Rich1280
Contributor
Hi,
putting this here as wasn't sure if it was best in here or the CCR or travel section, but this should be for the right audience. We did two weeks on the Clasina (Halton Charters – Scotland and Norway Liveaboard Dive Charter) at the end of August. The first week I ran out of Fraserburgh, and we spent a week looking at WW1 shipwrecks sunk by SMS Meteor when she laid a minefield. We managed 4 diving days, lost two to weather from 6, and managed to confirm identity on HMS Lynx, previously listed as "Believed to be HMS Lynx" on the charts, then two steam cargo ships we identified by boilers and found pottery with the shipping line crest on, and a trawler taken up for armed service we found a makers plate on. These were all in 58-63m.
The second week was a friend's project where we spent a week diving the protected wreck HMS Exmouth with a view to getting a good impression of the state of the wreck and documenting how she was doing. This required a permit from the RN, and we had criteria to work to, but was a good week seeing the things that usually get lost and lifted, lots of small details like cutlery and door signs you wouldn't normally see. Exmouth was in 53-58m also.
Clasina is a true expedition boat for this kind of thing, and Bob the skipper is more than capable of handling her. She has very large dive deck, easily accommodating the 12 divers, bunks are comfy and the food is good. Each diver gets about 1.2m of bench space, so its pretty easy to kit up and manage stage cylinders. All gases are available on board, blended at the seat. The deck crew can manage the lazy trapeze with you and support the diving, and the sheer bulk of the boat means as she swings round to pick you up the weather just drops and it all gets a bit nicer. We were sailing out in 20kn wind, and diving in 15 knots 30 mi offshore with no particular concerns. You do need to make sure you've lashed the unit on when you get back on board though!
Rich
putting this here as wasn't sure if it was best in here or the CCR or travel section, but this should be for the right audience. We did two weeks on the Clasina (Halton Charters – Scotland and Norway Liveaboard Dive Charter) at the end of August. The first week I ran out of Fraserburgh, and we spent a week looking at WW1 shipwrecks sunk by SMS Meteor when she laid a minefield. We managed 4 diving days, lost two to weather from 6, and managed to confirm identity on HMS Lynx, previously listed as "Believed to be HMS Lynx" on the charts, then two steam cargo ships we identified by boilers and found pottery with the shipping line crest on, and a trawler taken up for armed service we found a makers plate on. These were all in 58-63m.
The second week was a friend's project where we spent a week diving the protected wreck HMS Exmouth with a view to getting a good impression of the state of the wreck and documenting how she was doing. This required a permit from the RN, and we had criteria to work to, but was a good week seeing the things that usually get lost and lifted, lots of small details like cutlery and door signs you wouldn't normally see. Exmouth was in 53-58m also.
Clasina is a true expedition boat for this kind of thing, and Bob the skipper is more than capable of handling her. She has very large dive deck, easily accommodating the 12 divers, bunks are comfy and the food is good. Each diver gets about 1.2m of bench space, so its pretty easy to kit up and manage stage cylinders. All gases are available on board, blended at the seat. The deck crew can manage the lazy trapeze with you and support the diving, and the sheer bulk of the boat means as she swings round to pick you up the weather just drops and it all gets a bit nicer. We were sailing out in 20kn wind, and diving in 15 knots 30 mi offshore with no particular concerns. You do need to make sure you've lashed the unit on when you get back on board though!
Rich
