Lundy 2002
Click a photo on the left for a bigger version
Lundy Island looked inviting as we chugged toward it on Saturday Morning. It had been a long drive down the previous night and we were all looking forward to getting in the water. Our first dive of the weekend was Knoll Pins. A pair of pinnacles that go down to about 20m that were the centre of the first marine reserve in the UK.
We shared the pins for a while with wrasse, starfish and huge spider crabs as well as big colourful sea urchins and a load of jellyfish - seems to be the season for them on the North Devon coast. More surprisingly though, was the Coral. Hard corals and sea fans all there in front of you.
We ate our lunch in Seals' Bay. For many, the main point of the trip was the chance to get close to seals and this lunchtime was no disappointment. Wolfing down sandwiches divers grabbed their snorkels and cameras and dropped into the water. Wary at first, the seals eventually flopped off their rocks and came to investigate the new arrivals. They seemed to favour the women on the boat ('takes all sorts), and were soon swimming up close and tugging on Jo's fins. The trick, it seems, is to wait until they come to you, and then swim away slowly. They think its a game and chase you.
The wreck of the Robert lies just outside the island's harbour and was our afternoon destination. She sank when her cargo shifted and now lies, neatly on her side and intact in 28m.
After a shallow dive in the morning we had to limit ourselves to her shallower port side - the crew's quarters, bridge and holds all looking inviting below us. Her hull seemed an endless carpet of jewel anemone. Every hole had an occupant: a conger here, a big fat edible crab there. She's a wreck I would dive again.
Done for the day we waited outside Clovelly harbour for enough water to bring us in before the steep walk up to the hotel for showers and dinner. Clovelly features on a lot of postcards. It's a beautiful fishing village laid out along a cobbled street so steep there are no cars - they have to be tucked out of site right at the top of the hill. Goods and shopping come down the hill on improvised sledges. Thankfully you can drive round to the harbour to load and unload kit, but you can't keep your car there. All in all it makes an idyllic setting for a post-dive pint and an undisturbed night.
Sunday brought a millpond sea and sunshine. Our two dives that day were scenic: Gulls' Rock and Gannets' Rock. Similar in a lot of ways they both offered opportunities to explore the crevices and rocks around Lundy's coast. Crabs were abundant as were lobsters - tasty looking ones too. One made the mistake of scurrying into its hole head first and I thought Richard was going to get it until Jo seemed to say something to him under the water and he backed off sharpish. All I could think about was the lobster salad I had the night before - and how much I'd like another one. Peering into the holes offered real treats including a big conga and a tom-pot blennie.
Monday. Bonus Day! Enjoying a dive when you should be at work always feels great. We got out the wreck of the Thistlemore early, there was forty minutes of slack and we wanted to make sure we got them all. The Thistlemore sank trying to round the point of Bidford bay. The master, J. W. Anderson, was among the fourteen men lost and their tombstone can still be see in Northam.
I was intrigued by this wreck as she is the sister-ship of the Thistlegorm. A favourite in the red sea the Thistlegorm sits upright, near intact with 20m visibility and has an exciting cargo. The Thistlemore is smashed near level, visibility was zero without a torch and little more with one and has no cargo you can spot. Well, not from the shot line anyway and that's where I stopped my dive! Richard and Jenny ventured furthest, coming back up the ladder with rust-covered knees. Everyone agreed it was a deep, dark, eerie place to be.
We rounded off our trip with a gentle drift just outside Clovelly Harbour. Dogfish always look like toy sharks and there was an abundance of toys to play with here, as well as lobsters and crabs aplenty. Drift diving is one of my favourites. Call me lazy but drifting over a splendid seabed, pausing here and there to look at something interesting and knowing that the skipper is keeping an eye on your SMB always makes me feel relaxed.
As a whole, the trip made me feel very relaxed indeed. A trip I would take next year, in fact Jo is looking at the tide tables and talking to the skippers as I write. Thanks Jo, fab weekend. If anyone fancies it next year now is the time to e-mail joannaecrook@hotmail.com.
