Practical rescue management

Report written by Jane

For my part, the initial outlook was not good: pouring rain, freezing cold, two failed alarm clocks (both mine), and two relatively unimpressed instructors. The only thing that saved me from being abandoned was that I had the O2 kit safely tucked away in my flat…

But the skies cleared and the sun shone brightly in Wraysbury, and Sunday’s Practical Rescue Management course was a resounding success. Attended by Fee, Andy, Dylan, Shira, Jun-Ho, and me; instructed by Anne and Liz – the highlight of the lectures was an excellent demo of the potential hazards of downwash during a helicopter rescue, using a toy Vietnamese aircraft carrier, a hairdryer, and a lot of hand-torn confetti.

Our discussions on reports from actual rescue situations initially focused on identifying the seemingly-minor omissions and mistakes that became contributors to the more serious incident, and then on to determining the actions we would take as the rescue manager in that situation. Putting our theory to use in the practical scenarios, we rescued one heavy-drinking, trans-fat-loving, exercise-shy skipper with a heart condition; two fish-feeding CO poisoners; one by-the-book-but-thoroughly-uncoordinated diver with a head injury; an obstructively-frantic diver and his unconscious wife; one incongruously-hungry hypothermic; two of the shiftiest-ever potential DCI sufferers, and so many more!

Shira celebrated her birthday with two cakes. Happy Birthday, Shira!
Thanks to Fee and Shira for the cake, and big thanks to Anne and Liz for teaching.

Porthkerris

Drawna Bay by Fee

Full of life and colourful seaweeds – at only 10m depth at high tide, the bay is perfect for an hour long exploration. Loved the wrasse diving in and out of clouds of pastel coloured cotton balls, Mermaid’s Tresses towering heights trying to reach the sky, golden kelp swaying in the swell sheltering crabs, starfish, prawns, urchins, and a reported sighting of a cuttlefish. Large yellow and green wrasse patrolled their territory, followed by smaller wrasse in their shadow saying hello to the frequent jellyfish.

Drawna Bay night by Anna

I undertook my first ever night dive, an experience I can truly say was out of this world. We waited for dusk to set in and as the darkness took hold we descended into the waters. We were greeted by the eerie darkness, a forest of swaying kelp luminated only by torchlight and a couple of free swimming baby conger eels. At one point we switched off our torches to play with the phosphorescence in the water. Then as we swam to the shallows we saw shoals of feeding fish darting across our light beam. Magical, ghostly, mesmerising.

Memorable aspects by Peter.

It was my first opportunity to provide shore cover on a sea dive (Friday night dive). The big crab spotted on the Carndu dive (which Anne didn’t seem that interested in! She’s maybe seen bigger). The jewel anemones on the Vase dive together with the privilege of buddying Anne on her 500th dive. My second dive on a large wreck (Volnay with Brad).  Last but not least, Anne & co’s excellent cooking.

 

The Mohegan by Shira

This was the dive I enjoyed the most, because I love the history behind Wrecks especially those that have sank for a reason and not man made sinking like those in Wraysbury or Stoney Cove for the sake of training. To know that this Wreck sank in 1898 and took 106 lives, as much as it is sorrowful that people died, what you find from the Wreck itself is a vast amount of sea life making it their habitation, and in the hidden cracks you would find lobsters, cray fishes or even crabs, making it their home. The array of beautiful colourful sea plants, anemone, sea cucumbers, dead man fingers, sponges, wrasse and many other splendours certainly made this dive my favourite.

Video from various dives at Porthkerris. Thanks to Jun-Ho for the brilliant creature shots and Fee for editing this video.

British bbq haiku by Andy

The heavens open

Umbrellas to the rescue

It’s barbecue time

Helford River by Anne

As a Porthkerris addict, every dive has reasons to shine out, but there is something special about the Helford river which reveals its secrets subtly. Dropping down with Benji to 10m we were entertained by the antics of tiny hermit crabs and sea spiders as we drifted gently along the sandy riverbed which was punctuated with clusters of long, elegant whips and curly ribbons of kelp signposting the current. My head constantly swivelling through 360 degrees in the hope of providing at least a few of the much raved about attractions, a large plaice was spotted and filmed, strange black and white bodied giant whelks (?) investigated and finally the prize revealed: a beautiful thornback ray. Yes! Evidence secured with the GoPro we reluctantly made our ascent – until the next time…

Porthkerris Krypton Factor by Mick.

I’m going for the first dive. After a mammoth cross country drive what better than to overcome the wonderful obstacle course of our first shore dive. Abseiling into the briny was a fun challenge and a worthwhile shake down dive. I also loved the post dive cross country hike to the delightful Five Pilchards with its fab mural in the gents and the slightly sozzled hike back. Then wonder of wonders, thanks to Dylan,  to be able to see the amazing rings of Saturn and Andromeda and the Milky Way  in the crystal clear night sky.

We missed the Perseids due to the weather and my car blew up homeward bound but who cares, the dives were all fun and thanks all for a great time.

Normandy

From the 9th to the 13th of July 2018, ten of us went to Normandy. We started bright and early from Brighton Marina on the boat Channel Diver with skippers Steve and Caroline. Due to easterly winds the dive site had to be relocated closer to Dieppe, but we still got to dive incredible wrecks from first and second world war that were full of fish, crabs, lobsters and blennies.

We were impressed by the amount of life that we came across at 25 – 33 meters depth. For some of us, newly qualified Sports Divers, these dives were also great opportunity for depth progression.

Some of the highlights

Just so many blennies

Most wrecks were covered with these little friendly looking fellows.

Free swimming Conger eels and curious bib

Thanks to Jun-Ho for making this awesome video.

The Yakatan – 33m

This is the wreck of a small French Destroyer that sank December 3rd 1916 due to a collision with a British steamship, north of Dieppe.

Today the wreck rests on her Port side, most of her plating has eroded. Large piles of munitions lay scattered in the wreckage alongside her guns, two large prop shafts bend their way along the length of the wreckage and it was teaming with Bib and other marine life.

Free walking lobster on the train transport wreck HMS Daffodil – 25m

A large landing ship that was used for locomotive transports. HMS Daffodil was lost off Dieppe on March 17th 1945 after striking a mine.

Darkness and spider crabs – 27m

We dived an unknown war wreck. As we were descending it became darker and darker, on the wreck it was almost like a night dive and it was eerie meeting hundreds of spider crabs which may have come together to moult their exoskeleton.

Watching the French celebrate

The town of Dieppe is pleasant with a high street and a beach. We were in town for the semi final of the World Cup and watched the French celebrate their semi final victory for hours.

Stoney Cove

Unfortunately our trip to beautiful Pembrokeshire was blown out this weekend. However, this did not stop our divers – six went to Stoney Cove on Friday and a group of three ventured to Chepstow by public transport for the weekend.

With training dives normally performed at Stoney Cove, the camera normally has to sit out and wait in the car. Diving leisurely meant it could come on a jaunt and we thought we would share a little bit what it’s like to dive at Stoney Cove.

‘Stoney’, a former granite quarry, has been a recreational diving and water sports site since the 1960s. Lots of interesting bits have been sunk here and if your navigational skills are up to scratch you can find the Stanegarth, the largest inland ship wreck in the UK, the Gresham, a wooden boat from c1570, the shell of a helicopter, an aircraft cockpit, busses, cars, yachts, a submarine model, and the Loch Ness monster.

The Gresham – This 16th-century ship was discovered in 2003 in the Thames channel. To help preserve it, it was relocated to Stoney Cove. At only 6m depth it’s a great to dive with lots of light and some crayfish.

The Nautilus – a model of a submarine, next to the arches under the pub at 6m.

The Cockpit – Full of growth and opportunity to swim through – at 7m.

Perch, Nessie and mussels – The deeper dives at 20m can be a bit lifeless but around 6m you can stumble upon rather tame perch and crayfish. There are also a few Pike in the quarry, but they seemed a bit photo shy.

Map of Stoney Cove

View detailed map (PDF)

Swanage 2018

Swanage was a successful dive trip with eleven of us exploring the pier, the Fleur de Lys – a wooden fishing crabber that sank in 2000 – and the Valentine tanks which sank in 1943 in the attempt to float across to Normandy and now home to large lobsters and several conger eels.

Lots of life and relatively good visibility – collectively we saw crabs, lobsters, blennies, sea scorpion, thornback ray, conger eels, shrimp, cuttlefish and more.

Well done Elaine and Chris for completing their first sea dives and Anna, Jane, Andy and Fee for completing their rescue training as part of their Sports Diver qualification dragging each other up the beach.

Thanks to Richard and Jun-Ho for dive managing and Chris for organising transport and accommodation.

Lundy 2017

Unfortunately, Friday’s dive was rained of but provided plenty of opportunity to explore Ilfracombe and its surrounding along the coastal path with Lundy in the far distance.

 

On Saturday, after a choppy 23 mile ride we dived in Bristol Channel around the Knoll Pins and Gannett’s Bay, meeting plenty of its inhabitants – lobsters, dogfish, wrasse, ferns, craps and of course its friendly grey seals who tugged on fins, mouthed and nipped neoprene and played slaps with Liz.

 

Sunday with calmer weather let us dive on the Atlantic side revealing the weather beaten side of Lundy with cracks and wrinkles along its cliff edge. We dived by Battery Point and the Devil’s Slide with dancing kelb through swells and current.

On the way back to Ilfracombe we made friends with a pod of dolphins riding along the front of the boat – whistling and surfacing – a wonderful end to our three day trip.

 

Farnes 2017

For many of our new Ocean Divers it was the first time diving in the sea. Well done Andy, Anna, Jane and Fee for passing the Ocean Diver exam and open water lessons in time.

The seals were definitely friendly and the kelp forest magical.

Swanage 2016

The Club went to Swanage last weekend for a bit of diving down on the south coast. We all arrived on the Friday evening, some earlier than others, where most of us met up in one of Swanage’s fine establishment’s to ‘understand the plan for Saturday’ – a good bit of welcome refreshment after braving the Friday traffic out of London…

The conditions on the Saturday could be best described as ‘variable’, it was wetter in the water than it was out –  not by a lot at times though. Nonetheless some good diving was had under the pier where quite a few critters were spotted including spider and edible crabs, blennies, cuttlefish, wrasse, anemones and a ray pup. The vis wasn’t great and did drop off a bit towards the end of the day however all in all fun was had and it was good to get into the water again.

After a spot of Italian on Saturday evening and a couple bevvies to wind down we were up again on Sunday and were greeted with a beautiful sunny day. The day started off with a drift dive over the Peveril ledges. Among other things some cat sharks were spotted as well spider crabs and a larger thornback ray. The second dive of the day was on the wreck of the Fleur de Lys where there were shoals of bib and the odd crab and wrasse – most of the life spotted was at the algae end of the spectrum though – the vis wasn’t great but a good dive nonetheless. Some good news from the trip, we’ve got 3 newly qualified Ocean divers so congratulations to Matt, Virginia and Dylan, well done!  Big thanks to Rosa, Michelle, Anne and Claus for their instructing over the weekend and a massive thank you to Rosa for an expertly well organised and smooth running trip!

 

Selsey

This trip was organised with the objective of giving trainees experience of diving in the ocean, so Anne and I took Martin and Ellie to Selsey to experience the joys and challenges of RHIB diving.

The first site we dived was the Far Mulberry (10m). The Mulberrys were built to use as temporary harbour walls during the D-Day landings, but never made it as far as France. They are constructed from reinforced concrete that has gradually degraded over time, providing perfect shelter for a huge amount of marine life.

It was a day of firsts. Martin’s first sea dive, Ellie’s first dive off a RHIB, Anne’s first time diving the Far Mulberry and the first time my dry suit had a proper leak. I had dived here before and it has been one of my most enjoyable (August with very good visibility) and least enjoyable (December and very poor visibility) UK dives. This time, it was excellent. An abundance of life, good weather, calm(ish) sea, and an intermediate visibility of five metres. I am not the best at judging visibility but some kind person has placed small white floats on the ground chain at one metre intervals.

We set off clockwise around the harbour and even in that short space saw hundreds of juvenile bib, corkwing and ballan wrasse, goby and pollock. As we turned the second corner of the harbour we had encounters with several extremely friendly tompot blenny. Apparently divers have been feeding them, hence their friendliness. I tried to get a closer look, expecting them to back off, but they didn’t – one even briefly sat on my hand. A lobster was also spotted but unfortunately none of us came across the famous giant congers that inhabit this site. Neither Anne nor myself had ever seen so many fish on a UK dive site.

We unloaded the RHIB in a bit of swell, always a good workout, and thankfully the skipper let us leave our fins and weights on the boat. We got fills from Mulberry Divers shop, only a couple of minutes drive from the RHIB launching site, followed by a leisurely lunch in the sun. After lunch we reboarded the RHIB headed out to sea. The skipper offered us a choice of which side of Selsey bill to do our drift on, the side with better visibility or the side with less swell. We decided on the side with less swell, due to the difficulties of kitting up on a rolling RHIB.

We descended onto Hounds reef (6 – 8m) and almost immediately happened upon three cuttlefish, one of which seemed very angry by our arrival. On the remainder of the dive we saw many equally angry velvet swimming crabs, a few wrasse, and a huge star fish, the chubbiest I have ever seen. Anne and Ellie also caught sight of a dogfish / catshark (depending on your preference).
We followed the dive with an enjoyable evening of food and drink at a tapas restaurant, the food was delicious and the portions huge – just what was needed after a day of heavy lifting!

Our plan for Sunday was to dive under Selsey lifeboat station, a new site for me, which is apparently teeming with life and ideal for all levels of diver due to its easy access and shallow waters. To avoid an underwater drift we needed to dive this on slack tide. There are two slacks on this site, four hours before or three hours after high water Portsmouth. We were informed that there would be less current on the early morning (HW + 3) slack than the afternoon slack (HW – 4) but we decided on the afternoon one due to our late finish the previous day.
We met late morning at Mulberry Divers shop to get fills. Little wind was forecast so I was raring to go but we were advised by Mulberry Divers to assess the visibility before we got fills and jumped in. So we went to the lifeboat station and, as directed, looked down the leg of the station on the brightest side. We were told that the horizontal visibility underwater would be approximately half of how far down the leg we could see. About one metre down the leg was visible. So instead of diving underneath we had a look round the lifeboat station, and one of the volunteers told us that the station would be taken down next year and a replacement built further up the beach. We took a walk along the sea front, capped the trip off with a drink in a sunny beer garden, and headed our separate ways.
Overall, the trip was a success. We managed two out of three of the planned dives, people gained experience RHIB diving and a great deal of wildlife was seen.
The far Mulberry is a fantastic site for newly qualified or trainee Ocean Divers to do their first sea dive due to its shallow depth, easy navigation and concentration of life. Mulberry Divers offer a good variety of Ocean Diver friendly sites, Selsey is only two and a half hours from East London (so possible to go for a day trip) and accommodation is cheap if booked in advance (£20 pp for an Airbnb).

The price of a RHIB dive (£25) might seem steep when compared to hard boat diving, but the skipper was excellent (never rushed us, very helpful, good briefs), and the parking, dive shop and launch site are all very close to each other. The price seems entirely worthwhile for the great sites you get to visit, plus you have the added fun of a RHIB ride. Hopefully we will go back next year, showing some new divers the great things UK diving has to offer, and also taking the opportunity to dive under the lifeboat station before it is pulled down.

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