Swanage – Another Fabulous Seahorse Dive Trip This Weekend

Picture of By Tom Bryer

By Tom Bryer

5th, 6th ans 7th September 2020

We have had another fabulous Seahorse dive trip this weekend, this time based in sunny Swanage. Thanks to Cat and Gareth for kicking it off by inviting myself and Mandy to dive with them on the Saturday, this was the catalyst to a total of 4 days diving with Swanage Boat Charters.

Friday 4th September - The Kyarra

At this time of the year a relatively late ropes off meant low light for the dive. The Kyarra was torpedoed by UB-57 on the 26th May 1918 with a loss of 6 crew members. She is a well dived wreck but the storms earlier in the year have opened up some more of the hull revealing new treasures, it was the treasure we were interested in. We were enthusiastic as we descended the shot line down towards the wreck. Unfortunately somebody turned out the lights at 15m and the wreck was in pitch dark with around .5m of visibility in the torch light. We congregated around the area where the treasure was supposed to be and spent some time trying to get to grips with the treasure hunt. Realising that we were drifting in and out of an overhead environment Mandy, Ian and myself decided the discretion was the better part of valour and decided to call the dive and make a nice safe ascent underneath Mandy’s SMB. Unfortunately the visibility on the Kyarra set the trend for the weekend.

Divers were:

  • Ian Gale (Ziggy Doods)
  • Peter Eastland
  • Mandy Bryer
  • Tom Bryer
  • Alan White

Saturday 5th September - Scallop Drift

A very pleasant drift on the Peveril Ledges leading on to the scallop fields. Ian and I were buddies, I managed to offload my DSMB onto Ian because I was taking video on this dive. Visibilty was a green 2m – 3m but plenty of ambient light at 20m and a nice gentle 1 knot drift.

Divers were:

  • Ian Gale (Ziggy Doods)
  • Tom Bryer
  • Cat and Gareth

Saturday 5th September - Swanage Pier

After talking about it the whole summer we finally got to dive under the Pier. Visibilty was around 2m – 3m but loads of ambient light and lots of critters including shrimp. A bit tricky in places with other divers on their own mission but still very enjoyable.

Divers were:

  • Mandy Bryer
  • Tom Bryer
  • Cat and Gareth

Saturday 5th September - The Fleur de Lys

We never have much luck with either viz or current on this dive. Visibility again let us down but Sinbad (skippering Viper) certainly got the tide right and we plopped in on slack which was great. The usual stuff to see and nice to see the John Dorys are still there. A very nice transit over to the barge, again, nice not to be fighting the current. The barge was full of Pollack and the usual critters. We transited back to the Fleur and decided to ascend the shot line as the current was still very manageable. All in all, a very enjoyable dive.

Divers were:

  • Mandy Bryer
  • Tom Bryer
  • Cat and Gareth

Sunday 6th September - Swanage Pier

Pretty much the same as the day before. It was nice to be diving with Chris again and the dive set us up well for the Carentan.

Divers were:

  • Mandy Bryer
  • Tom Bryer
  • Chris Smith

Sunday 6th September - Carentan

The Carentan was a French submarine chaser which sunk in heavy seas with the loss of 17 souls. She now lies at 30m and yes, you guessed it, the lights went out again, not quite as dark as our Friday dive on the Kyarra and slightly better visibility meant that my buddy Alan and me could get a nice dive in with Alan even finding treasure although we couldn’t work out what it was!! Unfortunately we were on air for this dive and so ascended after incuring a 9 minute deco penalty. Great dive and lots of fun.

Divers were:

  • Claire Winchcombe
  • Tom Bryer
  • Chris Smith
  • Alan White

Monday 7th September - Peveril Ledge Drift

No improvement in the visibility with a green 3m at best but loads of ambient light and a slightly faster current meant a good, fun dive. Steve managed to bag himself some scallops. The perfect weather made for a very enjoyable dive. Ooh, also, I managed to offload my DSMB again on Mandy because I was ‘Videoing!!’

Divers were:

  • Mandy Bryer
  • Tom Bryer
  • Andrew Osborne
  • Dave Hall
  • Steve Marchant
  • Mark Lewis

Monday 7th September - SV Fenna

The Fenna is known locally as ‘The Glass Wreck’ due to its cargo of sheet glass among some other stuff. She lies at 24m and is not dived as much as the other wrecks partly because she is a good 40 minute transit from the dock. Bryan, our skipper, warned us that the visibility might not be very good but we were still keen to have a look. Scubasteve and Dave went in first, Steve was the ‘lemon’ man, their job was to ensure the shot was secure and on the wreck, it was and Steve released the lemon to tell us all we were good to go. Mandy and I went in next followed by Mark and Ossie. The skipper was right, the viz was 1m at best and dark. Mandy and I had one pass up the side of the wreck and decided to call it a day.
 
All in all we had a very enjoyable weekend of diving with a great bunch of divers, the banter was on top form, the weather was kind and the visibility? Well, that’s UK diving for you, suck it up and carry on diving….

Divers were:

  • Mandy Bryer
  • Tom Bryer
  • Andrew Osborne
  • Dave Hall
  • Steve Marchant
  • Mark Lewis

Fun Snaps From The Trip
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