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Stoney Cove 14 July 09

Hi All

Air temp 20
Water temp 11.6
Max depth 22m
5mm Wetsuit, gloves and hood

After trying a weekend dive here last month (see review below) I decided it would be good to try a weekday to see what difference there was. I arrived there just after 8:30 on the Tuesday and Rosemary who had kindly offered her services as my buddy for the day arrived a little later. There was no problem with parking we both got parked on the waterfront and there were sill plenty of spaces left. We decided to dive the Stanegarth first and so got kitted up and in we went finning out to the marker buoy and down we went it was very murky with a visibility of about 3 meters max. I had a little problem with clearing an ear but got it sorted and met Rosemary on the tugs stern. After checking we were both good we entered the hold through the entrance on the deck and had a good look round luckily Rosemary had brought a good bright torch and managed to illuminate all the nooks and crannies we came out into the wheelhouse before going round the outside of the tug. Only two other divers were seen during the time we were down below. We had then planned to go onto the APC which had been moved but although we had the bearing from the Stanegarth once we were ready to leave the tug and had the bearing we were not certain that it was correct so decided to leave it for later. We surfaced and exited the water to the nearby cars to de-kit but stayed in wetsuits and took the tanks to get filled which cost £3 each. The weather was warm up top so I did not freeze this time and was happy to dive again. So after an hour’s surface interval which included tea and bacon butties which were delicious we decided to get back in the water.  We finned out till we were over the nautilus and dived to the bottom which is only at 6 meters here and played with the shoal of fish which was swimming about and feeding for 5 minuets before going over the top of the nautilus to the drop off where we saw the only two other divers during the whole dive we moved to one side to avoid them and descended to the bottom which was at 21 meters where the van is located we went in and out of it. We had planned to drop onto the Wessex but due to moving to one side at the top we came down away from it. We adapted the dive plan and decided to forget the Wessex and continue along the bottom with the wall on our left shoulder. The visibility was still only at 3 meters max and the water temp cooled mid way but was ok. We moved along all the way till we reached the other side of the Quarry where we came up shallow to have a look around. The underwater scenery is very good here and is away from the other attractions. We followed the quarry wall on the way back staying to a max depth of 7 meters. In all it was two very good dives and proved that you always have to be ready to adapt a dive plan once underwater which can result in seeing things that you would not otherwise have see. I would recommend diving here on a weekday rather than a weekend if you can (just not while I’m there lol)as you would expect its much quieter and for long periods it feels like you are the only ones in the water except for the ducks with their young ones who were enjoying the water as well.

Thanks again to Rosemary. 

Shaun

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