Guides
Ten UK dives you might just manage
I wrote this article following on from the social media lists of 'must do' dives, I hope you enjoy reading it and look forward to your feedback on your favourite UK dives!
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Latest Photographs
This is a section of hull, you can kinda see that the inside of the hull is on the bottom and comprises of a mesh of flat wooden sections, the actual hull is face up and looks like what it is....flat steel
A Sea lemon (Dorididae) on dull purple sea-weed, these nudibranchs are always easy to spot and this shows why!
You can now look along the prop-shaft tunnel
A pretty little light, one of the guys thought 'deck light' but with a solid back and close to another two broken lights I would think a bulkhead light of some description, date late victorian to pre WWI.
This is a shot from the back showing that there is no path for the sunlight above the deck, it is blanked off
A whelk (Buccinum undatum) there are loads of shells around the site and quite a few live ones. They are a popular food in some parts of the country and taste like eating rubber.
A part view of the plans of SS Somali! Showing the 'special cargo' area which is relevant on a few fronts.
More bits in the jumble of machinery
A Hermit Crab (Pagurus bernhardus) these are always good subjects and whilst they may 'nip' inside their shells when you approach it isn't long before the peep out again!
Lucy from 'Natural England' she was doing a recce and spent most of the dives picking up samples of weed.
A view of the business end of an Angler-fish (Lophius piscatorious) there are loads about the sites and once you've spotted one they become easier to see.
I think that this is part of the range-finder arrangement which was located on the conning tower, basically the wider apart the two sighting positions , the wider the angle and the more accurate the range calculations!
Divers on the stern section, this gives some sense of scale
Under the rocks here is a large steel flange, possibly part of the conning tower arrangement as it is too small to form part of the hull structure.
In this case the camouflage of the Pogge (Agonus cataphractus) wasn't good enough and this live fish was caught by a Velvet swimming Crab (Necora puber)
The northern, vertical rock face is smothered in hydroids, sea-squirts and boring corals but no dead mans fingers, it's still nice and pretty in bright conditions
Despite the apparent lack of food there are large shoals of Perch
A King....or Common....or Great Scallop (Pecten maximus) this one was just about to 'jet off'.
A Shanny (Lipophrys phalis) this one was living in an old hole and would 'hang out' when it realised that you didn't want to eat it!
A large lobster (Homarus gammarus) in between two plates, these only come out at night!
A Common Octopus (Octopus vulgaris), there are loads about this year (2016) you just have to get your eye in to spot 'em.
The second anchor, again of a Danfort design.
The engine block, the shot-line is tied to this
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