Mid Lancs Sub Aqua

Our (secret) Mission!

The Club dive was to explore what was so convincingly an uncharted wreck, detected by chance on the echo finder from one of the clubs previous trips, just off the coast of Anglesey and to claim great booty and fame in the mix!

The day started well and only got better… A not so early start for a Sunday Dive took us to the usual petrol station for a wee and supplies on the A55 past Conwy and to meet with the crew, only this time it was different! Mentioning no names I was, ‘advised to purchase something from the shop and to admire the talent behind the counter!’. Leaving with a slight limp I had to agree with Bruce, Andy and Lee (whose name we shall later forget!) that today was going to be a good day. Michelle held her reservations whilst I now nursed a sore arm!

 The convoy arrived at Bull Bay where we  met with Gary and Martin. Their kit ready assembled, one of those expensive rebreather thingies and Gary shamed to a twin set whilst he waits in anticipation for his new toy to arrive! These guys with their no dangly sleek trim lines would be diving in first and no doubt we would be waving at them as we ascended from ours, our cylinders sucked dry like a foil packed drink whilst they continued to gather the evidence of the wreck like that of a CSI!

With the boat now launched into the water like a slicker than slick thing; kit onboard, our Diving Officer radioed into the coast guard giving our party and destination and times of return. It took our breath away when what can only be described as a stunningly gorgeous woman with all the right curves returned our call and wished us a safe return (you can tell so much from radio!). Now we were invincible! We took to the seas and Andy just grinned as he pushed forward and hard on the mighty throttle! OH yes, Little Mo was not so Little!

Skimming over what felt like a mill pond to previous outings we were well in time for the high tide and the fame that was now so surely ours. Oh yes, today would be ours!!!

We arrived at our dive site and slowly scoured the sea bed with the echo finder for our prized find, taking in the breathtaking views around us and the brief sightings of a porpoise keeping us amused and alert. Suddenly a fill of black covered the echo finders screen and our wreck lay beneath us, so proud and beautiful. How was it that she’d laid so sleepily all these years without being discovered…Circling around I was tasked with dropping the shot onto the wreck. We slowly approached the wreck again and I held the heavy weight out reached waiting on the command of our captain to release the shot. We approached slowly… the bright skies above and the gentle lapping of the water kissing the hull of the boat, like a lullaby calming our excitement…

Having approached slowly and having not found our wreck we yet circled again…

Beads of sweat now formed on my forehead as my aching arms still outreached ready in anticipation to drop this damned weight began to gently shiver with fatigue like that of a dog! Still approaching slowly… Suddenly shouts and cries filled the air as we had found it again and cries of the captain like that of the Enterprise, ‘steady as she goes’... so as not too eagerly drop the shot. The command given i released the shot and watched with anticipation the line pail out. Oh yesss. Soon she would be ours.

Martin now started to kit up, he would buddy with Gary and we would follow in stages after 10 minutes or so, knowing our wreck was indeed a wreck of historic interest and beauty. I found myself wanting to be first. This was like first feet on the moon to me…

We circled the buoy and took note of the way the line stretched to our prized wreck… It wasn’t quite as expected and the waves forming behind the buoy apparently weren’t too good a sign either… the tide was still running but in a southerly direction, supposedly against the norm in this situation… It didn’t dull my excitement though, we we’re still getting in, ‘aren’t we!’, I asked?! My fears alleviated, Andy said it was just that we we’re early and we would wait for the slack. In waiting we started to pay more attention to the sonar and noted parts of the wreck strewn about the bed below us. The great chunk beneath us was somehow now moving away from our shoted and anticipated prize. The line still looked taught to the buoy and we began running the rib against it, measuring the speed…

We waited…

We watched other buoys in the distance slowly disappear beneath the waves, something was amiss…

We measured the speed of the tide to about 1knot, not terribly sure of how fast this was I thought perhaps it was just a slight inconvenience and suggested could we not perhaps make an ascent ahead of the wreck and gently drift onto it…

After what seemed like much deliberation and worries of Martin not being able to descend quickly enough on technicalities of his rebreather we thought maybe Bruce and err Mick, would be best suited to the descent. Dropping down the shot and identifying our now gathering uncertainty to wreck or rock seemed like a plan. We could return at a later date!

Bruce did his buddy check with Brian, air in here, out, pull dump here, here… Gary mocked, turning to look at Martin, ‘yep he’s still here’, buddy check done!

Approaching the buoy, seemingly deeper into the water now, we would drop Bruce and err Kevin ahead of the buoy and they would drift towards it then grab the shot and descend quickly. The signal given they dropped over the rib into the water, grasping at the shot as it passed. okay signals of sorts were hastily given and down they went. I marked their entry times into the water and they left our view… We watched from a careful distance for bubbles and we thought perhaps they’d left the line and we’re now drifting away. Could the bubbles they expelled drift so far from the shoted line? We waited for what seemed an eternity, minutes passed… Four in total before they reappeared!!!

What next? More to be told, in the adventures of Mo tomorrow…

Lady Driver at the helm, hold on!!!

Lost in the darkness, but did they find the forbidden treasures?

The Fright of the surfacing sea monster!

Will our sexy Coast Guard ever reveal herself? Well Helllooooo!

Man Over Board!