UKRS Trip #103
HMS Scylla
[Photo Gallery 1][Photo Gallery 2][Photo Gallery 3]
Background
Some clever people thought it would be a good idea to combine a Leander-class frigate with shaped charges and 25m of seawater. It would appear that they were right and the result is 113m of artificial reef to be colonised by various marine organisms and explored by marine organism wannabes...
...it would have been rude not to go for a look!
Friday 7th May 2004
My drive down from work in Witney was uneventful enough, although the contingent from London direction had a tougher time. Regardless all were present and correct, fed and in possession of pints by early evening, some at the Mountbatten Centre and others across the water in the town centre.
The windsock on the other side of the water from Mountbatten looked ominously horizontal...
...after our "relaxation" after the drive down it seemed like a very good idea to file off the edges of Gareth's new backplate (much to the delight of Rich staying in the room below) and presumably everyone else at Mountbatten - sorry.
Saturday 8th May 2004
Up at seven after a particularly poor night's sleep (having discovered that Gareth does some pretty impressive chainsaw impersonations in his sleep [1] and that Mountbatten's heating is particularly effective) we enjoyed a corker of a breakfast although, in hindsight, I have made better breakfast decisions in the past. The windsock was still straight...
The "across the water" contingent turned up as we were in the car park behind Mountbatten getting kit together and we all wandered down to the pontoon to meet with Richie from Deep Blue who was driving Kara C and the other divers on the RIB (Neill, Dom and John). No sign of Sound Diver for Rich, David and Ian but we were assured that she was on her way (are RIBs always "she" too?).
Dive 1 - HMS Scylla
Leaving the harbour was nice and calm and Richie took us through the procedures for diving from Kara C and we began the ride out to Scylla. Past the breakwater (and some pretty impressive anchored military machinery) things started getting lumpy, past Penlee Point and things got *really* lumpy. I might be the only one that was glad we were on a RIB - seas that choppy on hardboats tend to make me ill! We were all well drenched by the time we got to Scylla and were surprised that none of our computers had logged a dive...
Scylla looked pretty busy with a few boats circling in the area so we started to get ready, the other three on the RIB (sorry chaps forgot your names...) went in first. Gareth, Sish, Jamie and I agreed to meet on deck in case there were any problems on the descent and while waiting for them I spotted a tiny fish on the deck. It was less than an inch long and stayed tight to the deck, I'm guessing that it was a baby goby or blenny of some form as I only got a quick look at it as it sped off into the murk. Douglas from the National Marine Aquarium confirmed that this is the first sighting of any bottom dwellers on the wreck he has heard of.
The other three made it to the deck with no problems so we split into our pairs and went to explore. Sish and Jamie explored most of the exterior of the wreck while Gareth and I set off aft doing a couple of swim-throughs on the way. Looking up at the stern is quite an experience, it is just a vast, vertical expanse of metal with no references at all! The current was quite strong so we figured we would be better off checking out some holes and made our way forward doing a sort of "dusty bluebells" routine! In, through some passages and rooms and back out to find another hole to get in! We found an engine room which was populated by a small shoal of young pollack, sticking my head out through the hole in the hull revealed that this was just part of a rather large shoal living alongside the hull.
We found a shaft, which had presumably been a stairwell before Scylla was stripped, which made rather a nice diversion dropping through the decks and eventually worked our way up to deck level and found our way to the bow. We had also found a companionway which made a nice route to swim. Getting low on air we ascended the bow shotline still with a bit of current running so flag impressions all round!
It was still pretty choppy when we returned to the surface and we were quickly picked up by the RIB, Sish and Jamie were only about a minute behind us. The breakfast was feeling more and more like a bad idea....
...meanwhile one of Gareth's fins was making its way back down to the wreck, it must have come undone inside the wreck and wiggled free as we swam to the RIB - it came off just as he was kicking to get back in!
We made it back to Mountbatten without "incident" to find that the passengers of Sound Diver had been slightly less lucky. Ian made it to Scylla's deck before his drysuit decided that a change of career was in order and took up a position as chair of the board of wetsuits (photo). He was back on the RIB after about 10 minutes. David and Rich apparently had a pretty good dive.
Fortunately the chandlery at the end of the hangars at Mountbatten were able to furnish me with a packet of batteries for the camera and several meters of bungee for Jamie and the cafe next door provided all sorts of high cholesterol food. Settling for a coffee and a bowl of chips we made our way back to pickup the cylinders and get out for the second dive.
Dive 2 - Penlee Point
We all got the kit together and boarded Kara C again hoping to get back to Scylla as one of the three making up the rest of the Kara C divers had aborted just after hitting the deck of Scylla in the morning. We motored out and got thoroughly soaked on the way, the sea just past Penlee Point was very spiky and we gave that up as a bad lot. We motored into the bay between Rame head and Penlee Point where we found Maid Maggie sheltering for lunch. I got a shout from Simon Moore from Divernet and they went off to Scylla (rumour has it that lots of sea-sickness followed...) while we found some reefs in the bay and kitted up for a leisurely drift.
Again the threesome went in first and we kitted up and dropped in, once on the bottom in 13m I put up a blob and off we went. We had barely travelled 10m when we found an 18" Spotted dogfish which swam off and crossed our path several more times in the following minutes. Gareth found a substantial conger poking its head out of a not-so-substantial hole and we all found massive urchins, not so massive ballan wrasse (apart from the 2" bruiser near to the end of the dive!). The viz was so good on this dive it felt like being somewhere foreign!
I finished the film in the camera (photos) and after an hour started to get a bit bored, so gave the "time for a pint" signal and we made for the boat.
I know that the standard UK "wreck too choppy lets do a drift" dive is generally pretty pants but this one was a corker!
Sound Diver had done something similar closer in and had beaten us back to Mountbatten. After the kit was dismantled and the cylinders in for filling it was back to the bar for a spot of dive logging and a pint. And we agreed to meet across the water in the town to find something to eat and drink for the evening. Next time I'm in Plymouth of a weekend I will be booking somewhere in advance. There was nowhere prepared to get six of us in for food and drink except for a curry house well back from the main drag. As it goes this wasn't a bad thing and we were fed and watered to a very high standard, all complements to the chef of the Jaipur Palace! There was a rather "heated" discussion as the the relative density of fresh chili (well Gareth's mouth was certainly heated - to the point of hiccups on the second or third forkful while Rich's "identical" dish seemed not to have the same effect) which ended with the conclusion that chilies have a relative density difference to Tikka Masala sauce although it cannot be determined whether positive or negative due to the lack of evidence to suggest who's curry came out of the pot first...
...or something like that...
...they sold beer...
...we went to bed with the wind dropping.
[1] - Mountbatten Centre have bunk beds...
Sunday 9th May 2004
A much better sleep was had by all probably because all backplates had now been filed, the wind had dropped which meant no clanging rigging on the boats outside and Rich had decamped to a B&B about a mile away...
...I figured that the breakfast was still a bad idea and settled for a couple of coffees and a few slices of toast - a fine decision if ever there was one, especially considering the shape of Gareth after his Chili Chicken Tikka Masala escapades of the previous night! Rumour has it that he was in danger of not getting on the RIB at all...
We all made it down in some shape or another and Rich had joined us on Kara C to reduce the weight on Sound Diver (!) leaving David and Ian on RIB 2.
Dive 3 - HMS Scylla
We set off for Scylla again out through the millpond that was the harbour. It wasn't much choppier outside resulting in smiles all round (with the notable exception of Gareth's grimmace). Gareth and I decided that the safe was the sole objective for the dive having heard stories of its contents - we would search it out first then see what else we could find. We dropped in on the stern shot again and waited for Sish and Jamie on deck and as soon as they were down we were off...
...it took us about ten minutes to find the safe (it is just behind the chart room if I recall correctly) but we are not at liberty to divulge what it contains.
The rest of the dive saw us finding some interesting holes and some bits of wiring that had either been missed in the clean up or were part of the webcam circuits that had come adrift and was obscuring at least one passageway. I'm sure someone will have this dealt with at some point in the future. We also found Rich who had mysteriously "lost" his companions and we followed him down a fantastic shaft through four deck levels. At some point shortly after this I had to make a quickish exit from the wreck due to major pain in an ear - a slow ascent to the open deck cleared the pain and we spent a little time practicing frog-kicking, helicopter-turning and stuff before ascending the shot.
Back on the RIB and it was smiles all round, everyone seemed to enjoy their dives immensely and the ride back to base was very serene.
Sound Diver's (or rather just Ian's) luck was out again and he had ended up with a wet leg as soon as he hit the water. The previous afternoon spent looking for leaks had turned up two possible pin-pricks which were duly glued but failed to turn up the 1/4 inch hole in the boot!
On dry land I legged it up to a local shop to get a film for the camera as we had decided that the James Eagan Layne was to be the afternoon dive - I wasn't going to miss that.
Dive 4 - The James Eagan Layne
We got out to the James Eagan Layne to find that the shot had gone walkabout but a hardboat on site was just about to put a shot in. Thankfully the skipper agreed to let us use his shot while other boats on Scylla organised, over the radio, the equipment to put a new permanent shot in place - it was very impressive to see and hear all these local operators working together.
Swimming down the shot I had no idea what to expect - I knew that the James Eagan Layne was quite intact but with big holes and no real enclosed spaces. And that was exactly what we got, the shot was just beyond the wreck and lying across it in the current which dumped us perfectly on top of a Spotted Dogfish which was perfectly happy to sit there and have its photo taken.
As we swam in, through, under and around the wreck there was just so much to see. From bits of wreckage and cargo to fish and invertebrates of all sorts it was all there. I can't really write much about what we did and where we went because there was just so much to look at that I never really got a chance to figure out where we were at any point in time! I know we found ourselves at the bow on the seabed looking up at the vast walls of anemones and dead men's fingers and at one point were in the heavily broken area towards the stern and we swam in and out through the hull plates and between the holds and found the fuel tanks...
...in short we must have covered most of the wreck! Great decisions were made on that dive - such as Rich's decision (after several minutes trying) not to swim up the inside of the mast and mine not to look at my leg after the "scratching sensation" when snagging a bit of rusty Liberty Ship with my leg.
You know when it has been a corking dive when nobody can keep quiet on the ride home. There was a hubbub aboard Kara C with people claiming it as their "best UK dive" and even "best dive ever". I have to say that it may well have been my favourite UK dive so far. So many safe holes to get into and so much marine life made it just exquisite and being in only 20m meant that there was plenty of light and the viz was superb.
In short, if all UK diving was like that we would never go on holiday!
On the RIB on the way home Sish asked "What have you done to your drysuit?"
"What do you mean?" I replied
"Have a look at your leg..."
"Oh sh*t!"
A 2" gash at the top of the secondary panel on the leg had very nearly made it through the actual membrane material of the suit! A spot of needle work will be required if ever I find watery coloured thread (I believe they keep it next to the tartan paint...)
Back on dry land and we were also missing Jamie's torch taking the total to 2 drysuits (one superficial), one fin and a torch (any further additions to me please).
The bar was shut by the time we got everything together so we sat out the front of Mountbatten with a cold coke and collected the autographs of our buddies and started to make our way home...
...which was more eventful still. Rich was off in some Nitrogenised state and completely failed to turn off the M5 and ended up at Bristol! I did the same however I had planned to. What I hadn't planned was the "water level low - stop immediately" warning that the car threw at me 10 miles from Cirencester! I opened the bonnet to find a top radiator hose doing a passable impression of a rugby ball! "Buggered radiator cap" thought I and continued on my merry way with it half open to relieve the pressure and thought it pretty reasonable making it to Chipping Norton without having to stop for a fill. The next morning confirmed my creeping suspicion taking the damage toll to 2 drysuits (one superficial), one fin, one torch and one head gasket...
...ah well, it was worth it (apart from the fact that I then had to tow the damn car on a flatbed trailer which was 2 feet too short behind a full loaded transit van all the way up the M6 to Scotland at the grand old speed of 55mph!).
Conclusions
I don't think there was anyone on either RIB who would say that Scylla isn't a worthwhile dive. They have done an outstanding job to produce what will be some phenomenal diving in the future once the rest of the organisms settle in. The penetrations into the wreck are easy and safe, there is always light coming in from somewhere so getting lost in there will be very difficult indeed. There was one exception to this and Gareth and I backed out of it - Rich on the other hand went exploring and confirmed that off the passageway were cabins, each with a ruddy great hole in the hull....
...sinking Scylla so close to The James Eagan Layne was a master-stroke. Morning dive, Scylla - new, barren, lifeless, clinical. Afternoon, James Eagan Layne (you can see Scylla's buoys from here) - old, colonised, fishy, organic, living a reminder of what Scylla will be many years from now.
I don't think I'll forget that weekend in a hurry for many reasons. Great diving, great viz, great weather, great company...
...great fun!
So all that's left is the "thank you"s...
...to Richie Stevenson and the rest of the staff at Deep Blue for skippering Kara C and providing air, fins, drysuit repairs etc.
...to the Skipper of Sound Diver
...to the Skipper of the boat on the James Eagan Layne for the use of your shot
...to everyone who turned up for the trip for making it fun
...to the staff at the Mountbatten Centre for making Gareth, Rich and I feel most welcome
...to the National Marine Aquarium for sinking a ruddy great warship for us to play with
...to the Artificial Reef Consortium for hatching the plan in the first place
...to the staff at the Jaipur Palace for a cracking curry
...to my car for making it home...just!
Snippets
These are just some snippets that I've been reminded of that are worth telling...
David: [About Rich Meese] "I managed 43 mins dive with rich before I lost him is this a record ?"
Ian: [Describing his weekend] "it was sunny, the curry was nice and everyone else seemed to have good dives"
Gareth: [Describing... well... I'd rather not say] "Finally.... the pain has stopped...."
Calum: [On realising the problem David has getting into his wrist seals and to the mild affront of his wife...] "Jeezus - that's some pair of w**king spanners!"
Gareth: [Obviously after the effects of the curry had died down] "That was without question the finest weekend's diving I have experienced so far"