure dive, so even though I’ve dived off the boat a number of times before, this time I had to pay more attention to a detailed briefing to complete the knowledge review at the end. Once we’d rolled off the side of the RIB, it was back to enjoying the dive just like any other. It wasn’t particularly far down to the sea floor and once there we had a gentle paddle around the wreck site, with debris strewn far and wide. We didn’t manage to find the boiler, it’s there somewhere, but instead stumbled upon old lead pipes (sounds like something out of Cluedo) and other metal objects which no doubt came from the HMS Abelard; an old steam trawler which had been converted into a mine sweeper only to be sunk after getting on the wrong side of a mine on Christmas Eve 1916.

A few smaller fish, some starfish and crabs made for interesting viewing, but the highlight once again was a catshark, spotted by our instructor who, after a while of pointing, resorted to becoming a shark (hand, fin, head) to make us aware of our new friend. My last viewing of one of these was a couple of dives back and just like the last time, he casually sat on the bottom awaiting our passing, seemingly not bothered by four large black odd-shaped creatures. Bet his little heart was racing; he just put on a good show!

Location: HMS Scylla – Type: Wreck – Max Depth: 18m – Length: 32 mins – Surface: Overcast, choppy

I’ve wanted to do a wreck dive for a while; my previous attempts to dive another wreck, the Glen Strathallen, haven’t come to pass for various reasons. And so it was that my first was to be on HMS Scylla, a well-known wreck deliberately sunk off Whitsand Bay by the National Marine Aquarium in 2004 to become an artificial reef after it was decommissioned by the Royal Navy.

HMS Scylla was Europe's first artificial reef (MORE INFO HERE)

 

The trip out to the Scylla was somewhat of a thrill ride to say the least. With an air temp of around 10c and the sky looking an ominous grey, it was chilly. By the time we’d got out past the breakwater on the boat, the waves were building and the wind was biting. After being slapped in the face by a wave more than a few times, I donned my mask and snorkel; it was a wise choice! With the sea getting rougher, it took a while for the shot line to settle on the Scylla after a few attempts, which made one wet diver (I was the only one not in a drysuit) rather cold and wishing for a hot shower, and that was before getting in.

After a very wobbly kitting up session, we made it in and headed straight on down to calmer waters. As we got towards the wreck I could make out the general shape and not much else, thinking that the visibility must be really bad. It took a few moments to realise that my mask was steamed up. In my haste to get off the boat I’d passed my mask to the instructor to dip into the sea (I wasn’t trying that manoeuvre myself in such choppy conditions) but hadn’t spat on it first; the sure fire way to make sure you don’t steam up. After my instructor realised my predicament (I was told later it was pretty obvious despite my attempts to signal this by pointing at my mask and shrugging) he settled me on the deck and showed me how to clear it by letting a bit of water in, washing the lenses and getting rid of the water again. I was greeted by an array of fish swimming in front of me – amazing when you go from seeing barely anything to a whole new viewpoint!

The rest of the dive was taken up with skills tests which I had to pass as part of the course, including laying a line on the wreck to navigate, pointing out hazards (holes you shouldn’t go in) and releasing a delayed surface marker buoy (SMB) which is used for the boat to find you if you’ve drifted from the shot line. When you’re releasing one of these, you fill the inflatable part up with air from your octopus (spare regulator) and let go, being sure that you’re holding the trigger on the attached line down so that when the inflatable shoots off towards the surface you don’t go with it!

As I was concentrating on the tasks I had to do, I didn’t take much notice of the marine life around me. There was a bit of a current at 18m so I needed to focus on what I was doing whilst trying not to bash into the side of the frigate. There were a lot dead men’s fingers (I’ve been told if you go to the Scylla and don't see these you’re diving the wrong wreck), starfish and some small to medium sized fish. Others saw a couple of types of wrasse and various other species. I’ll have to wait until next time to fully appreciate the life around the reef.

Dead Mens' Fingers - each finger is a colony of tiny animals

 

That was my wreck adventure dive done and all challenges complete. I can’t say I felt that I performed the tasks particularly well, but I was assured I did the best I could considering the conditions. Onwards and upwards I guess. And upwards we went, into even higher waves. I was wrapped in a blanket as soon as I got on the boat, despite my protests. I’m so glad they did, as it soon got bitterly cold and by the time the other divers got back and we’d floated around for a while trying to pull the buoy attached to the shot line up in the worsening waves, I wasn’t feeling so hot (in more ways than one) either. It felt like a long trip back in but once inside the breakwater things started to get back to normal. It was just the cold I was left with, cured by a hot shower quickly after returning thanks to the kindness of one of my instructors who had clocked the serious shivering and offered to take my kit back to the dive centre. I can’t say how grateful I was!