Four Merdian Divers dived the wreck of the TRT making the best use of the unexpected April sunshine . The dive was conducted on a high tide and was courtesy of "MacD" of Newhaven Divers Limited. Water temperature was 11 Deg C and one buddy pair , who reamined on the 'deck' area near the stern reached a maximum depth of 28.7 metres with total dive time (on air) of 32minutes.
The viz was probably 2 to 3 meters , which was a little less than we expected and it was quite gloomy due to plankton filtering out much of the light. Our perfectly placed shot line lead us directly to the exposed ribs on the port side of the stern from where we quickly located the Steering Quadrant. We made our way towards the bow using the port gunwhale as a guide but veered of to the centre line of the ship before the boilers to see the large 'twin' winch and what I believe is a spare propellor blade. A hunt for the ships gun proved fruitless in the viz and we made our way back to the vicinity of the Steering Quadrant to lanch the DSMB. It was a good practice run for the videography which in better conditions should produce good results.
After the dive the usual divers refreshments were taken in the Coral Cabin whilst viewing the video 'footage'. Later in the 'garden' (huh, some garden !) it was good to meet up with some other dive buddies and catch-up on the local diving news.
Sunday, April 29, 2007
Saturday, April 21, 2007
TRT Dive 21st April 2007
Had to get straight to the blog after a super dive on the T R Thompson today (aboard Channel Diver with Steve Johnson) . Horribly early start , ropes off at Brighton at 7am but well worth it. Calm sea, beautifully sunny day , full boat of 12 divers, my buddy was Jim-B.The TRT dive saw us enter at 8.50am and dive to a max of 28metres for 44minutes.
The water had plenty of plankton and on the wreck it was pretty dark but viz was 3 to 4 meters (getting better!) . Jim & I made straight for the bow as neither had been there before. We saw both anchors (square profile anchors) and a third admiralty pattern anchor on the wreck. The Admiralty pattern anchor (curved style) had a broken 'spade' on the left side, (very distinctive).We then made our way amidships to see two boilers and the triple expansion engine after looking at a massive twin winch and a set of steps lying horizontal.
If it had been a little lighter this would have been an amazing dive. After surfacing we stood on the deck of the dive boat and watched the rebreather divers finish their time on their DSMBs. As we did so the last two in the water were circled for 15minutes by a dolphin. A smallish one of 3 to 4 feet in length. When the last two made it back on board they reported the dolphin was coming within arms reach of them .
Dolphins have been seen on the TRT before & fingers crossed they will be their again!
The water had plenty of plankton and on the wreck it was pretty dark but viz was 3 to 4 meters (getting better!) . Jim & I made straight for the bow as neither had been there before. We saw both anchors (square profile anchors) and a third admiralty pattern anchor on the wreck. The Admiralty pattern anchor (curved style) had a broken 'spade' on the left side, (very distinctive).We then made our way amidships to see two boilers and the triple expansion engine after looking at a massive twin winch and a set of steps lying horizontal.
If it had been a little lighter this would have been an amazing dive. After surfacing we stood on the deck of the dive boat and watched the rebreather divers finish their time on their DSMBs. As we did so the last two in the water were circled for 15minutes by a dolphin. A smallish one of 3 to 4 feet in length. When the last two made it back on board they reported the dolphin was coming within arms reach of them .
Dolphins have been seen on the TRT before & fingers crossed they will be their again!
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