May bank holiday 2008 - plymouth
Traditionally South Northants BSAC travel to Plymouth for the bank holiday trip at the end of May. This year 8 of us decided to stick with tradition and make our way down the M4/M5 with both the club boats for a weekend of diving and fun (thanks to Pete and Craig for towing). The journey from Towcester to Plymouth was uneventful except that Phil managed 2 stops before he reached Brackley!
Briar Hills Farm Campsite was not the easiest to find but by 10.30pm we had all arrived safely and settled down for a beer. It was a night for sharing dive stories and secrets and Neil confessed that he had been through Mel’s special hole (on the Stanegarth)! A cause of much uncontrollable laughter. At midnight a shining light from afar approached the tent and announced that it was late and could we keep the noise down. This soon ruined our party and it was off to bed.
Saturday.
As Craig wasn’t bringing the Avon down until lunchtime, the 7 of us set out on the Rib craft with 6 sets of twins and Wee Marcie’s little 18ltr to dive the James Egan Lane. This is a stunning wreck of an American Liberty Ship sunk in 1945 and a firm favourite dive site. With a roaring force 5 N. Easterly pushing us onto the rocks it was imperative that we got the boat slipped and started quickly. We turned the key and nothing! Bloody boat officer!! After running around Mt Batten, Karen sold herself for a jump-start and we were off.
It was a slow splashy journey where we were almost overtaken by a windsurfer but we finally arrived there with a few dive boats already at the site. As it was not very tidal we were surprised to see that their SMBs were drifting away from the James Eagan Layne??? Marc and Phil kitted up and went in closely followed by Mel and Neil. Both buddy pairs noticed that the wreck had changed considerably since they had last dived it…in fact it looked strangely like HMS Scylla!! “Pete you knob” declared Mel later. It was a fun dive and Phil was pleased to get a chance to explore the engine rooms and see how much new marine life had moved in over the last 12 months.
Karen, Fiona and Pete then dropped in to dive the real James Eagan Layne. The visibility was fantastic and marine life abundant. Karen and Fiona found a huge conga and a beautiful cuckoo wrasse posed for a photo opportunity while Pete found a pair of tank bands but was unable to find the cylinder that they would have been holding onto.
Another slow run back to Mount-batten and the pressing winds meant no second dive so back to the campsite for a BBQ. Pete threw a paddy at the petrol station as he couldn’t get the locking petrol cap off the Rib craft. Bless him! The rain held off in the evening to allow us to enjoy a BBQ and watch our very drunk neighbour attempt to walk up the hill to his tent. After falling over at least 10 times Karen and Craig offered to help him but he insisted he was alright. An hour later he still hadn’t managed the journey and it was still only 9.30pm. Fancy being that drunk in daylight!! All the sea air had made us all very sleepy so it was an early night for all.
Sunday.
It was a stormy night and still raining when we awoke at 7.30am but Mel promised the weather forecast was good. Despite the fact that none of us were convinced, we loaded up the cars and set off to Mount-batten with both boats. This time they started and Pete, Karen, Marc and Phil shot off in the Rib while Mel, Neil, Fiona and Craig managed a measly 9 knots in the super fast Avon. Thankfully Pete and Karen were the first pair to go in so they were able to take a boat each when they completed their dive, which meant we could send the Avon back to Plymouth, and save some time.
We all dived the James Eagan Layne again as the winds prevented us from venturing anywhere else. Once again, the vis was fantastic and lots of marine life - conga, wrasse, dogfish and candy stripped flat worms. Phil attempted a swim through inside the wreck which was clearly too small for him to fit through and Marc invented a fantastic new signal for “you fat git”. Not one to be beaten, Phil had another go and made it through.
In for a quick bar of chocolate (the café had stopped serving lunch) and then a few headed back out to dive the Mewstone. Craig stayed behind to tinker with the Avon to see why it was running so slow, Fiona headed to Morrisons for more BBQ supplies and Mel opted to cox the boat. The sun was now shining, the wind had dropped and it had turned into a beautiful summers day. Phil had swapped from twins to a 15ltr for this dive and when he descended he found he was a bit light. He grabbed Marc’s goodie bag and filled it with rocks to help his buoyancy. Unfortunately he didn’t tell everyone else back on the boat and they all got very excited thinking he had brought up some scallops for dinner. This was a gently drift dive with a maximum depth of 17m and a great way to finish the days diving.
Back to the campsite where we set up the chairs for the last couple of hours sunshine. In true Phil style, he managed to break his chair ensuring that he maintained his reputation for equipment breakages/losses. It was another evening of BBQ, beer and talking rubbish for a couple of hours and off to bed.
Monday.
During the night the weather broke and we awoke to torrential rain and strong winds. Even hardy divers like us wouldn’t attempt to launch the boats in this weather so all that remained was to pack up the tents and head off into the bank holiday traffic for the long drive home.
All in all, it was a lovely weekends diving. The weather in May can be very unpredictable but was very kind to us on Sunday to allow 2 fantastic dives and even a bit of sunbathing. Fingers crossed it will remain kind to us through out the rest of the 2008 diving season.
Pete, Karen, Marc, Phil, Craig, Mel, Fiona & Neil.
