HMS Sylla

[Jonathan]

Come on anyone dived it yet? I got an email from my old club back in the UK where one guy was on the first commercial dive and it looks great - I'll see if I can get his permission to post some photos....

Looks like I could be going to Plymouth on my next visit home

 

[Adrian Kelland]

Mate of mine was on it Tuesday eve. All the switches still work, and valves still turn - not for long though. Aluminium rails starting to corrode.

Was blown out today by the weather, will try to dive it next w/e, just to know what to expect with trainees.

Adrian

 

[Wreckie]

They opened her at 1230 the monday after she sank.I was on her at around 4pm the same day. There was LOTS of noise as she settled and it was actually quite spooky.

They havnt made her that sterile, get inside and you'll find lots of cabeling from the charges used to sink her, i had to cut my way out of one large coil. Some of the entry ways are very sharp, we lost a dry suit (torn straight through the leg) and my hp hose was basicaly skinned.

She is begining to silt up, especially in the ops room. I found this on the second dive i did last week. I'm going to be contraversial and say that they have made her too safe, cut too many holes and too easy to get out of, this also makes it easy to get *IN*.... Go in in low vis without thinking and someone is going to have a longer scylla dive than they anticipated, say about 24hours longer till someone pulls them out dead.

She is a far dodgier prospect than advertised, plus its boring, theres not a single living thing on it!

Mike

 

[Adrian Kelland]

... plus its boring, theres not a single living thing on it!

Mike

Agreed, although there is now planty of green film growing, won't be long 'til something feeds off it.

Adrian

 

[String]

Dived it just before 9am Saturday and we were the only boat on the wreck at the time.

Its nice to see a boat intact, upright and so on but id describe it more of an underwater theme park/playground than a wreck dive at the moment. Playing with buttons and switches etc seems to be the most common (as well as compulsory standing on bridge saluting photo and the titanic impression on the bow).

I doubt the loudspeakers and other objects will be on there for long though. The bridge is covered in "I was here" graffiti although this wont last, the paint is already bubbling and will peel off soon i guess.

There are loads of warnings by each entry point with "Do not attempt without training", "Check your air" and so on.

There are some sharp edges around too so its worth being careful when going in and out.

Given she hasnt been down long we were a bit surprised at the amount of silt inside her in areas already however its not too bad.

Did the Eagan Layne as second dive and a big contracts, Scylla was a playground, Eagan Layne was a real wreck dive with masses of life around. First time ive done it and was impressed.

Vis maybe 6m on both sites although on Scylla the starboard site had a current and 3m vis instead.

 

[Phish-phood]

Did the Scylla this past Friday and really enjoyed it.

The viz was absolutely excellant, you could see the decks from about 1metre under the surface! Didn't penetrate at all as there was plenty to play around with on the outside.
Life is starting to appear, numerous small shoals of immature pollock inside the wreck and along the bottom, some hermit crabs (okay a single hermit crab) and lots of starfish making their way across the seabed - first time I have ever seen a starfish moving! Plan on doing this wreck again in about a year to see the difference. A gentle current across the decks from port to starboard made it feel like you were sliding down the deck (she is listing slightly) which was weird

Eagan Layne as a second dive and wow what a dive - slightly stronger tide on that one but still an excellant dive! Absolutely massive shoals of bib and pollock! Big dogfish - basically life everywhere! Again visibility up to 20 metres in places

 

[String]

I was totally amazed with the 6m i had on those 2 wrecks.

Cant imagine 15m vis in the UK - id be frightened. More than 5 brings me out in a rash

 

[Phish-phood]

I was totally amazed with the 6m i had on those 2 wrecks.

Cant imagine 15m vis in the UK - id be frightened. More than 5 brings me out in a rash

I know what you mean. The weather wasn't the greatest when we were there either and I was expecting some dodgy low viz. Could have helped that we were the only ones on both wrecks that day but according to the skipper the viz had been good all week. Probably the first and last time I'll see viz that good in Britain though

 

[Amy B]

The Eagan Layne is definately one of my favourite dives. I've dived on Scylla and wasn't too impressed - not a lot but algae at the moment!
They are hoping that marine life will move over from the Eagan Layne, so maybe in a couple months it will be a more interesting dive.
I'll probably keep diving it though as I'm currently doing a marine biology and coastal ecology degree at Plymouth uni - the colonisation should be pretty interesting, once it really gets going!
Can't say I've ever been on the Eagan Layne and had bad vis (unlike at the breakwater! Try doing your navigation dive with ZERO vis - can't even see your hand on your mask but you KNOW you're touching it..!) though I know there can be a few currents swinging by.
My sister got caught in some pretty bad currents on the Scylla this morning as well. I couldn't dive myself, as I have a cold... Look out for my name on the ship if you dive it, 'Amy' and a big ladybird! He he...
I can recommend a dive centre to go from if you're looking for a shuttle, it's £15 per dive and based in Plymouth. PM me for details if you want them. It's where I pretty much always dive from, and they're really good. Plus their 10m RIB is fun!

 

[String]

I did JEL for first time last month (just after Scylla) and was impressed by the amount of life on it. 6m vis again was something im not used to. Scylla would be an interesting dive to do every 6 months or 1 year to see whats grown/fallen off and so on. At the moment its a very nice wreck to explore but a touch sterile.
We had an odd current on the Scylla in that it was absolutely slack on the port side but running fairly strongly on the starboard side to the extent that you had to pull your way along the walkways to make progress.

Have to admit to not being able to identify a single species of fish in the sea - my limit really is "lobster,crab,fish". Anything else is beyond my ability

Hoping to dive the scylla once more this year but if not, next year by which time there'll be "more fish" on it.