Poole Dam Divers Visit Lundy

by Kathy Moore

After many checks of the weather forecast during the week before May Bank Holiday and telephone calls to the dive boat skipper we got the green light on Thursday evening from our trip organiser. So on a damp and foggy Friday evening with fingers crossed for better weather in North Devon, 7 cars left Poole in Dorset and travelled to Ilfracombe, a town on the North Devon coast.

Once there, we met up with others from Swansea, Bridgewater and Newcastle, which brought our group total to 12 divers and 2 non-divers. Surprisingly for a Bank Holiday weekend our trip from Poole was a smooth trouble free 2.5 hours. Not so for Mo who had a horrendous 9.5 hour slog from the North. However we all arrived safely and were welcomed by John the owner of the Waverly Inn where most of us were staying. The Waverley is a pub which is 5 minutes from the harbour and is gradually being renovated and markets itself on providing reasonably priced basic accommodation with a range of good home cooked meals and puddings to die for. One thing is for sure you will never leave the Waverly Inn hungry.

On the first morning we met at 0745 in the bar and met John who was ready to serve tea and coffee. Then a 2-minute walk to the café for breakfast was followed by a walk down to the harbour to find the dive boat. We were diving off dive boat Obsession a brand new Offshore 125 which Andy the skipper should have got in September but due to unforeseen delays took delivery just 3 weeks before our trip. We stepped onto a gleaming and well polished boat as its first paying customers. There were still some things that were not completely finished so we were asked to cast an eye and make any suggestions for improvement during our trip - 'top tips' are a speciality of some of our dive club members so we all set about giving constructive comments. Loading the kit was from the inner harbour wall down some steep steps but with car access to the steps and a chain it was all loaded quickly and efficiently. We left Ilfracombe in overcast conditions and headed into the Bristol Channel towards Lundy Island. A trip of about 1 hour passing the beautiful North Devon Coastline including Lee Bay, Morte Point and Woolacombe Bay in the distance.

We arrived at Lundy Island and set about preparing for out first dive, which was the MV Robert. There was no need to drop a shot line as divers from another dive boat were already descending on theirs and following a quick call to the skipper we negotiated to use their line. Very quickly their divers surfaced saying it wasn't on the wreck so our skipper decided to search and drop his own line. Initial thoughts for my first dive of the season were that it was very cold at 9 degrees and very dark and murky.

At the bottom of the shot line with 2 m visibility and with my eyes still not adjusted I could see no wreck and we never did find it however it was still a great dive with lots to see if you concentrated on your torch beam. Tom pot blennies, jewel anemones, hermit crabs, spider crabs galore. We came across a lobster pot full of prawns and many star fish of differing shapes colours and sizes. After a difficult climb up the ladder my top tip was to suggest a hydraulic lift for next season.

With everyone safely on the boat telling us all about the wreck we hadn't found we motored to Gannets Cove for a leisurely lunch. John had done us proud with a packed lunch that could have fed another 12 including us. By now it was beautiful blue skies and sunshine and with a beautiful rocky backdrop of the island and seals swimming around us it was a perfect setting for lunch.

Our second dive was a choice of either Gannets Bay or Gannets Pinnacle. We chose to dive Gannets Bay in the hope of enjoying the company of Seals. We descended into 6m of water with 2-3 m visability and the kelp beds. We explored the kelp for a while finding crabs, starfish and wrasse. As we swam into deeper water the kelp gave way to a boulder slope providing nooks and crannies to explore where lobsters and jewel anemones were found. Those who dived the pinnacle found similar terrain but also a vertical wall which dropped to 35m and was covered in anemones. None of us got to see a seal but you had the feeling you were being watched!

A leisurely trip back got us into Ilfracombe by 6pm. We stowed the dive kit on the boat and then took the cylinders to Ilfracombe BSAC who by prior arrangement had agreed to fill our cylinders (there is no commercial compressor or dive shop in Ilfracombe). The charges are Air at £3 per cylinder and Nitrox £6 but beware they cannot fill 300 bar cylinders without an A clamp converter and they struggled to fill too many Nitrox cylinders. However while we were waiting we were entertained in their clubhouse bar where doubles were only 10p more than singles so it would have been rude not to have had just one double G&T!

Day 2 started with a meet time on the boat of 0830. Another nice trip across to the Island took us to the site of the Carmina Filomena. When we got to the bottom of the shot line we were expecting to find the broken wreck remains of an Italian Steam Powered cargo vessel, which ran aground off Rat Island in 1937. However it wasn't there and with visibility at 2m we followed the skippers instructions to swim north. We never did find the wreck but had a good drift dive right out to Rat Island. Drifting through kelp we saw many starfish, large wrasse, a large dogfish and many types of crabs. On returning to the boat we found that those who swam north like us ended up drifting to Rat Island those who swam south found the wreck!!

We decided to have lunch on land and took a steep and strenuous hike up the island path. We stopped at various points to enjoy the view, discuss the flora and fauna and of course get our breath back. When we arrived at the top we were welcomed by church bells ringing however when we arrived at the Marisco Tavern we realised the bells were for the wedding party not us. Unfortunately the Marisco Tavern was unable to cope with catering for 2 large parties and they ran out of food and for those with special dietary needs were unable to even make a cheese salad. I am however reliably informed that the pasties were very good. It was very windy on the island but the views were great and even better the trek down was much easier.

Our afternoon dive was Knoll Pins. These are 2 pinnacles that break the surface at low water. Disappointingly the visibility did not exceed 2m however there was still a lot to see. One side of the pinnacle was a shear drop and the other side was stepped boulders providing numerous crooks and crannies. The pinnacle is topped with kelp and as you descend the surface is covered in various corals sponges and anemones including the beautiful jewel, dahlia and snakelocks anemones. We also saw sunset cup corals and a medium sized pink sea fan sheltering from the current. For most of the dive I could hear the bark of a seal but never saw it in person until we surfaced and there it was in the distance.

There are many alcohol serving establishments around the harbour and this can make the trip back to base rather slow however we got back in time to get cylinders filled, dinner eaten and head off to the Beer Festival - well it would have been rude not to have supported this local event!

Our final days diving was determined by the weather the trip out was very choppy and some of the group succumbed to sea sickness which curtailed diving. We were unable to dive either the MV Robert or the Montague as planned as the wind was in the wrong direction and the sea state was too rough. The chosen dive was the landing stage as this was a very sheltered site and the water looked clear. This turned out to be one of the best dives with visibility of 5m. Entry into the water was from the end of the landing stage into depth of 5m. I am told that the sea bed was predominantly rock and was full of life including a large variety of crabs wrasse and starfish and on the rocks were cup corals, anemones and sponges. Again dive time was curtailed because of the cold but all said it was a great dive, which they would do again. Exit from the water was amusing for the spectators who didn't dive, as this group of essentially boat divers are not used to shore landings!

We have since found out that the best time to dive off Lundy Island is late summer on spring tides when visibility is much better.

Written by Kathy Moore Poole Dam Divers BSAC 1924
On Land photographs by Kathy Moore and Mark Davison
Underwater photographs by Mark Davison


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