This was a great weekends diving.
Below is my summary, Trip report and Highlights Gallery. Also included Is Epic Neil's report of the Saturday, selected links and individual galleries for the contributing photographers.
Neill
Dom
John
Suzi
Alan
Liz
Jo
Chris
Epic Neil
Trip Report. Didn't fancy the weather but it all turned out grand.
I have never been to Falmouth before, despite living in Cornwall since 1980 this is in fact shamefully the furthest west I have been! Doh! A situation which I will endeavour to rectify.
Easy trip down, no navigation problems, all arrived present and correct. From the moment we saw Redeemer we knew we were in for a good weekend as she is a good looker; broad across the stern giving ample kitting up space for all. I was very excited about diving the Manacles and the famous wrecks but was not blown away but enjoyed the dives very much. We seem to have become a camera packing group! The buddy groups fell naturally Dom pairing with Jo, Suzi with Chris, John with Alan. I was going to be buddying up with one of Epic's (Neil) group but they seemed to have clear plans and I preferred a meander so I tagged on to the Bristol pair. Visibility was good and the highlight for me was spotting an Anglerfish (Lophius piscatorius) about 1m in length.
MoheganVolnaySaturday concluded we proceeded to the pleasant but unenthusiastic B&B. We divided the rooms up and Alan made a uncharacteristic sprint for the double bed in the lads room. We proceeded out for a shandy and bite in the pleasant Falmouth quayside. We had a pretty fine waitress or two and the grub wasn't bad. For the record we went to the Warehouse Bistro.
The odd glass was taken in the pub. We slept like babies.
The day dawned and we had a pleasant breakfast, nice ingredients but could've eaten it twice, from unenthusiastic landlady, who missed her lie-in. Shaun and Becky were twiddling their thumbs whilst we minced down to the quay. Relief at not drinking too much or stuffing oneself at breakfast as it was a mite choppy. We sped east to dive 'the bizzies' - nice but not spectacular and the gutwrenchingly fantastic Hera. Bizzies is a nice reef/drift - if you want more info I can let y'all read my 100 Best Dives in Cornwall Book.
Dive of the weekend (dive of the year for me) was the Hera. Knockout dive relatively shallow at 15m - great visibility at 10m plus. Wreck largely broken up but because she lies on a sandy/shell bottom the light quality is entrancing. Many people lost their lives when she went down but they could not have a more beautiful final resting place ( not a huge consolation ) than the impressive Gull rock.
Hera is a top UK dive.
Shaun slammed her back to the Carrick roads and we said farewell to Falmouth.
Best Dive - Hera
Best Diver - Jo - looked like a pro on her UK debut.
Best Photo - Alan's Shot of Me with SMB
Best Portfolio - Dom just taking it with Crustacean Shots.
Best Fish Spotter - Me taking Suzi's crown.
Special Award for Seasickness Conquered - Suzi.
Best Seagull Feeder - Chris - what an arm for pasty throwing.
Stealth Diver - John
Best Cock up - Me hot chocolate deck spreader.
Best Bed Blagger - Alan
Feedback from Dom: Latest update is looking good although for some reason you seem to concentrate much more on the B&B than the diving ... at least we know where your priorities lie!! Also sadly lacking in a mention for my lobster and conger not to mention the monster pasty eating contest followed by the scene from 'The Birds'.
What Conger? Show Me a Picture...... All contri's welcome.
Epic Neil's Trip report for the Saturday.
Yesterday I was out on a local boat, Redeemer, with a group which included Red Neill from this site, and MarkG. Another chap, Ben who is local and dives on Friday night trips came along too.We loaded up at Customs House Quay at about 10am. I was out on the Friday night and it was pretty choppy, so I was expecting the same today. I had no idea where we were off to, but Neill asked Shaun (Skipper) and he said that we could go to the Mohegan & Volnay if we wanted, and I think everyone was happy with this - I know that some of the group hadn't dived either site beforehand.Off we went and I was surprised that the conditions had died down a little. There were some RIB's already there when we got to the Mohegan, but nothing too major.I dived with MarkG and Ben. We were last in. 1st thing I noticed was that the vis was pretty good, about 10m. I went straight down the shotline, head first, going straight through the bubbles from the other group. The Mohegan came into view, so I slowed down and waited for the other two. Again, vis was still good at this depth. We followed the wreck along the edge of it. As Mark and I went over the wreck, I noticed Ben busy looking around. There were alot of Cuckoo Wrasse around, brightly coloured orange and purple. Pollack and Bib were around in large numbers too. I came across a fairly large Spider crab that was busy hiding itself underneath a piece of wreckage. Looking around at the wreck I noticed a large opening within a plate, so I went down to have a look. Shining my torch in I noticed that there was an opening at the other end. I slowly moved down so I was actually underneath the wreckage, being careful that I had a clear exit-point. I then remembered that Mark was with me, and I hoped that he hadn't follow me into the wreck. I had a quick look around - nothing much about. I then slowly backed myself out, and noticed that Mark was above the area that I had entered.Further along the stern of the wreck we came across a large rectangular piece of wreckage that had 2 very large bollards attached. We hovered over this for a couple of minutes having a look. We then continued along the opposite side of the wreck.I came across an area where a large plate had collapsed against another - at the edge was a rectangular opening which I made out to be a window.All along the wreck were broken pieces of china plate. I didn't really 'dig' around for anything, but it would have been nice to find one with the ships crest on. I was speaking to one of the group later in the day and they think that they might have had enough broken pieces to glue together to make a whole plate!Shortly after we sent up the blob and started our ascent. Going through the Plankton, I looked above and realised that I could see the SMB on the surface. A quick check on my computer told me that I was at 12.5m. Not bad.Back onboard, we de-kitted and moored up off Porthkerris, and had a bite to eat. The weather had brightened up a little, but was still hard to believe that this was the 1st weekend in June – was more like April.After a while we went off to the Volnay, myself and a couple of others hopeful of finding some brass timing heads (yes, they are still around), amongst things! Armed with a crowbar (!) we went in last, and followed the shotline down to the wreck. After making sure that the line wasn’t snagged we went off around to the wreck. I did tend to stay close to the 2 large boilers this time, as on other occasions I explored more of the wreck without looking too much at them. There were a lot of Pollack and bib around, as on the Mohegan, but I didn’t come across and timing heads this time!Eventually Mark and I decided to ascend. As we did we came alongside, then over, the boilers. There were about 3 HUGE Pollack just hovering there. Mark moved his hand towards one, as he was really close and it moved away a little.Back onboard we started to de-kit as other divers were picked up and off we went back o Falmouth.'Idiot of the day' award would be either RedNeill for chucking his hot-chocolate all over the deck, or myself for putting my rig on without my weightbelt. On the evening I met up with the group who were staying in a B&B and had a couple of beers. They went out today, but I had other commitments. I had a great time on the Saturday, I hope the Sunday was just as good.
Thanks Neil for that.
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