The P555
The P555
Had this booked for a while, but a nice midweek dive was just what the Dr ordered at the moment. Having first managed to silence my work anxiety and lose 30bar of trimix to a leaky inflator (fixed) I was off down the south coast for the day. Fortunately the M5 was kind to me and I arrived early to park up, sit in my car and question the decision to do this in a day, especially at the moment.
Loaded my gear onto the boat, seat outside the head. Thanks for that skipper - put the CCR divers there out the fucking way I guess. Surprising to see mostly twinset/ADP divers on this boat. At just touching 40m this would normally be a CCR dive - my last trip to the coast was mostly CCRs on a 30 odd metre sports diver wreck so who knows. Clearly all regular divers though. Usual smattering of BSAC and randoms. Got to love the several people who talked to me about how sexy my kit (the SF2) was. Buy one - join me!
The wreck is a sunken submarine and I like a sub. I’m slowly working my way down the list of the ones off the UK coast and this was a new one for me. Located just past Portland bill I was happy that although there was some current running, the waves and heat were both reasonably favourable. Jump, swim to the shot and down I go. The current is high but not unmanageable - stop at 5ish m and check (with my 3d printed mirror) that all is ok. Pressures good, cells reading 1.3 - down we go. Goes f’ing dark at around 30m so carry on to 40 and see something in front of me. The shot was roughly aft of the conning tower (although in the darkness I didn’t know that at the time) I went against the current, best I could tell, starting deep and spotting conger eels living in the open cracks of the wreck. Making my way further aft to eventually the fins and rudder. Tons of sea life on her -from the congers to schools of fish and spider crabs on the hull.
From the rear I make my way down the port side (which is slightly calmer current wise) -again spotting congers but rising up a little to go along the deck. Trying to pick out features fairly unsuccessfully until the periscope housing (the larger of the two) and the rear of the conning tower. A decent poke around the conning tower but keeping my depth reasonable. Then continuing to the bow of the boat to the forward hatch and the bow. I should probably have spent longer here in all honesty but deco was ticking up. Rising back up onto the deck and back to the conning tower for another poke around. By now I’m looking at 17 or so minutes deco starting at 12m on my 45/75 GF. I decide that’s enough for today, kick off the wreck and deploy my dSMB. Text book ascent up to 18,17,16 etc, by now the 12m stop has cleared and I’m left with some at 9m. Hang there for a few minutes before making my way to 6m for about a 12minute hang. As always these things seem to go very slowly starting at what is best described as sea spunk floating by, with no reference point in the blue. All good, my handset buzzes all clear and as normal I give myself a few minutes more before slowly over the course of about 3 minutes make my way to the surface. Back on deck for coffee and a scone provided by the skipper (nice!).
All in all, a very nice dive, it’s a dark wreck and the current is well known, but both were ok the day I dived her. Fortunately the south coast wasn’t getting the 30C temperature the rest of the country was that day as well. So remained fairly comfortable on deck, suited up waiting for the jump. The 2nd dive was a drift, not tremendously exciting but a welcome addition.