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Dive at Stoney Cove 6th June 09

This was my first time at Stoney Cove and to be honest I did not even know where it was before last week and had to look at the website to find the address. Still Satnav got me there and it’s relatively easy to get to. On arrival you pay a £15 entry fee which entitles you to dive as many times as you wish during the day. There is a car park right by the shore but I believe you have to pay extra or maybe just get there very early to use it anyway the other car park is about a 3-5 minute walk so not too bad. As it was my first time there I arrived early well 0900 lol and had a good look around the facilities before the others arrived and they are good and have everything you need. The onsite shop is well stocked so don’t take your credit card lol and there are toilets, cafe for teas and coffee and food and bar. Tanks can be rented via the shop and costs £10 but if you have your own tank then an air fill costs about £3. So got kitted up at the car and walked the short distance to the entry point which we used the slip way. I was diving with Rosemary and Adrian (Wabit). We got in the water at 1250 and had decided to start with the Stanegrath tug boat and then move on so we got in and swam out to the buoy in the centre of the quarry when we were all ok I gave the signal and it was off down the line which leads down to the stern of the boat. Visibility was not good by my standards anyway lol and was about 4 meters. We got to the bottom ok and then proceeded to have a look around before entering the opening on the top deck to enter the boat it must have been the engine room before it was sunk. We then moved down the side of the boat and to the bottom of the bow. Unfortunately Wabit lost the grip on his camera and it floated to the surface followed by Wabit not wishing to lose his pride and joy lol we made sure he was safely up to the surface and ok before Rosemary and myself went around the boat again. The original plan was to move onto a couple of other sites before we surfaced but we decided to cut the dive short and to head up and check on Wabit so went up the line and surfaced after a safety stop making at total of a 33 minute dive. Making sure we were all ok we began finning to the shore but after checking how much air we each had left we decided to dive onto the Nautilus before we got out I still had 110 bar left so thought might as well use it. We dropped own onto the Sub its only at 6 meters and moved around it a few times before entering the arch under the Bar. It’s a nice large space and the light looks fantastic through the openings. We moved back to the Sub and then headed to the shore were we exited via the slip way after a 21 minute dive. Due to the fact that I only had a 5 mm wetsuit I felt the cold when I got out and was freezing after a few minutes so decided to get changed and not do another dive that day.
In all it’s a good place to dive whatever your dive level or experience and the facilities are very good. I would recommend getting there early if you are looking to get a few dives in and time your dives right to avoid the many trainees that learn there. Not that they are a problem and we were all in that position once but it means that the shore is not crowded so entry and exit is easier. I would go there again but maybe when the weather warms up above the surface.

Shaun

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