We arrived various times on Friday evening (or in two cases at nearly midnight – it’s a long drive from Brighton!), and were told that the weather was the best it had been for a long time. The usual barbecues were set up and after a fair amount of eating and even more fait amount of drinking, we retired.

Next morning we set off to the Eddystone Lighthouse, as both weather and tides were the best we could hope for. Most of us had never dived this site before so we were hoping for something special. The vis was not very good towards the surface, but once we got below the kelp fronds it was good. There were not as many large fish as we hoped but there were plenty of starfish, urchins, dead man’s fingers, and pollack, with some crabs and lobsters. A good 22m dive

In the afternoon, we dived a 22m reef with a small wreck on it. There were lots of bib, more lobsters, boring-sponges and others. Devonshire Cup Coral and others.

Back at “base”, 4 of us elected to dive in Bovisand harbour with the remains of our air before refilling. A maximum depth of just 7m, but a nice dive with lots of blennies and crabs hiding in the cracks of the harbour wall.

Next, wash all the salt (and neoprene stink) off and eat, we split into two groups – one barbecue and the other barbican (“beer and a ship shop”).

Next morning we dived the wreck of the Elk, a 30m dive. This is a very broken wreck, with only the struts and substructure left intact. The original idea was to spend a short time on the wreck and then swim off to the nearby reef. Some did that but the visibility was so poor that in order to see anything on the reef you would have to get down on it (rather than a few meters above) and put yourself into the decompression zone. Those who, during their dive, elected to stay on the wreck had the right idea. There were some fish and a conger. Sorry, vis too bad for photos. You can read about the Elk at
www.divesitedirectory.com/dive_site_uk_england_southwest_wreck_the_elk.html
After a surface interval and lunch stop

we went to the wreck of the James Eagan Layne
( www.divesitedirectory.com/dive_site_uk_england_southwest_wreck_james_ega...)
There is a lot of life on this wreck including anemones, pollack, wrasse, blennies, starfish, pink sea fans and a conger. A nice 20m dive.

That was our last dive of the weekend, we got back into harbour before 3 and had an early journey home.

Steve Lander