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Location: Newquay, Cornwall
Boat/Skipper: Atlantic Diver/Chris Lowe
Divers: Brian (organiser), Sally, Adrian, Peter, Phil (Tango)

The late evening of 1 May saw us congregating in the Log Cabins at Chris Lowe's house, christened the 'Big Diver House' on a previous trip - you'll see why if you join us in the future. For most of us, it was a return trip, but for Sally a first visit. Chris's setup is excellent, with everything on site not too far from the centre of Newquay and the harbour. After the usual catching up and saying hello to the three non-380 divers joining us for the first day, snores were soon heard from our cabin (a feature of all diving weekends).

Friday 2 May: We were getting on the boat in the early afternoon to dive a few hours later, so the day started in a suitably champagne style, with breakfast, fettling, much chatting and a walk around Newquay to buy fudge, pasties and some tat for Sally. Early afternoon saw us loading the boat and meeting up with Innes and Tricia McCartney. We dived the Siracusa, a freighter which sank in 1897 in about 35m of water. She is quite broken up, but the boilers, engine, shafts and props remain largely intact. One boiler is broken open, so that the inner piping is visible. Apparently, Innes spent so much time inspecting it that Peter asked him whether he'd certified it. Visibility was good, but not up to the usual Newquay standards, although a torch wasn't strictly necessary (which was good as mine had stopped working). An interesting array of shotline techniques were demonstrated during deco…. http://divernet.com/cgi-bin/articles.pl?id=5586&sc=7&ac=d&an=5586:+Surfing+the+slacks+in+Newquay+...

Saturday 3 May: An earlier start, with no cooked breakfast!, but copious grumbling. Newquay harbour dries out at low tide, so we spent some hours tootling around on the boat before diving at midday. We were joined by 3 more divers, which made things slightly crowded. Today's target was the Westheim, another freighter in about 45m of water. More broken up than the Siracusa, but otherwise similar, the highlight for me was finding a large complete tile, which was recovered for further investigation. Friday's shotline shenanigans continued, much to the 'amusement' of the rest of us. During the day, some of the divers tried their hands at fishing, to be put to shame by the skipper's son, Ben, aka the Newquay Fish Slaughterer, who caught a good pile of mackerel and pollock. These were consumed later in the Big Diver garden, though the seals in the harbour went hungry.

Sunday 4 May: A slightly later start and then a few hours to prepare to dive the U1021. This late WWII Type VIIC U-boat lies in 48-50m and is largely intact, except for the bow area, which was blown up by the mine that sank her on her first cruise in 1945. It was a particular privilege that we were diving with Innes, as he was responsible for identifying her and 2 others that had been sunk in this minefield (Deep Wreck Mysteries - Fatal Decision). The viz was excellent, though it was rather dark due to low rain clouds (which had given us a good soaking just before going in). The conning tower hatch had come adrift over the winter, allowing a view that very few can have seen since she last dived in 1945, though out of respect for her crew, no-one did more than look. That, coupled with the optics on her sky periscope, make her a very special dive. 380 were amongst the very first people to dive her in 2006, not long after the Deep Wreck Mysteries filming had taken place. Thanks to the shotline ending up some way from the wreck, Innes had also spotted the mine sinker that had presumably secured the mine that sank her. http://www.atlanticdiver.co.uk/u-1021.html

Monday 5 May: Our final day took us out to the Vesuvius, the first motor torpedo boat, sunk in 48-50m of water. She is a little boat, so can easily be explored in a single dive, but still contains some very interesting items. Among these are two of the three torpedo tubes, one beautifully faired low down into the bow and the other lying next to it, having fallen from the deck. I'm sure that last year, I saw all three. Moving back along the wreck, the inner door of the lower torpedo tube was visible, as were the boilers and engines. The viz sadly wasn't good enough for us to find the tools that are apparently still in place in the engine room, but the deck portholes and copper and brass piping are still in evidence. At the stern, the two large props and the rudder were covered in Dead Men's fingers. Today's fishing was even more successful than Saturday's, with three large bass being caught, together with more pollock and mackerel. Peter's triumphant return to the angling world after a 30-year layoff ensured that the seals didn't go entirely hungry on our return! http://www.atlanticdiver.co.uk/hms-vesuvius.html

Thanks to Brian for organising the trip and Sally, Peter and Adrian for making it so enjoyable.