Trip Report - Fantastic Mr Clyde

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The trip started like every other trip, with the customary trek across the country. Fortunately, us lazy students managed to get most of the day off so we were able to leave just after lunch, whilst those who had the misfortune of working had to set off late in the evening-unlucky! Dave McG, Lou, James and I arrived early evening in time to get the sweet penthouse rooms with on-suites and then to go get a couple of cokes in the local public houses. The rest of the group arrived around 10pm and joined us in the pub to sit next to the loudest speaker in the world. On its own that doesn't sound too bad but when the music is curiosity of some random woman singing karaoke it's a different kettle of fish. The rest of the evening revolved around pub hopping trying to avoid the endless supply of dodgy Scottish amateur singers.

Saturday

Next morning we met at 7.30am all bright eyed and bushy tailed-yeah right. It was nice to have a cooked breakfast to start the day, especially for Beast who ate his way through everyone's leftovers. We headed down to the harbour to meet our skipper Elaine aboard the MV Clutha. Once at the harbour we kitted up and headed down towards the boat, at the time it seemed like a long walk but compared to what we had to do later in the weekend it was nothing! The boat looked rather odd at first as it seemed like the back end of the boat had been cut off, but once aboard there was plenty of space for all of us and we could easily spread out.

The first dive of the weekend was the Beagle, an 189 foot steamship who sank after a collision near to Great Cumbrae. On arrival at the site we saw a black fin in the water, not the most comforting sight around a dive site. It turned out to be a 6m Basking Shark, which Dave McG was lucky enough to see underwater, which he said was rather scary coming face to face with a creature who's mouth you could easily swim into!!!! We all expected the conditions in the Clyde to be difficult but nothing prepared us for the reality that awaited us. As Chopper and I descended down the shot we went through clearish green water to end up in pitch black water-it could have been a night dive. Torches were essential but even with these we almost lost the wreck within seconds of landing on it. I was buddied with Chopper as he had been in the sea recently, whereas I hadn't. This pairing seemed good on land but Chopper ended up so narked that at times he didn't even know who I was.

The wreck lies in ~38m of water with the deck at 30-32m. Her deck section has collapsed but the main bulk of her is still recognisable and relatively easy to navigate even with the low vis. We were dropped onto the stern, where we dropped onto the sea floor to see the intact prop, then followed edge of wreck down to mid-ships then back up on the other side. The wreck was full of dead man's fingers, edible crabs and anemones.

Getting back into the boat was via a rung ladder without a hand rail. Most of us struggled up it except for Jo. She was almost up the ladder when she began to tip backwards. The assistant on the boat grabbed her but then bizarrely let go of her to help move her fins. By this point Jo was falling in slow motion off the ladder back into the sea. The result: a bruised leg and a bruised ego!

Dive 2 on the Saturday was the Akka, the largest wreck in the area, at >5000 tonne and >400 feet long. She sank after running aground on the Gantock rocks. She is very intact and although she lies in 30-40m her deck is shallow at 16-24m, making her an excellent second dive. The shot was placed mid-ships next to the open companions ways which make ideal swim through's. I was buddied with Chopper and Kirk (Helen had ear problems) and our plan was to allow the currents to take us through the companion ways. We started gliding peacefully through the wreck which felt like flying through a cave despite the roof being mostly open. What a great way to experience overhead diving but without a lot of the risks.

Saturday night was a more subdued affair with everyone feeling drained after a late night and a challenging day. Tea was in The George pub, which looked a bit dingy at first but then turned out to be very nice once we got to the restaurant upstairs.

Sunday

Sunday was another early start although we all seemed a lot more alert than on the Saturday- obviously a good nights sleep is a good thing on a dive trip-what a novel idea.

When we arrived at the harbour the boat was moored miles away. As we started out towards the boat Tuplin managed to drop his torch over the side of the walkway despite having it attached to his kit-what a looser! We carried the rest of the kit to the boat then Tuplin headed off with some of the others to try and get his torch. He managed to get within reaching distance but the weightbelt that Beast had grabbed for him was too light before he lost 2kg out of it.

Sunday's first dive was the Wallachia, a cargo ship similar to the Beagle that also sank after a collision. She now lies in around 35m and unlike the Beagle, she is reasonably intact. We descended down the shot which was secured mid-ships. I was diving with Lou and we managed to explore some way fore and aft of mid-ships. Having Paul's ace torch helped as it was like having a mini sun swimming along side. The wreck was covered with brittle star fish which looked a lot like worms making holding the wreck difficult if you didn't want a load of squirming creatures under your hand-yuk!

During the dive I was consciously ensuring I didn't lose Lou as I would never live it down losing my buddy. On our deco we decided to use DSMBs so we could drift in the current. Lou's went up fine but mine snagged so I attached it to Lou's. This proved to be a bad idea. For the whole of our deco Lou seemed to be swimming away from me against the current. I was constantly finning hard to try and keep up with her whilst battling the current, while at the same time Lou was trying to fin away from the shot. Not the most relaxing deco stop!

During lunch Tuplin managed to retrieve his lost torch and most of the lost weight although this did mean a pleasant dive in very oily water-nice! Our final dive of the weekend was on the Greenock, an 181ft steamer who sank after colliding with another steamer in 1902. She is pretty broken up but has a large bucket dredger still identifiable on her starboard side. Despite this I'm sure no-one managed to find anything they could identify whilst underwater. The vis was particularly bad even to the extent that Jo and I managed to lose the wreck (I seem good at losing things-wrecks, buddies, you name it) simply by turning around. With a max depth around 30m she is a good dive to finish with as most of the remains are at ~25m therefore allowing reasonable no-stop dives.

Once back at the harbour we had the huge trip back to the cars (I thought boat diving was supposed to be relaxing????), which some of us made a bit easier by getting hold of trollies that the sailors use to transport kit. All that was left then was the lovely 5hr drive home. All in all thanks needs to be given to Dave McG for organising an excellent, challenging trip on which I believe everyone learned something about their diving. And finally, how could we not enjoy a weekend's diving that was so dark that every dive we do in the UK will now seem like the Red Sea