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Devon (Dartmouth) : 1998 by Matt Stevens

The Best Laid Plans of Mice and Divers

Dive planning has been anything but straightforward this year and a quick trip to Devon proved to be no exception. The idea was for three of us to visit our old Training Officer Ian, who moved to Newton Abbot at the end of 1997, book some places on a boat and dive on some of the local wrecks. A long weekend in the middle of August was agreed as being ideal, avoiding the bank holiday traffic.

Time off work was applied for, a boat was booked and barring bad weather, we were all set to dive on some deepish wrecks in Babbacombe bay.

The first change of plan happened when one of our number realized they had a problem with the dates. We considered changing dates but it was too late. We would just have to press on as a three, usually I dislike threesomes on deeper dives but the divers concerned were all experienced and equipped for the planned 30m range dives.

Where's the RIB?

So when Friday the 14^th arrived, Alan and myself set off for Newton Abbot. The weather was excellent and the forecast clear. What could possibly go wrong? We found out just after arriving at Ian’s around 7:00pm. A call from Teign Divers, revealed that the boat was broke and they had no means of taking us diving. After some frantic telephoning we spoke to Gary from Ocean Adventures who would take us out in a RIB from Dartmouth, he was in the pub at the time of the ‘booking’ and we were all a little worried that he may not turn up.

The next morning we stand expectantly on the pontoon at Dartmouth ready to go 10 minutes before the appointed time. Half an hour later and we are still waiting, the only good news is that two other divers have also turned up, but still no RIB. Just as we are getting anxious, a large pleasure boat glides across the river aiming for the pontoon. Mutterings start the jist of which is "Where’s the RIB gonna park?"

Contemplating having to shift the kit off the pontoon, no one pays much attention to the skipper asking if we are the cruise party. "Mr Ian’s party, River Dart sightseeing trip for three…" This was just too much for Ian who curtly informed the skipper that we are waiting for a RIB to go diving off. ‘Oh well I better take you on this then!’ It turns out Gary has a very dry sense of humor.

The plan changes yet again, with the start time postponed by 40 minutes and another pair of divers will be on the boat. Carefully kit is loaded on to ‘Legend’ and I just can’t help thinking how much damage a weight belt might do to the sparkling gel coat or the scrubbed mahogany deck. As is traditional the final two divers turn up ten minutes late and at last we can plan some dives. The experience levels of the other divers quickly rules out any wreck diving and we agree to dive the Mew Stone, a craggy peak just outside the river entrance. Gary suggests that Ian, Alan and myself are dropped in on the deeper seaward side and the other two pairs placed on the shallower shore side.

Star Fish on the Mew Stone

Kitting up on Legend is surprisingly easy, with other divers shunted to the top deck and wheel house, there is plenty of room for four divers to stumble about. A number of pot lines close in to the Stone mean we will have to use a delayed SMB and make an unguided descent into what we are assured will be about 20 meters. Exiting the boat is straightforward, as there is a free board and the back of the boat opens a la Nancy Anne style.

Once in the water the three of us make contact, signal to the boat and start to descend. Passing 15m I look down expecting to see the bottom. At 20m the bottom is still not in site and the torch is switched on. Passing 25m I adjust my buoyancy to slow down and think about deploying the DSMB. The bottom finally comes into view and we touch down at 33m on the sand, now I remember why I wrote down the compass bearing. After a short swim we find the bottom of the rock at 31m and work up to 25m quickly in an effort to prolong our no decompression time. Visibility is not bad at about 10m in clear water but silt from the river is easily disturbed with visibility falling to a more Solentesque 5m. There is not much to see lower down although the rock face is quite dramatic. Ascending slowly reveals a mass of life including blennies, wrasse, spider and edible crab (I really ought to get better at fish ID). On the shore side at about 20m there is a wall of starfish feeding on the mussels. The majority of the rocks inhabitants shelter in small gullies around 12m.

Alan and Matt contemplate a hard days diving in the lap of luxury

After 40 minutes and a three-minute safety stop we arrive back on the surface with Gary hovering close by, having already picked up one pair. Getting back on board Legend is a bit different, once in contact with the boats stern, turn around and wait to be bodily hauled by the pillar valve onto the free board which is then raised by winch.

The second dive involved a drift off Salcomb beach. The less said about this the better, ‘mediocre’ is all I will say.

Before leaving Gary for the evening we agreed a loose plan for the following day. We would try and get out to one of the many wrecks off Salcomb but it depended on the group of Brummies who were also booked on the boat, Gary had taken them diving before and thought they might be willing.

Next day on the pontoon we take great delight in listening to the Brummies debating,

‘Where’s the RIBs gonna park if that bloody great big pleasure cruiser ties up.’

After the inevitable… ‘We’re not diving off that are we?’ …Talk turns to diving. Unfortunately the Birmingham contingent neglected to mention that they were running an Advanced Open Water course and their gaggle of students are no way ready for a deep wreck dive. So we compromise on the Black stone (the Mew stone’s big brother) followed by a look at Prawle Point, a wreck site near Salcomb with a range of depths from 6m.

Diving the Black stone is very similar to the Mew stone, including the 20m bottom being at 30m+. The highlight of the dive was watching Ian catch a lobster one claw at a time. We ascended a peak that stopped 10m short of the surface but the next peak along was not visible, so with time fast running out I deployed the DSMB. After the buoy had risen about 3m a surface current found it and line started reeling off rapidly. Sheltering in the lee of the rock Ian and Alan were blissfully unaware of the fact that the DSMB was attempting to drag me off. With one hand on the reel and the other gripping the rock communication was challenging. I guess they must have heard my loud thinking as they both grabbed hold and off we went at a couple of knots behind the buoy. Some frantic reeling in just about stopped us from swinging under the buoy and ending up several meters deeper.

Edible crab on the Black stone (this ones called dinner)

We completed the two minutes of mandatory stops at 6m and a further 3 minutes at 3m before surfacing about half a mile from Legend where Gary was still attempting to drop the Brummies in. Luckily (the need to urinate on surfacing being proportional to the distance from the boat) Gary made the remaining Brummies wait while he picked us up.

The 30 minute trip to Prawle point was Gary’s chance to show us just how fast Legend is, 30 knots with 10 divers on board, into wind with a touch of current.

There are three wrecks at Prawle point all stacked on top of each other. The local archaeological group got quite upset when the more recent Greek freighter buried the two older wrecks. Finding the site is pretty simple as bits of wreckage are lodged up the cliff face and an engine block pokes out the water.

The Bottom slopes gently off to 20m but the best of the site is between 6m and 12m. At first glance it looks like there is nothing to see but kelp. However descending into the kelp reveals large sections of wreckage with smaller items scattered through rocky gullies. The bottom is mainly rock with some patches of shale and visibility is a stunning 20m. The varied marine life includes swimming crabs, pollock, cuckoo wrasse and the inevitable poor cod. We spent well over an hour exploring swim-throughs and gullies before finning back to the moored boat. Legend was full of smiling divers, even the Brummie instructors had enjoyed it and their students had got a taste of what diving can be like. The shallowest was by far the best dive we made while in Devon.

On Monday morning our hosts Sophie and Ian returned to work, while Alan and I set off back to Portsmouth. Somewhere along the A380 we decided it would be worth de-touring to Portland to try and get a dive on the Hood, the weather was fine although the breeze was stiffening. After asking at Parry’s and Portland Divers we ambled into Budgie’s with the idea of getting some breakfast. There was a boat going to the Pomeranian but it left in 5 minutes, which was just enough time to load our gear on board Top Gun, where we then waited for the obligatory late comers to get a Nitrox fill.

The dive was worth the effort. The ‘Pom’ is a big wreck and descending the shot line we could almost see both ends. Visibility was awesome and a torch unnecessary even at 37m (Having left my main torch at Ian’s I can assure you this is no exaggeration). I have no idea about the marine life, looking at the wreck took up all my time. We tried in vane to reduce our depth and briefly extend bottom time, but after just 20 minutes it was time to ascend to the first stage of our ten minutes of decompression. Hanging on the shallow stop looking at the 50 bar left in my single 12 the decision was made, must get a twinset. Glancing at Alan I was pretty sure he was thinking the same. This stunning dive had been nessacarily all too short and demonstrated we had found the limit of our single and pony cylinder set up.

On surfacing we found the breeze had picked up some, it was raining and the waves were now a couple of meters high. Watching Top Gun heading towards me with an inch of keel left in the water is about the scariest thing I have seen while diving. There was no way to approach the boat, so Budgie threw a line from the stern and dragged us to the ladder one at a time. The ride back was a bit rough especially after one of the engines packed up and the speed reduced to 5 knots.

In the course of the weekend very little had gone according to our very sketchy plan. However we had seen Sophie and Ian, dived on some worthwhile wrecks and most importantly, had a great weekend. What more could anyone want from a dive plan?.