Saturday morning started with a drive up to Inverkip Marina (after Dave had re-assembled his turtle on the doorstep of the B&B), and we loaded our dive gear on to the Clutha. There was a brief interruption to the plan when the Clutha's engine overheated and she was towed back in to port. The engineer quickly fixed the problem, and she was underway again, with the sun shining, for a dive on the Wallachia for most, though Stuart & I headed up to Greenock in search of contact lenses. Divernet describes the Wallachia as "the sort of wreck you bang into before you see it" and she lived up to her reputation on this ocasion. What a surprise - Maria & Stuart missed a dive in c*** vis again. As I said earlier, some things don't change much
Dive 2 was on the Akka, the largest diveable wreck on the Clyde. Stuart apparently decided that being able to see is not really required in the Clyde's notoriously murky waters
so I readied myself for the role of guide dog. The Akka sits upright in 30-40m and would really be a be world-class dive if ever the vis allowed you to see more than a couple of metres at a time. She is also covered in life, particularly deadman's fingers and plumose anemones. We headed towards the bow, and enjoyed vis of 3-5 metres. Most of the others went towards the stern, and swam along the companionways. There were smiles all round on deck after the dive. Saturday evening saw us in the pub again, and yes Barry was back on the karaoke - until he was barred from the competition when Dave told the organiser that he's a singer on a cruise ship called the SS Wallachia
The team opted for a further 2 dives on the Akka, and we all enjoyed exploring different parts of the wreck, in vis of 1-3m. A special mention must go to Chris Mort who got me & Dave back to the shot line not once but twice in very poor vis, though even he looked surprised the second time
One of the stranger aspects of diving the Clyde is that it gets darker on the ascent as you approach the surface! Barry claims that the visibility on his video was better than that on the actual dive, so we may have an amazing treat in store: who says that the camera never lies?Mike and Dave headed back South after the last dive on Sunday, leaving the rest of us to explore the delights of Largs. Nardinis didn't have a table until 8, so we walked up the street for canapes and aperitifs Chorley BSAC-style (bag of chips and a Guinness or 2) then returned to Nardinis for a lovely meal.
Thanks to Liam for making the initial arrangements, and to Frank for stepping in at the last minute as Dive Manager, and of course to everyone else for making it a great weekend. I can also thoroughly recommend the MV Clutha and her skipper Elaine.
Maria