For the late May bank holiday weekend 10 Club Members made their way down to the English Riveria for some hard boat diving. We stayed at the Smugglers Haunt B&B in Brixham, which was conveniently placed near all the pub and restaurants.
Early on Saturday morning over to Darthaven Marina to meet Skipper Will on Falcon II. We steamed east up the coast to the wreck of the SS Bretagne. It took 2 hours to reach the wreck, giving us plenty of time to faff with our dive kit. The Bretagne was a steamship which sunk in 1918 after a collision in fog. It is one of the classic wrecks on the south coast of Devon. The hull is largely intact and covered in anemones. We were blessed with good vis and lots of marine life.
On our back towards Dartmouth we had a lunch of tomato soup and crusty bread. The second dive was at the base of Mew Stone. The dive site is made up of lots of rocks and gullies to explore. The site is a favourite of large Bull Huss. Lots of mermaid purses showed the signs a healthy population.
Tom, Jim and Martin took our cylinders to filled, the journey was a lot further than first thought, being on the other side the River Dart. Once back in Brixham and showered, we headed to Rockfish for a well-earned meal and drink after a good days diving.
With the weather not looking as good for Sunday, had a later start. This meant we could have a cooked breakfast before heading out for the day. The morning day was Nimble Rock. The dive site is made up of five steep walls and pinnacles, being in the tidal stream, there is lots of marine life. Although the vis was poor, a couple of metres, it was a beautiful dive. The rocks were covered with large dahlia anemones. Tanya and I were luckily enough to see an octopus out in the open. With the weather getting worse in the afternoon, we called off the second dive. Although the winds had picked up, the sun was still shining. We enjoyed a coffee and a toastie on the quay.
For the last day we decided to head to the Peronne, a wreck near the Bretagne. The Peronne was a French cable layer, which was torpedoed in 1917. The wreck is a bit deeper with the bottom at 34m. With the sea pretty rough, we were keen to get in for the dive. Tanya and I went down the shotline first. The wreck was quite eerie in the darkness at that depth. We saw a couple huge of lobsters at 32m and a tompot blenny hiding near the boliers. Before were reaching our no deco limits and started our ascent.
Unfortunately the weather was getting worse, so we called the second dive and headed for the safety of the harbour. Despite weather, we had a great weekend of diving.
By Mike
Dive buddy
Drink in the sun
