Cork Sub Aqua Club

Dive year 2011 was successful in many ways: Cork Sub Aqua managed to finance the expensive up keep of both our RIBs, trailers and our two oxygen kits, although the available resources were scares. And most importantly all club members can look back on a brilliant dive season.

Since 2008 the number of membership almost halved to 30 members in 2011. However last years total of 539 dives gave an average per member almost equivalent to the average of 2009, where the total amount of dives peaked to 900. Brian Burke, our Club Diving Officer, specifies that the clubs weekends away were always very well attended. Where numbers in
Oysterhaven for diving on Wednesdays and Sundays, largely depend on weather and circumstances.

The first bank holiday weekend away this year was to Dingle at Easter, with Parkmore Point and the Three Brothers as main attraction. Rays, dolphins and octopus were also spotted in Dingle Bay. We decided not to travel for the May weekend, as this was to soon after Easter and we received a kind invite from Inbher Sceine Club for their regional weekend in Cahersiveen, mid May. The diving here was that great that we had to return … soon. For the June bank holiday we wondered off to the boundaries of West Cork, the Allihies. Despite the windy conditions, that forced us to look for new dive sites, some members achieved seven dives in the four days that we were here. On July 8th 9th 10^th, Helen Buckley organized the regional weekend in Baltimore on behalf of Region South. The dives on offer were a mixture between scenic and wreck diving, with the dive to the Kowloon Bridge as main attraction. The great weekend had representation from five different sub aqua clubs: Cork, UCC, Ennis, Inbher Sceine (Killarney) and Aughnish (Limerick). For the first week of August we traveled back to Portmagee. Jim Murphy, the club’s secretary, organized a mooring for both the Humber and the Cuanmhara, which greatly reduced the workload on a daily basis. Although the weather conditions were sometimes appalling, the club got to dive in excess of a dozen dive sites: Skellig beag, Bray head, Cuis Diarmada, Coastguard patch, Lemontoughner Rock, Basalt cliffs, Oilean na Iasc, Puffin Island to name a few. To finish off our travels, we went back to Baltimore for the October weekend. Due to dreadful weather and heavy fog, diving was restricted to Lough Hyne. Some did up to six dives others took the opportunity to visit Sherkin Island. Nevertheless, the craic was mighty over the weekend as several diving clubs, such as our colleagues from Blackwater SAC, were also in Baltimore.

Closer to home, we also had very good diving with, on occasion, extreme good visibility. We all remember the dazzling dives on the Lings, Santo and Black Head. However, the recently rediscovered submarine UC42 was the main attraction for our diving out of Oysterhaven.

At this time of year, Cork SAC will start again with a new diving program for beginners. The pool sessions, were our club instructors will teach the basic scuba skills, and the theory lectures will be finished halfway March, so the new qualified divers are ready for the upcoming dive season. You can find more information about the course here. If you are interested, but still not sure if diving is something for you. You can give diving a go on 18^th January in the pool of Leisure World in Bishopstown at 7pm. Here you can try a dive, for free, under the supervision of experienced divers. You only have to bring swimming gear and a towel, Cork Sub Aqua Club will supply all the scuba gear.

See you there!

(JVM 01/12)

Last weekend eight intrepid CorkSAC divers ventured to Cahirciveen, Co. Kerry to take part in the regional dive weekend hosted by Inbher Sceine Kerry SAC.

The weather was not ideal and diving was largely confined to sites near the southern end of Valentia Island. On Saturday morning, our bold and daring crew, accompanied by the ‘Dalkey two’ chose Cús Diarmuid as our dive site (as it would continue to be for the weekend) and were treated to some magnificent underwater landscapes. Recent weather considered, the visibility was much better than expected and there was an abundance of colours on the walls.

At the end of the morning dive our guests from Dalkey upped the ante by seeing our jellies and raising us several bags of chocolates. We were more than happy to partake of such gifts and they were consumed with glee.

The afternoon dive saw a return to Cús Diarmuid where we dropped in at the other end of the bay and a little out from the wall. This site was nothing short of spectacular with sheer walls and dazzling jewel anemones in a variety of hues. A small octopus was also found, although we were unable to coax him out from under his rock.

This not entirely intrepid diver cried off on Sunday morning but reports are that the diving was every bit as spectacular as the day before.

It is fair to say a good time was had by all and we would like to extend our gratitude to the Inbher Sceine lads for their hospitality and first rate organisational skills.

Below is a short video of Saturdays diving:

The trick to finding the wreck of the French steamship Hourtien, is not to look for the wreck itself, but to look for the gulley leading to it. Descending a bit north of the GPS marks and the rock that marks where the wreck lies we headed south east to find a deep wide gulley heading down to 30 meters, and with at least two congers in it. then once we had reached the maximum depth we wanted we turned back up the gulley until we came out in a flat area. A few bits of steel plate were lying about and we kept going shallower until we got to about 18 meters. There, quite close to shore is most of the wreck.
Wrecked in 1931 she lies in quite shallow water between the wreck of the Illyrian and Gascannane sound. Quite a nice spot and only a short spin from Baltimore, and sheltered from any westerly or northerly wind. We dived her near the middle of a spring tide and had no current.
As a result of being so shallow she is very broken up, even the boiler has been de-constructed more or less so that there are more holes in the casing than intact steel. Another consequence of being shallow is that despite some iffy visibility there was plenty of light for photography. I actually had to adjust the exposure of some of the photos down a bit. The light shines through the holes in the boiler illuminating the inside. Two anchors were spotted by people more interested in the exact function of bits of rusty metal than I am. Six conger were also spotted on the dive, in the gulley as well as on the wreck.

The first week in August is normally when the club takes a trip a little further afield than our regular diving takes us. Last week saw around sixteen club members head west to the Ring of Kerry for a week diving in Portmagee.

Those who made the trip enjoyed great food, wine and comraderie and were also treated once again to the spectacular scenery (both above and below the water) of the west of Ireland. On the critter front the usual assortment of crayfish, lobster, dogfish and conger eels all made an appearance. Thursday was a special treat as many divers encountered octupuses.

Anyway, enough with the words, the following short video provides a few of the highlights…

The June bank holiday weekend saw CorkSAC head to Fethard on Sea, Co. Wexford for our usual mix of diving and socialising.

On Saturday morning, in bright sunshine and beneath the walls of Slade Castle, we made our preparations to dive Three Mile Rock. Diving out of Slade harbour presents its own challenges as the harbour drains almost completely at low tide, however we were lucky enough to get the boat into the water as the harbour was filling.

Three Mile Rock is a tidal dive and even at slack tide there was a strong current on the way to the bottom, however this disappeared once we dropped below a depth of 20m. We continued down to about 30m and began spiraling our way back up the rock. It was a nice scenic dive and presented divers with a who’s who of Irish diving including Conger, Crayfish, Lobster, Ling and a large shoal of Coalfish. Rockcook, which appear electric blue along their backs under torchlight, were also plentiful.

The second split of divers took in a scenic dive nearer to Hook head while we had lunch and prepared for the much anticipated trip to the Girl Arlene.

The Girl Arlene, a fishing trawler wrecked in almost 30m of water, did not disappoint. On descent we were amazed at the abundance of fish life. Predominantly poor cod, or pouting, but there were also plenty of ling, some conger eels and lobster. Those looking closely were also likely to find butterfish (gunnel), blennies, dragonets and sea scorpions.

After the fourth split had returned from another scenic dive off Hook Head we realised exactly the extent to which Slade Harbour drains at low tide. We could not get the boat anywhere near the slip . Thankfully, the kind folks from Hook SAC were on hand to use their specialised equipment (an Interantional 784 tractor) to extract our boat from the mud.

The tides were not really working in our favour on Sunday so we decided to go back to the Girl Arlene (twice) as it was one of the few sites we knew we could dive mid tide. It is true testament to this dive that while some members dived this site three times in two days, it seemed to get better each dive. For this diver, the treat on Sunday was a small octopus spotted on the second dive. He swam briefly across the bottom and set down again where he performed a colour change that a small group of us were luck enough to witness.

It is fair to say we could not have had such a good weekend without the help of the Hook Sub Aqua Club. They retrieved our boat for us both days and filled our bottles Saturday and Sunday night. Thanks guys, your efforts are greatly appreciated.

The slideshow photos can be seen on Flickr here -> Hook Head – June ’10

A conger sticks his nose out from under a rock.

Almost a week before school kids all over Ireland begin their state exams, Wednesday night saw normal club diving take place amidst diver coxwain exams. The cork boat was full with divers, instructors and two of our own ‘L’ plate candidates undergoing their exam.

There were also two candidates from the UCC club. As they were good enough to bring another boat (and they needed divers to cover), Neil and I were lucky enough to hitch a ride to Black Head and dive from their boat.

My buddy was a little aprehensive as they had dived this site the week before and the feedback was less than spectacular. However, a week can be a long time in diving.

This fella is on the defensive.

This time we dropped in much closer to the headland and forty minutes underwater passed in what seemed like seconds. The terrain was nice, featuring some small gullies and we were kept entertained by several lobsters and a couple of conger eels for good measure.

To cap the evening off the UCC lads showed there coxwain credentials by providing sweets aplenty.

I’d like to thank the UCC lads for the boat trip and congratulate the candidates from both clubs , all of whom passed their exam.

One great aspect of being a CorkSAC member is that you acquire skills that open up a whole world of diving in exotic locations. One such location is the Great Barrier Reef.

There are numerous  operators offering access to this world heritage site (one so vast that it is visible from space). Last August two CorkSAC members took a liveaboard out of Cairns with the Deep Sea Divers Den (http://www.diversden.com.au).

Deep Sea Divers Den differ from many operators in that their live-aboard boat, Ocean Quest, stays at sea. Clients are transferred daily on a shuttle boat. Their setup offers a rare degree of flexibility as divers can choose a trip of any duration departing any day of the week.

Facilities on the boat were excellent and the staff friendly and knowledgeable. Ocean Quest dives on Norman & Saxon Reefs which are busy dive sites but offer a great chance to see many tropical favourites as can be seen in the following video.

For prospective members with no previous diving experience, there will be an opportunity to try out SCUBA equipment in a shallow heated pool under supervision by our instructors. This will take place in the Leisureworld pool on the 26th January at 7pm.

Please contact us for more information.

Cork Sub Aqua will hold an open night upstairs in Counihan’s Bar on 21st January. Members will be present to discuss our training plans for the year to come and answer any questions you may have concerning diving in Cork, conditions, training needs, club equipment, costs, or any other matters relating to diving.

Divers with existing diving qualifications are particularly welcome, as we will be doing crossover training early in the new year. If you have not dived before, please register your interest as soon as possible, because we will only be able to provide training for new divers if numbers justify it.

If you made an enquiry during the year about joining the club you should be contacted soon with more details. Enquiries can get overlooked sometimes though, so don’t hesitate to get in touch again.

Hope to see you there.

I hadn’t dived the Folia for several years, not because club dives on the Folia are especially rare, (there had been a few already in 2009), but because I just happened to be unavailable whenever one was arranged. So I was looking forward to this. My recollection was that the wreck is really quite impressive. She lies at a depth of 33 to 38 meters several miles off Ardmore Co Waterford, and is within sight of Youghal and Ardmore. Despite some imperfect visibility it was a very enjoyable dive.
The problem of photographing and describing a wreck the size of the Folia is a bit like describing and photographing the grand canyon. It is difficult to convey the impressive scale of a wreck in a series of photographs or words, especially if conditions on the dive were not especially favorable for photography. I would like to dive the wreck again with clearer viz, like I had the previous time I dived, and a fast wide lens. The Folia is one of those dives that people like to do many times because it is probably one of the largest wrecks at a non-decompression diving depth off the south coast. There is always something new to discover. OK the Kowloon Bridge was an order of magnitude larger, but since the bow section collapsed also an order of magnitude less fascinating.

Sometimes known as the Folio, her real name was Folia. Militarily speaking the U-Boat that sank her did a pretty good job by preventing a large cargo of artillery shell casings from reaching the Western Front. The deaths of seven of the crew was the sad price paid. Despite extensive salvage that has destroyed much of the superstructure aft of the boilers there are still many of the shell casings to be found. We saw evidence that salvage continues. In effect she is being turned into a habitat for marine life. There are lots of nooks and crannies on the wreck. This is a good place to see congers. As a consequence of being a cozy home for fish, it gets some anglers, so watch out for hooks and fishing line.

I used a 28% mix, and we had about a 20 minute bottom time with plenty of no-decompression limit to spare, partly due to a miscalculation on my part, we headed back to the shotline a tad early. Launching from Knockadoon was OK, but there were waves coming around the point which made retrieval a bit challenging. Thanks to Brian for towing and coxing, and to Helen for organizing the dive, also Joost for helping us drop the shotline on the correct spot.

For those interested in the history of the wreck there is an article on the Waterford County Museum webpage: http://www.waterfordcountymuseum.org/exhibit/web/Display/article/160/4/?lang=en