UKDIVING
Saeed approaches a pink sea fan on the Scylla
At some point in early 2021 , I woke in a cold sweat with the realisation that I had no diving booked for the coming season . I spent the rest of the day calling friendly clubs and buddies , trying to put together a summer road trip . It was a close-run thing . As most readers know , 2021 will be remembered as the year everything got booked up .
My paranoia served me well ; by the end of that week , I had confirmed bookings at Plymouth , Porthkerris Cove in Cornwall and Ilfracombe . I even had a buddy , in the form of photo guru and industry blagger , Saeed Rashid . Saeed is one of my best pals , but it remained to be seen how his enthusiasm would weather two weeks of my snoring and ‘ challenging ’ sense of humour .
All the same , I had booked the boats , the accommodation and all of the eateries , so this year the South West was going to be our scuba sanctuary , an escape from the worries of 2021 .
Plymouth : A Confession
The main focus of the trip was Porthkerris Cove in Cornwall ’ s Lizard Peninsula , but an opportunity had arisen to join Mike Smith and the merry divers of Burntwood BSAC for a weekend in Plymouth with InDeep diving . Now , I ’ ve dived the Eddystone , and the Coronation and a load of the gulley sites at Plymouth , but ... drumroll ... I ’ ve never dived the Scylla or the James Eagan Layne .
I know ! Arguably the two most popular wrecks in England , and I ’ d never done them . For shame ! Well , seeing as everyone else in BSAC was an expert on these wrecks , I didn ’ t need to be , so I favoured different places . Saeed , of course , had spent most of the last decade languishing in the perfumed seas of Indonesia , so he wasn ’ t exactly an authority on the subject .
First , we had to find our digs . In the year that saw unprecedented demand for UK accommodation , the powers that be at the Mountbatten Centre had cancelled our
Inside the James Eagan Layne
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