SCUBA presents a fifth set of entries from our writing competition, each author presenting their vision of a life-affirming UK dive
Christine Ingram sings the praises of the Plymouth Drop-off, a deep wall convenient for visiting when the weather closes in
COMPETITION
Pink sea fans – a Plymouth specialty
A Dive to Remember
SCUBA presents a fifth set of entries from our writing competition, each author presenting their vision of a life-affirming UK dive
Judging continues
We have reached the deadline and are no longer taking entries. The plan is to announce a winner in the January issue. Thanks again to our sponsor O’ Three for providing a 90 Ninety Trilaminate Dry Suit worth £ 2,500 for the author of the winning story.
Worth £ 2500
Briefing: The dive I will always remember and never tire of is the Plymouth Dropoff. It’ s a wall dive – starting at 30m, then dropping down to 40m and deeper. It’ s quite a long wall, which can be covered over several dives.
The Dive: I have many favourite dive sites, particularly out of Plymouth. There are the Hand Deeps wall dives, Eddystone reef, Hatt Rock as well as the famous wrecks. But they’ re all quite a distance away in comparison to the Plymouth Drop-off; when the sea is rough, these outer sites are not accessible.
Just a short hop from the breakwater we have this deeper wall dive which is a good comparison to Hand Deeps. When the sea conditions are limiting your site options, this option is perfect if you want a deeper, more challenging dive.
From the breakwater, the seabed levels out to 30m beyond Tinker Shoal until the depth drops down to 40m. Apparently this is the Ice Age shoreline before sea levels rose
Anemones and coral on the wall
Wonder wall
Christine Ingram sings the praises of the Plymouth Drop-off, a deep wall convenient for visiting when the weather closes in
50m and formed the estuary into the Sound.
My favourite approach is to go further east by following the top edge of the wall; this route forks off to deep gulleys with a seabed of sand and shale. The first time I dived here, we were absolutely blown away with what this part of the wall offers.
Starting at the top you head south to find the edge of the wall, then dropping down you head eastwards with the wall on your left. This area can be tidal and you may have to adjust the starting point of your dive depending on the direction of the current.
Along the wall there are masses of crawfish of all sizes, conger eels, lobsters hanging out in the ledges and shelves. On my recent dive I was absolutely mesmerised with the crawfish and lobsters acting very frisky, playing or annoying each other and jumping over sleepy conger eels. I could have stayed there all day just watching them play.
The walls and ledges are covered with red and white soft corals, yellow staghorn and hedgehog sponges, pink sea fans and a variety of sea squirts. Coming up, I once came across a large sleepy monkfish. An added bonus, there’ s a huge anchor on the seabed towards the end of the dive, which is well worth checking out.
Debrief: Why is this one of my favourite dive sites? Because it’ s very local and easily accessible from Plymouth on a RIB and it never disappoints. The visibility can be silty but chances are you’ ll get around 6-8m viz. Highly recommended.
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