The SS Kintyre - 17/09/17

When the Wylie Fox asked me if I was interested in diving the SS Kintyre I was immediately keen for a number of reasons. 

1. I could make myself available
2. An experienced diver told me the tide conditions would be ideal
3. The weather forecast looked good
4. It was to be one day shy of the 110th anniversary of the sinking 

It all seemed right and I had wanted to do this dive for sometime and one of the reasons why I had wanted to get the twinset.

It's deep,at around 36m with a long swim out to it from the shore. In fact, by the time you get to it breathing air you are almost in deco. I had asked if it was OK if I brought Jester along for the ride - which Wylie Fox was cool with.

Jester and I as a buddy pair planned as follows:

• Stage 1 - Dive the sewage pipe, if we were both happy by the end of the sewage pipe we'd move to stage 2
• Stage 2 - Dive along the guide rope to the bow of the SS Kintyre, if we were both happy we'd continue to stage 3
• Stage 3 - Dive down to mid ships at around 40m before returning home

Neither of us had any camera equipment - it seemed silly to take it on a dive where people do get into trouble given neither of us had dived it before.

The pipe was pretty, encrusted with anemones and with life all around it, but we ignored it on the way down, along the rope was pretty, but we ignored that too until we got to the bow.

It was magnificent, some people say it's deteriorated considerably, but it is still proud and ghostly as it emerges from the gloom. When I got to it I reached out and touched it - admiring it for a moment. I looked round to see Jester offer me a handshake. He must've felt the same way.

We continued off down along the port side spotting nudibranchs and little schools of fish. I could of stayed there for longer ( I certainly had enough air in the end), but a plan is a plan and we turned heading back.

It's a long dive with plenty of deco. In fact, I felt that one of our companions (K-Pep)  had the right idea with a nice O2 rich 'travel gas' and air on the wreck. It certainly meant that he didn't have to hand about for 15m at 3-5m at the end.

All in all, it was a memorable success.

Done

Entry

Going in

Going down