Normandy 2001 Report
Friday 13th July (Lucky for some!)
All arrived at the Kings Head in Poole by around 8pm, where we all shared some good food and beer. The Tanglefoot was excellent. All kit was loaded aboard and we settled in to some long and impassioned discussion regarding sleeping arrangements. I became the villain of the peace by parking myself in the last available bunk. (only someone else thought it wasn't available). The situation slowly diffused without resolution as people drifted off to bed leaving one of our number to make individual arrangements.
Saturday 14th
Dawned bright and calm with last night's tensions still simmering gently. The plan: to dive the Aeolian Sky before breakfast. And then cruise over to the Cherbourg peninsula.
Nine of us actually dived the Aeolian Sky. A fantastic dive, my best for years. Paul and I took the video camera and thrilled to loads of trucks and other bits on the bow. It felt as good as the Thistlegorm and a little later just like the Dunraven. The viz was a treat at 6-8m and the wreck was great for penetrations.
Immediately everyone was back on board we set off for Normandy and Gary raised a small sail to add speed and stability to the crossing. Weather continued fine and sunny.
We arrived in Cherbourg after a very comfortable crossing (except for Colin who deposited significant quantities of his insides liberally across the channel) and went ashore for a nice meal. On the way to the town we noticed the preparations for a firework display and sussed that it was for Bastille Day celebrations. The display was timed for 11pm, which coincided very well with the end of our meal. After a fine firework display some of us went to find a bar and on the way bumped into a live band performing on the street. They were excellent, and the town was buzzing for the occasion.
Sleeping arrangements were all resolved and everybody slept much better and Sunday dawned bright and sunny.
Sunday 15th
A small group of chaps made a shore party to make use of the onshore ablution facilities (mistake, the boat's facilities were better). We were treated to the massed departure of sailing boats forming the flotilla of the Tour de Ports du Manche, which looked like a bit of a race between sailing vessels around the French channel ports for 3 or 4 days. Off we set for the wreck of the Ussa. This sits 2km outside the entrance to Cherbourg harbour. This was an average sort of a dive to 26m in 3-4m vis. Jan & Pete reportedly saw the prop on the upturned stern.
After this dive we headed towards the Bay de Seine. En route we watched an interesting video of the story of the Mulberry Harbours. We then set out to dive LST523 but it was swarming with frogmen, so we went on to the Empire Broadsword, which was a Liberty ship (like the James Egan Layne) which was being used as a troop ship carrying infantry soldiers for the invasion. The viz was awful and most people aborted after a very short time. Frank Douglass and I made a dive of it: its BIG.
We anchored up for the night within the remnants of Mulberry Harbour B off Arromanche with a war grave on the hill over looking the village. Daunting thoughts: this is where it really happened, this is where thousands died. Early night was called for as we were to set off around 5am to get the early slack water on the Suzanne B. Anthony.
Monday 16th
What the F***? I didn't come on holiday to be rudely awakened at 5am by the thundering racket of an anchor chain being dragged across the deck just inches above my head. Gem of the week was the fact that Elke awoke in the middle of the night to a chorus of snoring. One of the guilty parties was the deeply snoreist Paul Thwaites. When woken to be requested to quit, the poor s** nearly leapt out of his skin. We all felt sooooo sorry for him.
After the anchor chain, we were all well and truly awake! In time to get kitted up ready for a 7am dive on "The Suzy B" This was a liner converted to a hospital ship for the D-Day landings - i.e. huge. The viz. was below par at 3-4m but most people seemed to enjoy the dive.
The weather forecast was studied in detail and it was decided that we needed to be somewhere sheltered for the night as it was threatening to cut up rough so we headed back towards Cherbourg. This meant that we next dived on the evening slack.
In our interval Colin and I spent a couple of hours dismantling the non-functioning video camera housing. We eventually found a solution to the problem by swapping over the two sets of control knobs. We no longer have proper control of the zoom and white balance - shame.
We dived an unknown wreck (Gary thought it might be a tug), It turned out to be an armed trawler. Viz was superb and the wreck was covered in fish, mostly bib, but also some bigger fish which we are still arguing about. I took some good video especially of the bow complete with both anchors in position. Dinner was Dave's special chicken curry which was enjoyed by all, but in the morning……
Tuesday 17th
Dawned wet, miserable and blowy, in port at Cherbourg. It remained wet all day both inside and out. No diving! We all had a nice meal in the evening with copious quantities of vin and biere. Being typically British we found the Hypermarket where we availed ourselves of cheap wine to bring home and goodies to share on the boat. Everyone slept soundly except Dick who woke at 3am for a trek round the deck to ease stomach pains.
Wednesday 18th
Although it dawned calm and sunny the weather forecast looked atrocious. So Gary decided it would be prudent to make the channel crossing today in a window of relative calm and see if we couldn't get a dive or two in on the UK side. Only one apparent casualty from yesterday's festivities: that great drinkist himself, Paul. I am typing this as we head out across the channel and Dave is preparing the breakfast. This is going to be Interesting!
Breakfast was indeed interesting: eat with one hand, hang on with the other. One of our number failed to make breakfast due to the recovery process from the previous evenings entertainments. The crossing was a fun "ride", very large swells, but they were very long and we were traveling along them. It was not uncomfortable at all. We steamed straight to the site of the Aeolian Sky, and we were put on the stern this time. Sea conditions were a bit lumpy and there was an extraordinary surge on the wreck. A good dive in reasonable viz.
We put in at Swanage for the night and went ashore to partake of the local hostelries. Playing pool was the name of the game while enjoying the local Ringwood Best Bitter. Our illustrious leader partook of so much medicine that when he awoke in the morning he discovered, to his immense surprise, that someone had stolen the pier and had thrown the anchor over the side. This had happened when the last straggling partyers had arrived back at the boat and Gary decided that staying tied up to the pier would mean a noisy and bumpy night.
Thursday 19th
Dawned quite chilly anchored in the middle of Swanage Bay. We quickly set off for an early dive on the famous "Kyarra" and the sun shone again. Everybody enjoyed the dive. Paul and I had a good rummage and he brought up a glass Lee & Perrin's stopper and a small bottle of perfume which was perfectly preserved and sweet smelling. It was agreed that we would it dive again in the afternoon. Colin took the Video camera for a change.
The second dive of the day on the Kyarra was also good although the viz was not. It also produced some excitement for Paul and me on the ascent. The current was starting to run and the DSMB went off at about 60º from the vertical. We were caught in the grip of some vicious upcurrents and struggled with our ascent rate and buoyancy control. It was quite scary at times. We eventually managed to settle at 6m for our stops and did an additional 7 minutes as a precaution. Neither of our computers went into error so we expected no problems and got none. This wreck has a reputation for such currents and there is a history of divers getting into difficulties. Having experienced it at first hand I understand the problem. Jan and Pete had a slight problem but none of the other divers experienced anything unusual. Jan and Pete were the second last to surface and we were the last.
Some of the group (four) left for home on Thursday afternoon after this dive and the rest of us stayed on for a "last supper" at a delightful Italian restaurant in Poole. Vic took a shine to the attractive French waitress and promised to return in September.
Our last night on Dawn Louise passed comfortably (with a little more space) and on Saturday morning we settled the bill, packed and left by about 9.30am.
A good holiday had by all.
Words by John Hannah, July 2001
Pictures by Pete Melbourne
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