Malin Head 2004

Reproduced with permission from and copyright of www.outlawdivers.org.uk

A Rebreather Adventure - Malin Head, Ireland - March 2004
By Beanie


H-Day -86 - St Keverne, Cornwall
Weather: Gale 8, Sea state: rough
Diving: Off

In the post dive cancellation chat Gary of Dive Action, asks if we fancy Northern Ireland for a week in March. Now Lisa has been on at me for months at this point trying to persuade me to go away for a week in March, just her and me because Paul (hubby) can't make it. Now if you know Lisa you will understand why I was not keen on the idea, she cannot cook and her vocabulary stretches to "I hungry", "I tired" and "want chocolate". So the idea of going away with some other people appealed, but not to Lisa at this point. However, over the next day and evening, she warms to the idea and Paul decides that he can find another week of holiday. So anyway to cut a long story short before we leave Cornwall for home we've got our names down for a week in Ireland. At this point, we know very little about the trip.


H-Day -10 -St Keverne, Cornwall
Weather: Strong Breeze, Rain
Diving: Never planned

So the time has come to pack our kit off to Dive Action for it to be shipped over to Ireland. Paul and I pack six boxes of dive kit into my car, which sits right down on its suspension, and off we set at 08:45 following 250 miles of driving we arrive at St Keverne, Cornwall at 13:45. Gary is not at the unit, this does not surprise us, so we give him a bell and he's sorting out his boat and will be back at 15:00 (we read this as 15:30). So we have a drive round the beaches and look at the sea, which is calm in the sheltered bays. Back at the unit, Gary turns up at 15:30. Ken, who along with two open circuit buddies are also coming, turn up with another pile of kit. So we stack umpteen boxes in Gary's shop have a coffee, tell Gary the time of the flight, and find out some further details before heading home.


H-Day -1, Monday - Home
Weather: Strong Breeze, Rain
Diving: Never planned

19:00 the phone rings, it's Gary, the weather outlook is bad, very bad, everyone else has bailed except Paul and Lisa and Gary hasn't spoken to them yet. After a couple of call to Paul and Lisa they persuade me we should still go, so it's off round theirs ready for an early start.


H Day, Tuesday - Bristol to Belfast to Londonderry to Marlin Head
Weather: Strong Breeze, Rain
Diving: Never planned

05:00 get up pack the van and head of to Bristol, hang around a bit then hop on EasyJet flight to Belfast.


H-Day + 1, Wednesday - Malin Head, Ireland
Weather: Rough
Diving planned: shore diving - Cancelled

We get up and look out of the window; the sea is white with foam on one side and breakers on the other, no diving today then. Time to play tourist off to Northern Ireland via the Foyle ferry. Off we go to a castle, then the Giants Causeway and finally Bushmills Distillery. We have an evening in with pizza, and later we get a knock on the door from Liam and Stewart (who we weren't expecting or even knew at this point), they are after some O2, which is in the shed


H-Day + 2, Thursday
Weather: Calmer
Diving planned: shore diving

Again, we get up and look out the window it looks rough still but not as bad as yesterday oh well lets try a shore dive. Liam and Stewart turn up for some O2, they're also going to shore dive. The closest pier is taking the full brunt of the sea so we move on to one on the other coast (still within sight of the house). We kit up enjoying the sunshine, which is warm when sheltered from the wind. A pleasant if a little shallow and therefore swelly dive, Lisa seems to enjoy it snapping away with her camera.

We decide that an afternoon drive round the countryside is more appealing than another swelly shore dive, so with Paul navigating we set of into the wild sometimes on roads occasionally on tracks. The scenery is very pretty, almost totally unspoilt and nearly uninhabited. We end up in the Malin Hotel for dinner where we meet up with Liam and Stewart again.


H-Day +3, Friday
Weather: Calmer Still
Diving planned: Boat Diving

The weather looks better out of the window today and Geoff is bringing the boat up so we can dive Inistrahull, an unexplored island paradise about one mile in length, which is six miles north of Malin Head. The ride out is not to rough and the Island provides us with a nice sheltered dive. 20m scenic dive with 10-12 m visibility and Seals which come and look at us underwater, well Beanie and Stewart anyway, Lisa and Paul were ignored or not looking. After an hours dive in the sea, which was only 8°C, the old hands begin to get a little nippy.

Dinner in front of the TV tonight, and an early night tomorrow is the Laurantic, a big Liner of the White Star Line, from the same line as the Titanic. Geoff comes back up to the house and brings Barry (DiverTec) whom we have 'met' through Yorkshire Divers, it was him that started the trip with a request for Gary (Dive Action) to do him a Trimix course.


H-Day +4, Saturday
Weather: Calmer Still or is it
Diving planned: Boat Diving - the Laurantic

We meet Barry properly in the morning over breakfast, where he produces a VR3 (www.vr3.com) for me to try out. Geoff gets the boat ready and drives it round the head so we don't have quite as long a boat ride. Not that this really makes that much off a difference, the swell is 2-4m and the wreck lies 13 miles from the pier. When we get there, we shot the wreck and kit up as quickly as we can as the boat is rocking a little and we all feel a little green. Still we manage to get in the water this time. Beanie and Lisa are diving with Geoff, as Paul is not feeling so good we left him to go back to bed. We go down the shot into 38m of green water; the visibility is 3-4m, which is poor for this area. Unluckily for us the shot is no longer on the wreck, although it is possible to make out what could be a shadow of the wreck. At this point of the dive there is a sudden beep - beep, which means only one thing - kit failure; Beanies master handset on his rebreather has failed, this controls the O2 content of the breathing loop and although there is a secondary controller which can take over if required. It is however not a very good idea to dive a depth with only the one handset, so we go back up the shotline to the surface.

The weather has not improved while we were under, not surprising really. We head back in and decide that we'll give diving a miss for the rest of the day, preferring to go back to the house for bacon butties. Then of to Malin Head to look out over the Atlantic, we can see Scotland today.


H-Day +5, Sunday
Weather: Calmer Still or is it
Diving planned: Boat Diving - William Mannell

Sunday, the final days diving, this time on the eastern side of Malin Head to get some shelter from the swell which is breaking on the western side. Today's wreck is tidal one of the few that is; the sea is a lot calmer this side only ½ - 1m swell. The wreck is very nice when we drop on to it the bow is complete lying with a list to port. At only 30m long, this is a little wreck but it means we can swim round all of it in 25 minutes. On the way up, we feel the swell as we do our safety stop, although when the profile is downloaded the stop looked remarkably good. When back on the surface we try to recover the shot, which has Barry's Delayed SMB on it to make it lighter, but it is stuck in the wreck so we leave it there.

We head back and Geoff decides his engine needs a decent run so he opens her up 42 knots is quite exhilarating. We meet Paul back at the slip; he didn't dive again because he was still feeling ill. Then it is back to the house to pack our kit up ready for it to be shipped back to Cornwall.


H-Day +6, Monday
Weather: Getting worse
Diving planned: None planned

We get up at a leisurely pace, pack our kit up and head over to Geoff's where we drop our kit off for Paul (another one) to pick up and ship home. The rest of the day is spent in Londonderry, see the walled town and the city which lies beyond them.


H-Day +7, Tuesday
Weather: Getting worse
Diving planned: None planned

Home time, so of to Belfast to catch the plane home and discuss returning next year. This time later in the season and with Trimix, so we can dive some of the deeper wrecks.


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