The Phreatic Zone

Day 4
We awoke after limited sleep due to the rough crossing, to shouts and screams, so scrambled up to the dive deck to find out what the commotion was all about. On getting there we found AG stripping off after a bet with Fiasal that he could not swim against the current from stern to bow of our boat.
 

Without further a doo, Andrew jumps in with shorts and mask and gets there……just! Once he reached the bow he stopped swimming and the current ripped him back to the stern and life ring in seconds. Clearly our diving would be today would be a challenge!
 

Dive 1 – 28m for 50mins – Big Brother Reef from Zodiac
Due to the way the current splits on the corner of Big Brother we had to drop in with negative buoyancy and fin like crazy until we hit 10m or so before regrouping. The brief was to get the reef on your left shoulder and tuck in otherwise you’d be swept off the reef and out to sea. On this happening you’d have to bag off and ascend to the awaiting Zodiac, which no-one wanted so tension was high pre-dive.
 

Once on-site we “bomb burst” from the RHIB and finned like crazy down to 10m. By the time I knew where I was, I was already 20m down the reef from my buddy’s and team!
 

I corrected my direction and began finning for all I was worth agains the current. Once into the reef I started gliding and pulling where I could but by this time I was still a long way off the rest of the guys. The rest of the gaggle were holding on for grim death on clear patches of reef waiting on me catching up. By the time I reached them I was almost hyper-ventilating with the sheer effort taken to catch up and make headway!
 

Once I reached them I wasn’t for stopping and almost climbed over the top of Andy Bryson and got myself into an eddy to recover. Dave Dowson also must have been pretty out of breath as when he reached the rock I was holding onto his eyes were bigger than his mask!!
 

Anyway, once everyone had caught their breath we moved around the corner by the bow of the wreck Nimibia at approx 6m. Next thing we were on our way down to 20+ and just before we corrected the situation we were back up at 12m.
 

Once we were shaked out everyone handled it without a problem and began to enjoy the dive. We screamed past and just above the bow of the wreck Aida which starts at 30m. The currents started to tame off just after this and we had much more time to take a look out of the window instead of flying our gauges and keeping close tracks on each other.
 

We surfaced at the mooring ropes of all 4 liveaboards therefore didn’t need to deploy bags and no sooner had we surface next to the reef the Zodiacs were picking up the first load of us.
 

My plan was to do a technical dive next on the Nimibia but after this first experience of Big Brother I didn’t much fancy decoing in these up/down drafts so pondered the situation during breakfast.
 

By the time we had prepared for the next dive, the others who had not experienced the strong currents had returned from their dives to report, “It’s not that bad”. We all looked at each other and guess the tides had turned….GAME ON!
 

Dive 2 – 52m for 58mins – Big Brother, Aida, from Zodiac
As this would be our first tech dive of the trip, the guys at RSE had told us that one of them would escort us to monitor the conduct of the dive and our shadow for the dive would be AG.

My team for this dive was Andy Bryson and Owen Petchley and the guys had opted for a AL80 bottom stage of mix and an AL40 deco bottle; where I was happy to stick to the known for this dive, albeit I would be calling the dive first on rock bottom or minimum gas as it’s now known based on my backgas.

Again we boarded the Zodiac and had to perform a negative entry but we shook out at 6m as a team and carried out our checks on our way down. We were dropped in a perfect position and at 30m the wreck came into view. We had to fin down into the Lee side to shelter from the current, but we were all together!
  We ventured down to the stern and had a shufty around then made our way mid-ships and popped up onto the decks. The current was pretty strong so a good look around was not possible on this dive, but what a beautiful wreck.
 

Day 3
Dive 1- 14m for 114mins - Abu Dabab from back of MV Tala
The next morning all the effects from the sting had resided and I did a dive with Rob & Marianne on the reef again. This time we headed in the opposite direction and found a really nice pinnacle with an abundance of fish life including blue spotted rays and clown fish.
 

Clown Fish
 

Dive 2- 24m for 80 mins – Shuna from back of MV Tala
After breakfast we steamed back to Shuna to have a look at the sea grass bay where there was a good chance to spot Dugon’s and turtles. I did this dive with Andy Bryson and for the best part of an hour we saw nothing but grass. We followed a search pattern east to west and varied the depth up the bay by 5m at a time, but no sign of the sea cows!
 

Movie clip of “where’s the dugong”? Here

I spotted a huge rock that appeared to move!!! We both shot off in that direction to discover a big old turtle (100yrs+). Two resident remora were on his back although he seemed quite happy to munch away on the sea grass. We spent a good 10mins watching until we were joined by another 2 teams and another turtle with 2 more remora in tow. We hit our agreed bottom time and made our way back to the boat. Once back on the boat a group of us decided to snorkel along the reef and one or two started free diving; with Andy Bryson holding the record of 22m!!!
 (Awaiting pic of turtles)
 

Day 2
The routine stayed pretty much the same throughout the week consisting of an early morning dive followed by gas prep, breakfast, dive, lunch, gas prep, dive, dinner, gas prep and night dive if you fancied it. By gas prep I mean; let the guys know what gas you want by taping up your set/stage and the rest was taken care of.

Me and Dave Dowson pre-checkout

Dive 1- 23m max for 35mins - Shuna @ back of MV Tala
Checkout dive with S-Drills, shutdowns and bag deployment followed by dumping gas until your reserve was reached in order to perform a weight check. AG grabbed some video footage of this just in case there were any arguments on whether you made the grade or not! This was not a test but merely a gauge to find out where everyone was. For this dive I was buddied with Dave Dowson.

Me and Dave post-checkout 

Intro
So here’s an account of my recent dive trip to Egypt with Red Sea Explorers

I’ve decided to post this in 5 separate sections firstly to get it out and about and secondly to allow me to plough through the raw footage and still to make the entire report more colourful; so I hope you enjoy…..

 
This trip was organised a year before hand and the brain child of Faisal Khalaf (Dave’s boss), Mel Smith (Dave’s mum) and Dave Williamson (Dave’s mate) as a 21^st  birthday surprise for Dave Smith or Tired Dave as he’s more commonly known.

 
TDave is also a forum member of YD and DIRx to name but a few, so filling this trip initially and covering the team as people dropped out…. by word of mouth only became a real task to keep secret!

 
Dave left Capernwray some 2 years ago as a DM and is now lucky enough to work for Red Sea Explorers as a crew member of MV Tala; but don’t be under the illusion that this is a holiday for him, this guy really grafts!!

 
The team list was made up bth by DIR and non-DIR divers which turned out pretty well in my opinion. Dianne and Brad Williamson were there to complete their OW courses with Dave and Dave’s sister Charley and friend Sarah had only recently got their qualifications so it’s fair to say we had a real mix of divers onboard. There were also a couple of RB divers (Martin & Nicola) who were happy to bimble around with OC at recreational depths and then we had us lot which consisted of 7 GUE Tech 1 divers, 1 DIR-F (TDI Trimix) and a couple interested in DIR (Dom & Marianne). My wife Keira and Dave’s dad Roy would also be participating in some try dives throughout the week.

 
Day 1
Arrival at Manchester airport was uneventful and we managed to hook up with the majority of the guys/gals at the gate. After a 5.5hr flight we arrived at Hurgardha Airport, where we were soon to be met by an RSE rep and transported down to MV Tala some 2.5hrs south.

 
We arrived at the boat to be greeted by Faisal, Andrew Georgitsis (AG), Mo and Tala and an apparently unfazed TDave!

 
As it transpired, the guys had just finished building our twin sets and turning the boat around from their previous trip a few minutes before we arrived.

 
It’s also worth noting that I have yet to see Dave fazed by anything, but you could tell that he was pleased to see his pals and family and appreciative that he would have a relatively easy week with regards diving and language barrier.

…So, onto the diving

Having just got back from France, I thought I’d let you read about our fun.

The trip started off with a long journey from Glasgow – Wallesey – Stratford – Dover – Boulogne – Fressynet; over1400miles in total.

We arrived at the CDC to be met by Lynne who quickly showed us to our static caravan. Normally divers accommodate the challets just up the hill, but due to some debates between the owner and the CDC, Lynne has come to an alternative agreement with the local campsite owner just down the road, which in my opinion offers a better arrangement than the dated challets.

Onto the diving…

Day 1

Both myself and Andy Woodside arrived at Cabouy to find the water level pretty low and the apparent visability much the same, but we had the cave to ourselves. The heavens had opened the night before and were still depositing a much needed rainfall on the region, not much needed by us however!

Cabouy

We decided to kit up and have a look anyway. Having swam through the duckweed and scum to the downpipe we discovered vis  This was Andy’s first cave dive outside of training and without the comfort factor of having CLM in the cave he was a little anxious, which I think is always healthy to have as it keeps complacency away.

We dropped down the steep gravel slope to 30m where the cave really opens up and displays it’s light limestone walls and scalloped floors littered with erosion bowls.

I dived this cave twice before on Cave 1 but  didn’t really get a chance to look around as we were doing lost buddy and lost line scenarios, so I really enjoyed this dive.

Turning the dive on 6ths we returned to the base of the slope to begin our min-deco ascent.

We both surfaced with huge grins and began the debrief during our S.I

Dive 2 was much the same with added skills drills at the 6m stop. We then decided to hook up with John Kendal for a couple of dives in Ressel in the afternoon as previously arranged.

Having arrived at Ressel to find no cars other than that of John Kendal who had brought along his better half Rachael, we again had the cave to ourselves, albeit the rain was still falling quite hard.

After kitting up we entered the water and began the short swim to the entrance of the cave. We fully expected there to be quite a flow on in the river due to the rains but visibility looked great and the cave entrance could easily be seen from the surface.

Having completed our pre-dive drills we dropped down with Andy as Captain, me as #2 and John in the armchair. The dive went smooth and again I found myself noticing more of the cave than ever before.I believe this to be down to two reasons; firstly we used a staggered formation normally used in Haloclines but this seemed to make best use of our 3 HID’s to light up the oncoming cave and secondly using a little height from the line so that your seeing a little more of the cave giving better perspective than staring at your team mates crotch-strap!
We soon reached the first T and chose to take the shallow route having dropped our cookies and made it to within a few metres of where the cave floor opens to meet the 2^nd T, before I called the dive on gas.
We returned to the entrance to find rays of sunlight streaming into the cave through that comforting green hue. Having completed our deco we surfaced to find the sun shining, blue dragonflies dancing on the water and the church bells from the local town of Marciallac ringing…..all that was missing were pixies and cherubs playing hide and seek on the river banks….Perfect!

St George

Rachael had decided to take a swim in the river (13deg C) and met us on our drift back to the entry point…brave gal! John & Rachael decided to leave us to it on dive 2 as they both had a prior arranged fete to attend.Having re-calculated 6ths, myself and Andy re-entered the cave with the deep route in mind. We hit the drop at 22m before we hit our agreed turn time and headed out of the cave. With Andy as captain again we made an efficient exit when suddenly “the light was no more” from my primary. I quickly deployed my Heser to find Andy facing me and realising my failure he backed off the line as I moved into position 1 and we made on with our exit.
This is the first time I have used my Heser in anger and must say that it’s a whole lot nicer to exit with than a scout.
We surfaced without any more issues and exited the water. I checked over my light to find the bulb had somehow worked loose from the slug slightly; so rectifying the issue we packed up and headed for some food.
We decided to take a drive to Cajarc to re-acquaint ourselves with a local attraction and grab some food and a well deserved beer!
Having returned to CDC to fill our tins for the next day we retired to the comforts of the caravan at gone 0100hrs.
Day 2

We woke up the next day when we woke (no rush) and after breakfast we took a leisurely drive to some of the caves to check the conditions and show Andy a few of the sites. We arranged to meet John again at Ressel in the afternoon with the 18’s for a longer penetration.
We dropped in after our checks and again chose the shallow route in hope that we hit the 2^nd T. We set off well and again had a really enjoyable entry with good vis and before we knew it we hit the 2^nd T. It’s always really cool when you see new cave and ressel really changes a lot the further you get in.Truffe

We all dropped our 2^nd cookies just for the hell of it then retrieved them and called the dive although we all had plenty of gas left. We made our way back to open water without drama and completed min-deco.Although we all had enough gas to do a 2nd dive and would have loved to reach the 2^nd T on the deep route; we decided that the dive was a great high to finish the day on with a view to getting back to the CDC to blend our gasses and pack up in preparation for a quick departure on Sunday for our return ferry on Monday morning.

John and his family who have a holiday home (conveniently) very close to Pont De Rhodes kindly invited us both to dinner that evening, which we quickly agreed to and spent a night gabbing, schoffing and quaffing some of the local delights.

Day 3

We arrived at Lantouy to meet a certain Christophe Le Maillot who had agreed to join us on a pleasure dive before we shot off back to the UK. We also met Tom Karsch whom I have had a lot of correspondence with previously but never actually met. We also saw 3 unsuspecting female Cave 1 students who would soon discover CLM’s darkside!
It was great to meet the man again and we all had a good chat before heading off to Ressel again. Ressel The roadside was full of French cavers and the waterside very busy with families and photographers.

We kitted up in the normal manner and were soon joined by John again. Having ran through our pre-dive brief and drills we soon tied in our first and secondary tie-offs and set off into the cave.Visability was zero and you could hardly see your gauge, not an ideal environment to be in!The French cavers had made a real mess of the entrance to the cave and we all moved into touch contact on the line and progressed with our penetration.

Last night Rick and I enjoyed a nice dive on the Kintyre, here’s a few words about it. 

Entry
We wanted to get the dive out of the way this week but sadly that meant diving at low water. To compound the problem, we seem to be on a spring tide at the moment, which meant entry was difficult, especially due to the scooter and Al80 we each had.

However, with a bit of team work, we managed and I waited with all the gear in the water whilst Rick went back for his twinset.  We took 5 minutes to get our gear squared away, then dropped down and started the dive. 

The Dive
On the previous dive we had scootered out at about 45 degrees which put us on the pipe at ~10m; this gave us the impression the pipe was a lot further upstream from our entry point, but last night we kept the depth shallower, and almost immediately hit the pipe at 5m/6m. This helped a lot since there wasn’t anywhere we could tie off a reel.  Scootering down the pipe we were coming off the trigger occasionally to sort buoyancy (doing this on-the-fly needs more work). At 26m we found the jump line to the wreck, and without stopping we turned to the right and followed the line. Visibility was really poor at depth (like 1.5m), so we kept coming off the trigger and gliding for a bit in fear of approaching the wreck too fast! By minute 4 on our timers, we were at the bow at 30m. The scooters were locked and depitched, and we went for a swim. 

The bow is the most interesting area of the wreck with it’s attractive sprit, and ribbed structure (hull plates have fallen away). There’s not a great amount of standing super structure mid-ships, but parts of the engine and deck bollards, winches etc can be identified fairly easily.

Towards the stern the wreck ends except on the port side; we had planned to follow the port side of the hull down to the stern, but this is all but gone, so we turned at a max depth of 46m. Given better visibility we may have been able to see the stern area, but 1.5m really isn’t sufficient. 

We crossed from port to starboard and then came off the wreck for a moment. There was the odd bit of scrap lying around, but mainly squat lobsters! Turned left and the hull wall about mid-ships, then ascended to the deck level.  We slowly made our way back towards the bow crossing from port/starboard and back again taking in things we’d seen during the descent; given the very limited visibility and total lack of ambient light, even a small ship like the Kintyre needs close inspection. Arriving back at the bow I asked Rick to hold whilst I scooted round to the starboard side to take in the effect of him in backdrop to the ribbed bow, it was quite nice. Sadly the flood tide had started running so I immediately felt myself being drawn towards the wreck; it’s surprising how much cover is given by the wreck. Once back with Rick we signalled to ascent and begin deco.With the bow at 30m, we just did 3m/min to 21m for the switch to 50%. As mentioned the current was picking up and trying to keep position beside the pipe wasn’t comfortable during the switch. In hindsight, I think we should have drifted away from the pipe, switched, then scootered back at 21m. The rest of deco was uneventful, and we even had a little scoot during the 9m stop instead of using them to keep position.  Once back on the surface we chilled out for 5 minutes before moving our gear up the rocky shore.  In terms of life on the wreck there were quite a lot of small pollock, a few butter fish, scorpion fish or gurnards, an octopus and even a curious seal! As I said, lots of squat lobbies, and some large edible crabs. The area around the pipe has similar amounts of marine life, and lots of shellfish too. 

Thanks to Rick for a good dive but I wish the visibility could have been better and the current a little less, but it made the dive that little bit more challenging.

A good learning experience all round, and I got to do it after work on a Thursday  Stay tuned for more wreck shore diving madness…  Andy Bryson 

Intro
Rumored to be in 50m of water some 200m from the beach in the River Clyde at Wemyss Bay Nr Glasgow; The 94nt Iron Steamship Kintyre sounded like the perfect Tech 1 level dive to tackle one evening after work….from the shore!

History
Built by Robertson & Co of Greenock, owned by Cambeltown & Glasgow Steam Packet Joint Stock Company and launched in 1868 the SS Kintyre was said to be one of the most graceful steamers of her type and nick-named “The Cambletown Yacht” due to her raked lines and clipper like bow.

On 18^th September 1907 the Kintyre was lost in collision with the 3500gt steamer “Maori” four hundred yards south west of Inverkip. The Maori was undergoing speed trials on the Clyde and although both vessels exchanged signals a mis-understanding on the Kintyre resulted in the collision and loss of the steamship.

With the exception of the Captain and the engineer all the crew managed to scramble onboard the Maori to their rescue. The remaining pair tried to beach the badly damaged Kintyre, however 4 minutes after the collistion her stern began to submerge and twenty seconds further she slipped beneath the surface.

Captain MacKenzie had a miraculous escape after being dragged down by a piece of wreckage tangled around his legs, he managed to free himself and make it back to the surface. William Lennox the engineer was less fortunate having been thrown into the sea and could not be found after an extensive search of the area.

Team
My buddy for this dive was Andrew Bryson who had dived this wreck previously from a day boat and knew the whereabouts and background on this dive.

He is also the only other Tech 1 diver in Scotland!
 

Mission

Dive 1 Plan
To familiarize ourselves with the site and layout of the wreck we decided to do a 32% min deco recce dive to find the following information:-

Suitable exit/entry points
The whereabouts of the dis-used sewage pipe
Gauge visability and current
To check the line integrity and replace if need be
General familiarisation

The Dive
Having finished work on Friday 4^th Aug 06 we made our way to Wemyss bay and began to kit up. There are some make shift stairs which appear to have been carved by the sea over the years. We utilised these and dropped our scooters into the water.

We dropped down to 3m initially for bubble and flow checks then picked up the sandy slope which had a fair amount of kelp on it down to 12m in a Northerly direction with a view to pick up the pipe.

After a few minutes on the trigger we hit the pipe which was full of fish-life and orange and white plumose anemones. We followed the pipe gradually down the slope until we arrived at the end after a minute or so at approx 32m. 

Andy shone his light on a piece of rope which was flapping in the current. By this time, the light (ambient) had well and truly left us, visability was down to 1.5m and the current was fairly ripping through.

After a minute of briefly looking around the end of the pipe, Andy signalled to return the way we came, back up the pipe. Personally I thought this was the end of the dive but after a few seconds I noticed a second line running North West and signaled this to my buddy.

After another minute on the trigger we both saw the bow of the wreck come into view quite quickly. The bow was at approx 34m and a lot of the plates had fallen off leaving the skeletal ribs showing which again were full of anemones.

After a brief look around and keeping an eye on our MOD we thumbed the dive and headed back along the line towards the pipe and completed min deco.

De-Brief

We eventually surfaced about 5m south of our entry point having completed min deco to find quite a swell. The tide had also risen a fair bit meaning that our exit would be interesting. We got out without any problem but having read that quite a few people have been bent by exiting in rough conditions at this point. We have decided to lay line in order to assist our exit for the gas dive.

Dive 2 Plan
Lay line as a marker to aid our chosen exit point from shore to 12m due West. Once onto deco we will drop our scooters here and complete our stops resting for 5-10mins at the surface before dropping our stages.

These will be pulled in once we have de-kitted at a slow pace.

Explore the stern and depths, accommodation and engine room with 21/35 backgas & 50% deco bottle.

The Dive
Scheduled for Thursday 10^th August….To be continued with pics!
   

We arrived quayside at 0030hrs on Friday morning after a long drive from Warwickshire and loaded our bags onto the boat (The Loyal Mediator) http://www.geministorm.co.uk/.

After a bit of a racket, we were soon joined by Davey Willo having climbed out of his scratcher to find out what the noise was. Soon, we were down in the saloon having a quick beer and chat before bed!

I awoke to the smell of bacon & sausage, so quickly got dressed & washed and took my place at the table. After a hearty breakfast, we unloaded the dive kit from the cars and began setting up our gear as the skipper steamed out to the first dive site.

Day 1, Dive 1: Thesis
Team: Me, Phil Osbourne & Dave Dowson

We dropped down onto the wreck and had a good mooch around the entire wreck before dropping down into the holds for a good shifty. The dive went well and without any problems although some mis-communication developed due to a little bit of a current running. All in, a pretty good dive.

Once back on the boat, the usual banter was in full swing with all teams chatting away, stowing kit and preparing to receive the next fill of 32. The skipper now had a plate of hot broth on the go with cheese & ham rolls to boot followed by as much hot coffee as you liked down in the saloon….Just what the doctor ordered!

Day 1, Dive 2: Breda
Team: Me, Phil Osbourne & Dave Dowson

Pre-dive plan and we swapped roles and dropped down again onto the wreck. This was a class dive. Lots to see, places to go and big enough for all 4 teams to mingle about without bumping into each other. There were lots of cool swim throughs to test your technique on and a few great pics could be had too. The ascent went well and on the whole this dive was a classic.

All teams were buzzing by the time everyone got back on the boat.
We stood on the bow as we made our way back into Oban, with beautiful scenery a great day with superb company….all that was missing now was the kleenex!!

Quick shower, dinner A la George and off into Oban for a quick pint of heavy!
 
Day 2, Dive 1: Rondo
Team: Me, Phil Osbourne & Dave Dowson

After breakfast we set off for the wreck, a very distinctive dive and one certainly not for the faint hearted. The top of the wreck sits in 6m whilst the bottom rests on the sea bed at 51m. So like a wall dive, you can really pick your own depth and have a good look around.

Due to the layout of the wreck, most teams emerged around 16m towards the end of the dive, so it got pretty busy, pretty quickly and keeping track of the team was certainly a challenge. The ascent was a bit messy and in general, no one enjoyed the dive. Back on the boat Which was moving quite a bit with the sea state, there were plenty of dummies, teddies and the likes.

So after a quiet lunch consisting of soup and parmasan rolls we were ready to go in again, this time on the Hispania

Day 2, Dive 2: Hispania
Team: Phil Hopkins (Diving Knackers)

We dropped down onto the bow of this wreck and hovered for a min or so to let Phil dial in his bouyancy and generally get sorted, being as this was only his 3rd UK sea dive!

We moved along the wreck having a good look at the holds, deck and bridge. There was some current running so we had to keep below deck level to avoid it. Communicating this to Phil proved challenging as he thought I was motioning him into the holds 

After a quick conversation on wet notes, we continued along the wreck. This by far is my favourite wreck, the size, condition and access were IMO perfect. We thumbed the dive at 45mins and carried out a very sweet ascent.
I was most impressed with Phil, considering he’s just done DIRF, he stayed with me, in position with good control. A class dive in general

We pulled alongside a barge in Tobermory and visited the Mishnish for a few pints and a few drams of the local nectar. Soon the place was in full swing with live band and much banter. A great night and end to the day.

Day 3, Dive 2: Breda
Team: Me, Phil Knackers & Dave Dowson

I couldn’t equilise my ears beyond 7m so canned the dive and relayed my message onto the team.

All in all, a great weekends diving, with great company, on a great boat with a great skipper/cook & blender.

Thanks to Jen and Willo for organising the gig and for the invite, Phil Knackers for the spares supply, transportation and dive, Phil O and Dave Dowson for teaming up and making the dives run so smooth, Eric for his cave stories and the rest of the guys on the gig who made it a most enjoyable event!

Can’t wait for the next one!