Scilly Islands from Moonshadow
27 May - 03 June 2006

by Alan Ewart

Having heard stories of crystal clear waters, a fantastic array of wrecks, a plethora of marine life and old world charm in abundance a trip to the Scilly Isles, situated off the Southwest coast of Cornwall, has been high on my list of 'must do' trips for some time. So when my club decided to organise a trip my name was one of the first on the list. As the trip was for the duration of the Whitsun bank holiday week and was shore based it was a great opportunity to take the family for a short holiday to an area none of us had visited before.

These remote and unspoiled islands have, reputedly, the mildest climate in Britain and are often referred to as a sub-tropical paradise. They have also been named an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.

As is often the case with UK based trips the closer we got to our departure date the worse the weather became. After some great diving locally in April and early May the weather turned awful in mid-may. A combination of heavy rain and gales in the week before our trip had me deeply concerned about the week ahead. I know that the make-up of the Islands means that it is often possible to find enough of a lee to allow diving somewhere, but with a 7-year old to entertain I was praying for decent weather. The fact that flights to the Islands had been grounded by bad weather for three days on the run up to our departure added to the sense of concern.

At last Saturday arrived and a 6am departure for Penzance in fierce winds and driving rain didn't provide a lot of reassurance. At least the prevailing conditions seemed to restrict the numbers on those narrow Devon and Cornwall roads. We arrived in Penzance in plenty of time to catch an amazingly crowded lunchtime ferry. Space was in short supply and as the journey progressed avoiding the legions of those being violently seasick became more and more of a problem. Still, at least it was easy to get to the bar. :) As we approached the Island though the weather started to break, the sun came out and though the wind still howled, things were looking up.

In many ways a trip to the Scillies is akin to a trip back in time. Dive kit is loaded into a hired container in Penzance and off loaded at the other side. Suitcases and bags also go into containers and it is very important to ensure your name and accommodation details are recorded clearly on your bags. On arrival in St Mary's you stroll off the boat, find your accommodation and a couple of hours later your bags turn up at your hotel! The cost? A princely £1 a bag. The whole system is repeated on the way back home and you merely leave your £1 coins on top of your bags. Try that trick on the mainland!

Our accommodation was in a Bed & Breakfast hotel just 5 minutes from and overlooking the harbour. It was clean and friendly, though to be honest, somewhat basic with toilet and shower facilities on the floors above and below ours. This would not have been an issue for me on a pure dive trip, but as this was a family trip I guess I expected en-suite facilities. I've had several trips to London this year and paid less for a family room in 4* London hotels than I paid in St Mary's. Of course in London you have the luxury of being able to shop around for last minute deals and can easily pick up 'rack rates'. It's also fair to say that the view out of the sitting and dining rooms in St Mary's was priceless.

Throughout the week we ate in a variety of different pubs and restaurants and most evenings they were able to accommodate the whole group if required. I found the food to be of good quality though the majority of places had a similar menu at similar cost. Whilst not hugely expensive it soon added up paying for three people each evening. If I return with the family it will definitely be self-catering accommodation for me. If you looking for a treat at the slightly more expensive end of the food market Juliet's Garden, The Boat House and Chez Michel in St Mary's were all superb. Each of these cost us around £40 a head for two courses and a bottle of wine between two, so definitely at the upper end for dive fare. Watching the sunset from Juliet's garden and eating on the beach at the Boat Shed were a treat though.

The Diving

Diving services in the Scillies are fairly limited. The main operators are father and daughter Tim and Jo Allsop. Tim runs Ribs and Hard boats from St Martins and Jo runs Moonshadow a hard boat from St Mary's.

Moonshadow was due to pick us up from the Harbour at 9am on Sunday morning and arrived in plenty of time. Our dive container had been parked at the top of the steps and transferring a seemingly unending amount of gear onto the boat was a simple affair. Once the gear was onboard it stayed there for the week although obviously cylinders needed to be off loaded each evening for filling. Fills are air only as neither o2 or helium are available on the Islands. This in my view is disadvantageous as many of the dives we did were in the 35m range, so by the end of the week we were incurring considerable decompression penalties. I had taken a stage cylinder of 80% o2 so this helped to ensure a clean deco, I had this topped with air midweek so was able to have a deco gas of at least 50% all week.

Moonshadow is a nice boat. The dive deck is very large and has seating down both sides and across the back. A small criticism would be that the benches are quite narrow so not ideal for twin set divers, especially with a stage. They are however adequate. The large deck space means very limited cabin space. There was space for dry bags etc, but not for divers. In inclement weather this could be quite unpleasant. It was not a problem for us though as from Sunday morning onwards the weather improved daily until by the end of the week it was like a millpond.

I must say that from the moment we got our kit on the boat I was impressed by Jo. She was relaxed and friendly, allowed us to settle and then took some time to find out what kind of diving we wanted to do. The majority wanted metal, metal and then a bit more metal. I must confess I was slightly disappointed by this as the Scillies are a haven for many types of flora and fauna both above and below water. A look below the clear, protected waters will reveal a wealth of colour and wildlife, some of the most impressive jewel anemone walls in the UK and the opportunity to dive with large seal colonies. I was really looking forward to doing some walls, but in the event it was not to be. I needn't have worried though as the wreck sites were amazingly scenic dives in their own right.

The first day's diving had us on the relatively modern wrecks of the Hathor and the Plympton (one site) and the Firebrand. The Hathor and Plympton lie on top of the other. The site is one of those that allows you to pick a depth anywhere between 20 and 48 metres. Despite over a week of storms and less than ideal topside conditions visibility was in excess of 10m and the wrecks were resplendent in their coating of soft corals and plumrose anemones. There were huge amounts of flora and fauna and numerous very healthy pink sea fans. The wrecks are fairly intact and there is so much to keep you entertained for several dives. I had chosen to go fairly deep on this dive and whilst it was a great first dive my 60+ minute bottom time left me feeling I had only scratched the surface and I was eager to return to the site.

Our second dive was on HMS Firebrand. The Firebrand was one of Sir Cloudesly Shovell's Association fleet which ran aground after a navigational error in 1707 whilst returning from Gibraltar. This navigational error cost the lives of over 2000 men! Obviously there is not much left of the wreck, but before our dive Jo went into the water and laid an underwater trail for us so we could all see the most interesting points, mainly anchors and cannons.

The second day's diving saw us on the wrecks of the Cita and the Minnehaha. The Cita , a large container ship, only sank in 1997. She is still largely intact, bit being fairly shallow the wind and waves are taking their toll. She is not as colonised with wildlife as some of the other wrecks, but the huge propellers are very impressive. This wreck offers great opportunities for penetration and lots of swim throughs. It is also possible to swim off the wreck and enjoy a very pretty wall.

The Minnehaha was not one of my favourite sites. It is very close in to the rocks and being quite shallow there is a lot of kelp and we experienced a great deal of surge. Swimming in kelp and surge makes me feel seasick!

The third day's diving started on the wreck of the Italia off St Agnes. This is a huge site the stern of the wreck sits at around 20m and the bows at 40m plus. She is now quite broken, wreckage lies everywhere, the huge boilers, engines and shafts being the most obvious features. Surface conditions were quite rough on this day so I decided to skip the second dive.

Day four saw us back on the Hathor and Plympton for a great dive on the shallower parts of the wreck. The afternoon took us out to the eastern rocks for what was the highlight of the week for some. The sea was flat calm, the wind had dropped away and we were able to get in close to the rocks and dive with a huge colony of very friendly seals. These animals were very curious constantly nipping fins and playing with divers. My dive was close to 90 minutes and I could have stayed much longer but unfortunately full bladder stopped play!

Day five saw me doing the unthinkable. I missed a days diving. It was my birthday and I wanted to spend it with my family. We decided to spend the day on Tresco and it truly was the most perfect day. It was very hot and windless. Tresco is such a beautiful place. We sat on the beach staring out at perfect flat calm Sapphire-blue water. With the sunshine, clear air perfect white sand beaches and light flooded environment you could have been in the Caribbean. I hope these photographs give you a feel for the day, but they really don't do Tresco justice. What a wonderful way to spend a birthday.

The final day's diving dawned absolutely flat calm and without so much as a breeze. This allowed us to take the boat out to Bishop Rock lighthouse and dive the wreck of HMS Eagle. This wreck site has to be one of the most exposed and remote in the UK. This was an amazing dive. The wreckage lies in a couple of deep gullies. There are massive cannons and anchors everywhere. The cannons sometimes lay 6 deep. The walls of the gullies are very pretty and the wildlife amazingly abundant.

Our final dive was to be on the wreck of the Delaware a paddle steamer lying off Bryher. The main feature of the site is the huge engine block standing about 6m proud amongst the otherwise fairly flat wreckage. A nice rummage dive to finish the week.

I thoroughly enjoyed the diving the Scillies has to offer. In good weather the Islands are an absolute haven. I would love to return and explore further and to see some more of the Islands above water. My wife and son both loved the Islands, but both said that if the weather had been poor they would have been very bored. Certainly there is little for children to do in poor weather. It would be a treat to visit the Islands on a liveaboard trip with Nitrox and helium available. In this sort of visibility the deeper wrecks in the area must be amazing. Maybe next year.........

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