Click here for Norway photos 2007

The 2008 diving season started with a trip to Plymouth  on the weekend of February 16th. It has become a bit of a tradition to get the first dive trip as near to Valentine's day as possible. 9 Divers committed to the trip hoping for a pleasant weekend based on the forecasted weather. Due to the  predicted temperatures no body was brave enough to camp, so we all stayed in the Elizabethan and Barbican Reach Guest Houses.

The new radar reflectors were fitted to the boats, they were huge, and this gave rise to Stuart the equipments officer getting numerous sarcastic comments.

Although a plan had been made for the diving, it was felt due to the current good conditions we should make the most of them and visit Hands Deep, the trip out was quite surprising, it was surprisingly warm. However on reaching the site of the pinnacles, it was clear that the wind had increased and the conditions would not allow a safe dive. We therefore headed towards shore to find a more sheltered spot. The journey back was totally different to the one out. It was decided that Whitsand Bay would be our destination. The trip back was so rough it captured 2 divers with sea sickness.

The Scylla was dived first, most decided to wander around the sea bed and various fish, lobsters etc were seen. Martin Sharman found a memorial plaque embedded in the seabed, after observing it, it reminded us of the potential dangers, we decided it would be better to place it in a prominent position on the deck near the helicopter hanger rather than disappearing into the sandy bottom, maybe it would make other divers think.

With 2 of the divers unwell, others that had got wet on the first dive, the Eagle headed back to the QAB while the Osprey and 4 divers dived on the James Eagan Layne. The visibility was good and various fish were seen. A glint in the torchlight led to a piece of lettering stuck out of the wreck. The trip back to the QAB was uneventful.

Sunday morning was colder as frost was apparent on the vehicles outside the guest house. The walk over to the marina also showed that the wind was stronger, a review took place, and it was decided that based on the conditions we would not launch and dive. The owner of Sound Diving confirmed we had made a good choice based on his experiences of the previous years. Although we didn’t dive on both days, overall it was a good weekend and start to the diving year.