Twenty leagues under the sea

Location: HMS Scylla – Type: Wreck – Max Depth: 24.1m – Length: 40 mins – Surface: Overcast

No, I’ve not misspelt the title of the Jules Verne classic, this was my 20^th dive. I’d hoped to hit this number before the end of 2012, but the weather stopped that from happening so it seemed apt that it was my first of 2013 just a few days into the New Year.

We were heading out to the Scylla; the first time I’ve had a chance to dive it since the wreck dive on the advanced course (if you recall, the conditions were very rough). It couldn’t have been a more different picture this time round. It was overcast but there wasn’t much of a swell and the further out we got the more the sun tried to poke out through the clouds. The biggest shock was the temperature. Our dive computers were logging 15c air temp (I was disinclined to believe mine but two others said the same). It had felt warm outside but that’s ridiculous for January!

There were 10 on this dive, nine familiar faces and nice to catch up with after the holiday, and one stranger. Though I didn’t realise he was a stranger at first. I like to be friendly and this guy was just hanging around at the centre not really talking to anyone. I thought I’d seen him around before and it’s not uncommon for me to forget names if I haven’t seen someone for a while so I set off with the line ‘I’m sure I’ve met you before but I can’t remember your name’. Introductions over (the name didn’t sound familiar) I heard sniggering behind me. I, of course, wanted to know what was so funny. ‘You’ve not met him, he’s not dived in the UK before.’ So my attempt at being friendly, followed up by ‘oh, you must just look like someone I know’ turned into what sounded like a really lousy chat up line (that really wasn’t my intention)!

I was buddied with someone who I became friends with very early on in my short diving career; we did our open water course together and I was looking forward to getting back in the water with her as we hadn’t dived together since the summer when she went off to Australia for a couple of months. Checks on the boat done, we entered the water and started descending. We had to stop a couple of times as I was having ear problems (nothing unusual and I’d pre-warned my buddy). We got down to 19 metres and my buddy signalled she had a problem so we both stopped. She then signalled that her heart was racing and she needed to go up. Before I had a chance to react she was off. I tried to keep up to start with but she was going too fast so I slowed my pace and carried on up the shot line. I passed a couple of other divers coming down the line, signalled as best as possible what had happened and that I was okay (one of the guys said later that from my overdramatic actions he knew exactly what was going on) and continued up. I stopped at five metres for the three minute safety stop, wondering whether in this situation I should do the safety stop then get to the surface and check on my buddy or stay where I was. I’d never been in that situation before!

Fortunately a few seconds later the final pair from the boat came down which included an instructor. She checked I was okay (by that time she’d already seen to my buddy on the surface) and signalled for me to stay where I was while she went back up. When she came back down she signalled for me to join them to make a three. I asked if my buddy was okay and got an ‘ish’ response. I knew they wouldn’t have carried on the dive if there was a serious problem so felt okay to continue. I found out afterwards that my buddy couldn’t get her breathing under control and just needed to get to the surface and breathe fresh air. Not recommended, but panic attacks underwater can happen. She was more concerned that she’d left me whilst I was more worried about her coupled with the uncertainty of what I was actually meant to do!

After that eventful start, the dive went well. We skirted around the starboard side of the Scylla while I kept myself busy taking photos. Visibility was about four metres at best though I’d say two to three for the most part and it was pretty dark though brightened up it certain places. The wreck is covered in Dead Men’s Fingers so that was the order of a lot of the viewing.

Dead Men's Fingers on the Scylla

When we made it up towards the deck we were greeted by a few starfish. I managed to snap a couple of pictures of some smaller fish with big beady eyes but was surprised there weren’t that many around. I think part of the issue may have been that I still need to work on taking note of my surroundings whilst making sure my buddy is still in sight as opposed to there not actually being any fish there! The one time I did stop to take the below photo I lost the other two briefly. They were of course just a little way along the wreck; I knew they couldn’t have got far if I continued to follow the side of the ship in the same direction.

Yet to discover what this little blighter is if anyone fancies enlightening me   

Before I knew it, or so it seemed, we were ending the dive. It always takes me a little while to settle into a dive and sort my buoyancy out so it feels like it’s over before I’ve had much of a chance to really enjoy it. I’d imagine that will improve with experience and this was also the first time I’d used my new BCD on a proper dive (discounting the failed xmas eve attempt) so although it was incredibly comfortable, as I used up my air I started floating upwards a little and had to make more of a conscious effort (nose dive and lots of breathing out) to stay down. It also took me a minute to start my ascent at the beginning of the dive in the first place so it may be that the extra padding in my BCD means I need a bit more weight; I’ll have to test that theory!

We settled onto the wreck where we weren’t disturbing any marine life to put up an SMB. The instructor got hers out, started to fill it with air and suddenly let go of it. The rule is if it doesn’t unravel properly and you’re hanging onto it, let go otherwise you’ll go shooting to the surface with it! I got mine out, not fully convinced I was going to manage it (wrong attitude to begin with I guess) as I’d only ever done it once before with help (incidentally, also on the Scylla). After fumbling about trying to unravel it and getting myself in the right position to hold the reel release lever down and fill the SMB with air, I went for it. All too quickly I was being pulled up with it so had no choice but to let go. Not a great result! Two SMBs down, we had to do a free ascent. All went fine. We did a safety stop at five metres though were told afterwards by the instructor who spent the whole time hovering above the two of us that in the interests of safety (i.e. a boat not realising we were there) it would have been better to bypass the stop altogether.

Back in the boat, we set about retrieving the lost SMBs. The elastic on the instructor’s had got caught around the reel which was why she had to let go. I had no good excuse, though on folding it back up I did realise that my reel has just over a foot of line that unravels by itself so I would say that I thought I have the release lever held down as it initially was unravelling when I didn’t at all! Reassuringly there was also a third SMB to pick up for one of the other divers, so it was a day of lost SMBs, which doesn’t happen often.

This was certainly a dive of new experiences. The first incident left me feeling like I need to review ‘what do I do if…’ situations. We discussed it afterwards and it seems that I did do the right thing making the safety stop but I’d like to go through it in a bit more detail, especially what would happen if I wasn’t aware there were still divers on the surface as there were this time. The second realisation is that I need to practise my SMB release skills! Scuba divers never stop learning!