After some nightmare weather reports of south-easterly gales whipping up the south coast, we had decided to give it a go and see what was what down at our favourite little haunt on the South Devon coast that is Babbacombe Bay. After a bit of food at Telegraph Hill (have we been here before?) it was a slight detour for me to St. Marychurch post-office to get a new tax-disc for the car.
Okay..... the camera was not with me this time and I could have kicked myself as, despite the weather-forecasts, the sea was as flat as a mirror and it was a nice sunny day. Ironically, the Grace 2 was not setting sail that day as the skipper had planned other things to do in light of the weather reports.
| The first dive, Roy bowed out of and let me help out Craig on his AOW navigation dive. The 7-minute surface swim was because I could not keep up with Craig's new fins as he set a course a little bit amiss of the buoy that we had agreed upon. It was my fault for getting the SMB reel somewhere behind my left shoulder where I couldn't get to it.... by the time I had, Craig had gone ! Eventually, he stuck his head out of the water and the expletives were clear as we made our way back to the buoy and continued with arm-spans and square-navigation. |
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| Sam joined us for this next dive which was an underwater navigation to Oddicombe Beach. Roy and Sam sped off leaving Craig and me to work our way over. I was navigating which left Craig with the job of slowing down those excellent fins of his to keep to my, more sedate, pace. He managed to pick up a spider-crab which enjoyed the ride for ten minutes before getting bored and then nipping him ! A bit of a saw-tooth profile as there were many rocks to navigate around or over. We ended up walking back from Oddicombe over that horrendous cliff path with all the steps and a full set of gear ! |
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| The best dive of the day here.... Roy had given Craig a bearing to follow to one of the moored boats. After an entertaining ten minutes we surfaced and we were spot on ! The lady on the boat in question said that she had watched the bubbles and was wondering what was going to happen next. We bumped into Roy and Sam and then left them to have an extra 20-25 mins of free-diving to ourselves. Spotted another pipefish although it was a lot smaller than the others that I have seen in Babbacombe. |
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With it being a nice day's diving, it was time for a bit of the nightlife. After a swiftie in the B&B's bar (the one opposite the Manor House) it was time to forage for some food. I still cannot remember what the name of the pub is but it was good food again. We then popped into Hubbaloo's(?) overlooking the sea-front for a couple of beers to round off the evening.
Not being able to sleep as I was looking forward to the dive to the Bretagne, I woke up at 06:00 and walked into St Marychurch lookig for some food and a packet of ciggies. No Chance !! Walked back to the B&B and woke up Roy then Craig and finally Rachael and then disappeared to the local Spar shop which was open early enough to get some breakfast as the dive-boat was leaving Babbacombe at 08:00. Despite the fact that Grace2 had broken down on us the last time we went out on her, it was nice to go to Babbacombe and have something to look forward to apart from 4-metre dives and endless abuse from Dean in the cafe ! <grin>
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The 'Bretagne'..... my first boat dive. The visibility was 1-2m but Rachael and I battled against the current and made it down the descent-line, had a brief reel-deploy and took a look at the wreck. There were a few dark shapes moving around in the gloom. We didn't stray too far as there was a cluster of divers at the end of the shot. It was certainly bigger than the 'Stanegarth' but not as impressive as........ |
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..... The Galicia !! Roy's comment was that it had more wildlife on it than any other wreck that he'd dived !! Seeing as he's a guy that has spent 8 months of his life, so far, underwater then this was some statement. We didn't see the congers, although some of the guys on the boat were talking about them afterwards. Roy, Craig and I spent a leisurley half-hour tying-off and exploring the wildlife and the haphazard layout of the ship. One of the other guys had managed to get his supper of crab and lobster from the stern...maybe next time, when I know how to prepare and eat them ! |
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This final dive on the Sunday was more of an accident than a plan. Craig had left his weight-belt on the Grace2 which we then handed to Roy....rather unsuccessfully as it hit the sea-bed at 3m and could not be found. Guess which poor sod got the job of being central to a circular-search ??!!! We found the weight-belt but then went on the search for a lifting-bag. After getting down to 20bar, I gave the tugs on the line to indicate beer-time ! |
Even though the weekend was supposed to take me through the PADI wreck-speciality, it was waived as the viz was so bad and we only had boats available on the Sunday. So, another weekend of frre-diving and the resuming of the wreck-course to come........ the instructor has threatened Stoney Cove but we shall wait and see.