Yo-Han Cha makes a long overdue return to the Isles of Scilly, one of his favourite UK dive spots
YO-HANCHA
UKDIVING
Seriously Scilly
Yo-Han Cha makes a long overdue return to the Isles of Scilly, one of his favourite UK dive spots
Undoubtedly one of the best places that I’ ve ever been diving in the UK is the Scillies. I was first introduced to the Scillies just before I moved down south. That was then followed up with a trip a couple of years later where, on top of the diving, I got to say“ Hi”( from a safe distance) to Wally the Walrus. Having firmly established itself as one my favourite diving destinations, I thought I’ d be back on a fairly regular basis, however due to other diving commitments( there’ s just too many places to go diving and not enough time!), I found myself having to wait four whole years before returning to the Scillies, this time with Clifton Sub Aqua Club, on a trip run by Rick Ayrton.
Times had changed since my previous visit. The dive charter operating out of St Marys is now Ed Gollop’ s Skin Deep. It was my first time diving with Ed and I found him to be an excellent skipper. He’ d built up a lot of local knowledge about the diving around the Scillies and he had a lot of patience for a group that ranged from single cylinders to rebreathers.
The reason why the Scillies is one of my favourite divining destinations is that it doesn’ t matter if you love squidge or rust, in the Scillies there’ s an abundance of both. When preparing for the next day, I always had a dilemma whether to set my camera for macro or wide angle. It didn’ t matter if it was a scenic or wreck dive, it was always a conundrum.
In the Scillies, it pays to go hunting for little critters or try and take photos of the walls of jewel anemones on the scenic sites. I remembered seeing some very cool nudibranchs on the Cita, so I had the same conundrum when diving wreck sites. There was never a wrong answer; ultimately I always had something to photograph. One of the highlights was the last dive of the trip, Bishop Rock. Due to the remoteness of the location, it was touch and go whether we would be able to dive it or not. I had no faith in the British
“ There’ s just too many places to go diving and not enough time!”
weather and I set my camera up for macro, assuming that we would be blown out and thus forced to dive an alternative site.
Had I had more faith, I would have set up on wide angle, as Bishop Rock lies close to the wreck of HMS Eagle, where my buddy, Dave Bulpitt and I found a gully full of at least 19 cannon and an anchor. Even for someone like me who isn’ t really a massive rust lover, the sight of all that ironmongery was very exciting. And for Dave, who last year had completed the Nautical Archaeology Society Cannon Research and Recording Course, it was manna from rusty heaven. Dave, next time, I’ ll take my wide angle lens and I’ ll get proper shot of you and the cannon!
Finally, I must say thank you to Helen Ayrton, who took on the vast majority of the burden of being my dive buddy that week. It was a fantastic trip and I must not leave it four years before I return to the Scillies. �
Jewel anemones are arguably the standout species in the Isles of Scilly
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