Philippa and I responded to Dave’s call to go diving on 31st August. It would be an exciting new dive to view WW11 tanks and armoured bulldozers lost on their way to France in June 1944. Articles had recently appeared in the national and diving press about them.

However, on the Friday, two days before we were due to dive on the Sunday, another club member, Reuben phoned me at work to say that Wittering Divers had confirmed that they had only two spaces vacant for dives the following day, Saturday 30th August. Did I want to go diving? Needless to say Reuben and I found ourselves on the beach at Bracklesham Bay early that morning. The sky was not yet fully light but just kept improving and improving all day long. It was the one day summer that was only equalled by the fantastic weekend weather in the middle of October. Land/surface temperatures were 24 degrees and seabed temperatures on both dives proved to be 18 degrees.

With the sea like a millpond, the 20 minute drive by rib out to the The Brigette, aka the T Pot, was easy. In we went, descending the shot line to find acceptable ambient light with viz at 3 – 4 metres. Our dive to 19 metres lasted 47 minutes with us identifying the bilge keels on the upturned hull, finding the propeller still in situ and looking in the boilers to discover that the resident conger was not at home that day and had been replaced by a shoal of fish.

Upon surfacing, we found a 1 metre swell running with us constantly losing sight of the rib. The ride to shore was a little more interesting than our outward trip but pleasant none the less.

Our second dive of the day was much closer to shore being at the Fossil Beds. Our dive was a slow drift at 13 metres and last 54 minutes. We did not find any sharks teeth although we know they are there. We just didn’t get our eye in and look in the right places. We did do a good deed and released a fish, a crab and a lobster who were sharing a very confined space in an abandoned trap.

Even good things have to end and eventually Reuben and I had to leave Bracklesham to drive home. And the sun was still shining! All the way! 

An early start on Sunday morning saw Philippa, Dave and me in the car park at Bracklesham Bay. The weather was overcast and dark. Quite different from the previous day. We kitted up and waited for the rib which arrived after a short delay.
The ride out from the coast was not bad; we travelled 8 miles from the shore to the tanks and bulldozers dive site at 23m metres (see telegraph article here)

The sea was calm at the surface and we all went in, however surface light was lost at 13 metres and I and Pip called a halt to the dive due to the very poor viz at the seabed. All other divers on the rib would appear to have been of a similar mind as all were back on board within 20 minutes. We were delayed on our return to shore as the skipper could not retrieve his shot despite attempting to do so from all directions. Eventually he had to give it best and cut his line. See inset image for what the tanks "should" have looked like :)

Our surface interval on shore provided us with an opportunity for lunch and ample time to refill cylinders. The knock on effect of our late return from our first dive now came into play with the rib returning to shore much later than planned from the shuttle dive trip after ours of the early morning.  With the sky threatening rain and rising winds we set off for our second dive. This was a long trip along the coast of half an hour’s duration. We were diving on the site of the Phoenix Unit of the Mulberry Harbour but planned to follow an alternative rope once on the seabed. This rope should bring us to a little dived wreck named the Cuckoo. This is a small, complete boat located near the much more often dived Phoenix Unit. Dave was very good in finding the Cuckoo, there were a few ropes but he picked the correct one. We hand hauled ourselves along the seabed until it came into view. Twice around it and we returned to Rope Junction and were ably led by Dave to view a good portion of the Phoenix. Just before our ascent we were fortunate to see a large shoal of fish which topped off the dive nicely. Our max depth was 10 metres for 55 minutes at 19 degrees.
A very pleasant and enjoyable dive. See a nice write up of the far mulberry dive here

Our return to the surface was quite different! The weather had deteriorated badly with a swell running and rain and high winds. Our journey back along the coast was most interesting. The weather and the seas seemed to be in a competition as who could behave the worst. There was so much water coming into the rib from all directions that I thought I would be credited with another dive that day as my computer would surely activate! However, we bore this with fortitude, Dave and I sheltered behind Pip. She’s a good girl.

At journey’s end the weather calmed down and as soon as we had changed from dive gear into travelling home clothes, getting them wet in the process, the rain stopped!