Diving the Kyarra from Swanage, Dorset
by Jo-Anne Eaton

Waking up to a brilliant sunny day, the weather in Swanage must have known we needed a good day's weather for 50 plus divers on the Kyarra.

The Kyarra, sitting at about 30 metres, must be one of the best known wrecks on the south coast, over 400 feet long and 6000 tons, there would be plenty of room for all of us. With boats loaded, divers on board, SMB taped up with the respected tape marks and dive kit at the ready, all we were missing was one Mayor from our boat and then we would be off.
All the boats had left and were making their way to the dive site. The dive site for Kyarra is about a fifteen-minute journey (for our boat anyway!) away from Swanage Pier and with slack being a small window, we needed to make sure we did not miss the dive. As the saying goes, time and tide wait for no man, except the Elmbridge Mayor? After a few frantic phone calls, the Mayor of Elmbridge finally arrived on the pier followed by a mad dash to the dive site, not wanting to miss slack. Some frenzied kiting up was done and we arrived at the dive site all ready to go and we were in fact the first boat already kitted up and all set to go in.

My buddy and I descend down the shot line, only passing one set of divers who were in before us. Once arriving on the wreck we started our tour, with the viz at about 4 metres it made a great dive. The wreck had huge shoals of fish swimming around, colourful anemones, lobsters and crabs. After catching a crab and it taking a nasty nip at my buddy, we wrestled it into a goodie bag. Only then did we have a thought, was it P.C to take a crab back to the boat with the Mayor on board? Yes, the crab was wandering around and not hiding in any big holes!
After an enjoyable twenty minutes dive and only encountering one other pair of divers, we sent up our SMB. Hopefully the sticky tape had not come off and our skipper would be able to tell we were from his boat. We stopped at 6 metres for a safety stop and then on to the surface. We were picked up by the boat and looked around at the seascape. There was a sea of SMBs with all-different stripes and colours, plus another few RIBs had dropped divers in. So you can imagine how many SMBs were bobbing about on the surface.

Once everyone had been picked up, it was back to the pier for the unveiling of the plaque by the Elmbridge Mayor and a speech from the DO, Dave. The local band was playing; everyone had arrived on the pier for the unveiling. The Mayor said a few words and was going to pull the curtain back, but was stopped just in time, as Dave wanted to make his speech. A few moments silence for the six people who lost their lives when the Kyarra went down, then the plaque was unveiled. Speeches over and thanks to the Swear of Monage, or should that be the Mayor or Swanage, Mayor of Elmbridge, RNLI, John for raising over £1400 plus the other unsung heroes who worked relentlessly for months on this event, Howard, Mark and Julie.

After a spot of lunch in the sunshine, it was back to the diving. All the boats went off in their different directions with their intended dive sites for the afternoon. We went to the Peveril Ledges, which were more sand than ledges but, still being on a high from the first dive, it didn't matter. After a bimble around we got back on board the boat and headed back to the pier for a sort out of the kit. After a good day's diving it was a catch up with everyone in the pub to see how their days had gone on their boats.
Thanks to all who were involved for some good diving!

Kingston and Elmbridge Branch www.kingstonbsac.co.uk


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