DivePlymouth
13 - 14 August 2011
Dive some of the MOST FAMOUS UK WRECKS
The wrecks from left to right:
1. James Egan Layne – a great dive for novices and experienced divers alike, torpedoed by UB-1195, depth between 11-22M
2. The Maine – one of the best UK wrecks – excellent penetration, torpedoed March 1917 by UB-17, maximum depth 35M
3. HMS Scylla – another great Plymouth wreck, plenty of penetration opportunities, depth between 12-24M
4. The Persier - formerly known as the War Buffalo sunk by two torpedoes from UB-1017 in 1945, maximum depth 30M
Alternatively, we could do a wall or reef dive – lets decide when we get there:
5. Hands Deep – awesome wall dive nine miles offshore with staggering diversity of marine life, depth range 12-55M
6. Hillsea Point Rocks – excellent reef usually starting with a pinnacle ay 8M leading to deep gullies , depth range 8-25M
Operating out of Plymouth by Cliff Newcomb – FINTAN is a 10M Offshore 105, she’s an excellent sea boat and makes a comfortable and stable platform to dive from. With a cruising range of over 200 nautical miles, Fintan has a comprehensive electronic package including: 24 mile radar, Raymarine E120 colour plotter, Koden Sounder and Aqua Scan side-scan Magnetometer which ensures accuracy in positioning at sea and wreck location.
With a stern mounted diver lift, ample bench space and stowage to accommodate 12 divers in comfort, the deck space available is exceptional. There’s a water heater for tea, coffee and hot drinks (don’t forget the Pot Noodles) and a toilet below deck, located in the bow.
Full UK dive kit is essential, including a drysuit or suitable wetsuit, DSMB, reel and a good torch. If you plan to dive on a single cylinder, I recommend you carry a redundant air supply such as a 3 litre pony bottle. Minimum diver qualification is PADI Advanced Open Water, the ability to deploy a DSMB and some previous UK boat diving experience. Having your PADI Nitrox, Deep and Wreck Specialities will help you get the most out of this weekend, as will ensuring you are well ‘dived-up’ before the trip. For additional training or equipment hire, please contact Roger and the Dive Wimbledon team on 020 8540 6874
Accomodation is at the Mount Batten Centre, the South West's premier waterside venue specialising in sailing, watersports and adventurous activities in Plymouth. If you don’t know it, you’ll find the location of the Mount Batten Centre very convenient as it’s immediately opposite the jetty where we board the boat. InDeep, the air-fill station is on-site and can supply Nitrox and Trimix, if required. I’ve also hired a storage container for all our gear and there’s a drying room too. At the moment, we’re booked into standard cabin style twin bunk rooms and triple rooms with shared bathroom and shower facilities. You can upgrade to en-suite twin or double rooms if you prefer for a small additional cost, just let me know.
General plan, we’ll sort out the finer details like buddy pairs and car sharing nearer the time, driving down Friday afternoon or evening after work. After checking in at the Mount Batten Centre, we’ll meet up at the local pub (the Mount Batten Hotel) for a few drinks and a bite to eat, if you’re hungry. As we will be arriving at different times, it is best everyone makes their own meal arrangements on Friday evening and I’ll book a table for us all at a reasonably priced restaurant in down town Plymouth on Saturday evening – let me know if you have any special requests, likes or dislikes etc.
TRIP COST four dives as outlined above and two nights B&B accommodation is £170 (Non club members £199) each and includes hire of a walk-in metal storage container for our gear all weekend. Breathing gas, equipment, other meals, snacks and general spending money are all extra. There are 12 places available and a £50 deposit will secure a place – so don’t delay, speak to Roger and sign-up today. The balance is required eight weeks before the trip, July 2011.
High water at Devonport on Saturday, 13 August is 7.23 am and a 4.9M tide, low water is at 13.23 pm and is 1.19M tide. The tides on the make and a little springy but we’ll have no problems hitting the dives I’ve outlined above. If we go up to the Maine, it’s best to do it on high water slack, so it will be a fairly early ‘ropes off’ on the Sunday as this will be the best of the 2 days to hit it right. On the upside, we’ll be back to shore early afternoon and therefore back home as a reasonable time. This plan is subject to weather conditions on the day.
To reserve a place, speak to Roger at Dive Wimbledon
Any questions, call or txt ken powell on 07989 387792 email kennygt3@yahoo.co.uk
Please note: Recreational sport diving exposes us to known and unknown risks. Agreeing to come on this trip confirms you accept full responsibility for your own safety and you have adequate medical, travel and equipment insurance, the relevant diver training and open water experience. Other meals, drinks and spending money are all extra.
James Eagan Layne
History
The Eagan Layne is a well known wreck and would probably qualify for one of the UK’s most dived. She lies upright on the sea bed around 22 metres to the bottom. As a wreck she is ideal for novices and experienced divers alike. This year she earned a certain notoriety due to a number of incidents occurring at the site. However, these have to be put into context as she is easily accessed by dive boats from Plymouth and there are usually no problems with the dive. The old adage of planning your dive and diving your plan holds true on this site as indeed all other dive sites!
The Eagan Layne was an American Liberty ship bringing supplies to Britain during World War 2. Hundreds of these ships were built in the early 1940's, the Layne was built in December 1944 . As she passed near to Plymouth she was torpedoed by a German U boat (U-1195) between holds 4 and 5 on the starboard side, her steering gear failed and she began to flood. She was taken in tow to shallower water in Whitsand Bay where she gently sank upright on a sandy bottom. There were no casualties and much of her cargo was salvaged
.
Diving the Eagan Layne
She is 440 ft long and was over 7000 tons gross weight. She lies in 22 metres with about 11 metres to her deck. The stern section of the wreck is separate from the main hull and lies about 25 m to the south.
Although the Layne is deteriorating she is an excellent dive. The sides of the Layne are covered with white dead man's fingers and soft corals. The bows are intact and make an amazing sight the first time you experience the size of the wreck. The Eagan Layne supports an enormous fish population where shoals of Pollack, Pouting and Bib mass on sections of the wreck. The holds are accessible although care needs to be taken swimming between the baulkhead stanchions. The stern section is separated from the main wreck by about 50m and was connected by a cable to make it easy to find. The stern is also buoyed separately. There is still some live ordinance in the stern section which should be left well alone.
The Maine
History of The Maine
The Maine was torpedoed on March 23rd 1917 by the U boat UC-17 and sunk just offshore from Soar Mill Cove. For a while her 2 masts remained 12 ft above the waves. The wreck lies at position 50:12:45N; 03:50:53W at a depth of around 35m, and is upright about 15m above the sea bed. The Maine is just less than 400 ft long with a beam of 46 ft. The Maine was "discovered" by Torbay BSAC in 1961. They own the wreck having paid 100 pounds for her. The club salvaged the bronze propeller, and in 1983 they brought up the spare iron propeller off her deck which is now displayed in a shopping centre in Paignton.
Diving The Maine
Although the ship was robust she is beginning to deteriorate however, there is a lot to see on this wreck. The bows are the shallowest part and still support a loading gantry on the tip. There is a large anchor on the outside and the first hold supports a large population of marine life. The engine room is well exposed and the boilers are massive while her stern section is largely intact.
The Scylla
History
One of the last warships to be built at Plymouth the Scylla was built in Devonport Dockyard in 1967, launched in August 1968 and was commissioned on 14 February 1970
At the outbreak of the Falklands war in 1982 Scylla had just started a major refit. So short were the Navy of spare parts and equipment for the fleet that the Scylla was used as a donor vessel and cannibalised to allow other ships to be repaired. She did however receive her refit which was completed in December 1984 and went on to the Persian Gulf escorting British Merchant ships through the Straits of Hormuz at the height of the Iran, Iraq war in 1986 - 88. By the early nineties the Scylla was obsolete in design and technology, and was decommissioned in 1993. On the 27th of March 2004 the Scylla was sunk as an artificial reef. This gave the National Marine Aquarium a unique opportunity to map the development and growth of sea life on a structure from day one.
Diving The Scylla
The wreck itself used to have three large yellow buoys stationed at the bow, middle and stern. Unfortunately these were lost in the storms of the winter of 2005. There is now a single yellow marker on the bow and a yellow channel buoy being used as uplink site to the Aquarium amidships.
A year or so into the sinking of the Scylla, marine life is now really starting to establish a foothold on the vessel. Soft corals and barnacles have now adhered to the sides and deck areas whilst the fish population is picking up.The Scylla is sitting upright with a small list to starboard that has developed since she was sunk. The Scylla was stripped for sinking with only the bridge as a major feature. The doors and hatchways have been removed and there are notices telling you to check your air.
At the stern is the flight deck and hanger for a helicopter and if you want to penetrate this wreck, holes have been cut in the sides to effect entry and exit points. It's worth noting that there are some dead ends that you cant get out of. Just because the wreck has been prepared for penatration do not be lulled into a false sense of security… Plan your dive and dive your plan!! The Scylla is not a wreck to ignore your best diving practice.
Persier
History of the Persier
The Persier, formally known as the War Buffalo, was a 5000 ton merchantman built in Newcastle in 1919 and took part at Dunkirk in 1940. She nearly sank while doing convoy duty from America to Britain in 1941. She remainded stranded off Iceland for over a year until she was towed back to Britain to be repaired. In 1945 on convoy duty off Eddystone she was hit by a couple of torpedoes from UB-1017. Support vessels managed to rescue the crew and passengers and she was left to drift into the night. She sank but no one knew where.
In 1969, a fisherman found the wreck in Bigbury Bay. Divers from Plymouth Sound went down and brought up the ship's bell which now lives in Ray Ive’s Diving Museum in Plymouth. They bought the wreck for 300 pounds and still own her.
Diving the Persier
The Persier is at position 50:17:06N; 03:58:07W at a maximum depth of around 30m. Diving can be done at much any time - there is little tidal flow around her. She lies on a sandy-rocky bottom with extensive and interesting reefs around her. Her bows and stern are fairly recognisable, but the midships is a mess of plates and wreckage. The bow is quite upright and stands some 10m above the sea bed. Three large boilers can be seen. The remains of the engine with large pistons scattered over the wrecked plates are easily found. The Persier supports an amazing amount of fish life. Bib and pollack are especially common. The visibility and water quality is usually quite good.
Diving Hands Deep
This dive site has topography to beat the sights of Pembrookshire and the Farne Islands combined. The visibility is usually fantastic as the site is 9 miles offshore and swept with clean water constantly. The diversity of sea life supported by this reef is staggering and combined with the sheer size of the drop offs and walls makes this a favourite site to all who visit. Dogfish and crab are predominant and there is a mass of coral and sea fans to photograph. Because the site is exposed, good weather conditions are essential, whilst the depth component of the dive requires divers to plan their max depths and stick to them!
Diving Hillsea Point Rocks
An excellent reef dive usually starting with a pinnacle at 8m leading to deep gullies and then shelving off steeply down to a maximum of 25m. This site offers excellent photographic opportunities due to the nature of the the topography and marine life. There are Sea Fans and Rose Coral throughout the area, plenty of dogfish and you can sometimes find lobsters and crab. Dependant upon the tide, the dive usually ends in a drift type dive as the currents can still be felt at depth. Always use an SMB on this site and it is essential each diver carries one in case of diver separation, though we’ll leave it to you to organise who gets the ‘short straw’ in the buddy pair!
To reserve a place, speak to Roger at Dive Wimbledon
Any questions, call or txt ken powell on 07989 387792 email kennygt3@yahoo.co.uk
Please note: Recreational sport diving exposes us to known and unknown risks. Agreeing to come on this trip confirms you accept full responsibility for your own safety and you have adequate medical, travel and equipment insurance, the relevant diver training and open water experience. Other meals, drinks and spending money are all extra.