Lochgarry bow swim through

Conger on William Mannell wreck

This was the second one we saw and he came within about 35 cm’s of my face before I actually saw him. He definitely made me flinch. Dive was fantastic, perfect conditions, no current, great viz, enjoyed by one and all, even James who apparently experienced narcosis for the first time ever and from the sounds of it will be taking another fix sometime soon!

SSCastleEden

A jaunt around the SS Castleeden. I like to post something every once in a while and unfortunately owing to other trips and weather and not having my camera there has been a lull in video and photos. So to try and redress the balance somewhat here is a wee dive from last summer. Enjoy!

WreckSight

WreckSight brings to you unique visualisation of shipwrecks derived from high resolution multibeam sonar data. WreckSight images can be provided as 2D prints or 3D models, viewable on a computer ( PC and Mac) with WreckSight’s own software. You can then virtually explore your chosen wreck on the screen.

WreckSight is a development of ADUS, a company set up jointly by the Universities of St Andrews and Dundee to undertake high definition surveys of wrecks and other man-made structures underwater.

The Thesis, Oban

Just home form a 2 day dive trip to Oban, the Sound of Mull. Had 4 great dives including, the Hispania, The Shuna, The Thesis and the Breda. The Thesis was by far the best conditions, probably because it lies on a shingle bottom, so no silt. The highlight of the dive was swimming around inside the hull at the bow. There are large openings making it very safe for minor penetration. Technically it is an overhead environment, but as you are never more than a few fin kicks from the holes in the hull the risk is minimal. It is quiet surreal to watch people HID torches bouncing around inside the wreck when you are swimming outside or vice-versa. I can imagine it being even better with alot of fish life around. When do they all get back from their vacation??? anyone….

Found this video too on Youtube, enjoy http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OADIO4uBE_0

Scapa Flow – The Brummer

Video of dive on The Brummer

This video was originally shared on blip.tv by waveneyavenue with a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs license.

S.F.V William Manell

Another great wreck found off Glengad Head Culdaff Bay, Co.Donegall this fishing trawler served as an excort vessel in WWI and was converted into a minesweeper for WWII. She was named after a crewman who served onboard the Victory with Lord Nelson at Trafalgar. Read all about the wreck here. Definately only diveable at slack water. We arrived just towards the end of slack and had a bit of a fight on our hands towards the end of the dive. However as we did a free ascent we did not have to impersonate a flag on the saety stop which is always a bonus. We had a bit of a wait, while “the dubs” did their extended deco stops, but when they travel so far you can’t give them too hard a time. The amount of live on the wreck is incredible and some of this can be seen on my little video available at youtube

Surface swim at SS Castle Eden

This has got to be one of the best dives this year!. We dived the SS Castle Eden Wednesday evening with perfect slack (neaps I think). Having got my mask clip all fixed up (Thanks Liam) I was good to go and we set off from Portstewart. Took about 35mins to get there. Everyone was scanning the water for any sign of basking sharks as there had been a pod (is that the correct collective noun?) spotted in the area recently. It was actually filmed and should be televised on TV this winter.

The dive was great, marine life unbelievable. As usual I have a wee video treat for you all its the eigth one in the list. Apologies in advance for the Darth Vader sound track! there are few more photos of the dive and afterwards while waiting for the two deadly deco divers! usual place, click the image above to be taken through to my flickr.

Its quite a big wreck, but with viz surpassing 25m we were able to take quiet a lot in, travelling form the boilers to the bow and back again. The last time I dived the wreck was with John Liddiard earlier in the year, or rather he was diving it at the same time as me from the same boat! He managed to sketch the entire wreck on one dive, fair enough he was on a rebreather and stayed on the wreck for an extra 10-15 mins, but it was good going.

The fact that I had the camera and the sheer enjoyment of the dive and great conditions resulted in me losing track of the shot line, hence the free ascent and surface swim. Still they say “every day is a learning day”

There she blows! Whale breach

Not unlike the great white whale himself, whale sightings for me are a rare occurance and so I thought I would document this one. While homing in on our dive site on Sunday last, The SS Castle Eden (soon to become one of my favourite wrecks!) I noticed in the distance a large plume of water. At first I thought it was spray from a wave hitting n exposed rock, but on closer examination there were none and the spray did not reoccur. A few seconds later I noticed the whale breach the water. I felt pins and needles in my spine. I have been hoping for such an encounter now for years. Unfortunately it was very far away over 500 metres so we had no chance of getting ther before the whale dived.

Anyway the dive went ahead, itself a triumph ,well at least for those of us who found her, myself, John and Kevin. Heavy underwater swell made our progress slow but fortunately we spotted the wreck off to the right of the "snail trail" left by the anchor and enjoyed a fanstastic dive.

The whale was spotted by the skipper again just after we ascended about 300m directly south of our position towards shore, noone else saw it though. Well I know they are there and so does he!