Do you long to explore undived wrecks and face new challenges? You may have been under the impression that it has all been done, and that there are few UK wrecks left to discover. You couldn't be more wrong, says Louise Trewavas. Right now, the opportunities for finding your own virgin wreck have never been greater.
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DIVING HAS CHANGED. Some of the old gits will say for the worse - that once it was all a big, new adventure, but that these days the adventure has gone and it's all over-regulated, with nothing on offer but bog-standard dives on the same dived-out wrecks.
There may be a grain of truth in this pessimistic view, but diving is evolving, opening a wider range of opportunities for today's UK diver.
We aren't necessarily better divers than the pioneers of 40 years ago, but we have infinitely more reliable equipment, access to a choice of breathing gases, and a host of gadgets and technologies that would dazzle Thunderbirds.
Dive-boats have evolved from flimsy inflatables and barely recycled fishing vessels into custom-designed dive platforms with diver lifts and state of the art wreck-finding technology. Throw into the equation some helpful changes in the way that UK divers organise their diving, and you have the perfect recipe for exploration diving.
Every weekend during the diving season, UK divers are discovering virgin wrecks, and there are literally thousands of them around our shores.
The changes that made this possible
1. The decline of club diving
Most UK diving used to be club diving, and the sites on offer were chosen to please all divers on the trip, experienced and less-experienced alike. Diving officers had to play it safe, going for known marks and wrecks that were easy to reach and find in an inflatable.
These days, many clubs have fast RIBs and wreck-finding technology, but still have to keep a range of divers satisfied.
RIBs are fast, but distances are limited by the need to refuel, and the lack of shelter (and toilets) can make long trips uncomfortable.
Riding out to sea for hours to conduct an exploratory dive on a pile of rocks will lead to whinging from the punters!
On top of that, the modern requirement for risk assessments encourages clubs to play it safe: visiting an undived site leaves a dive marshal with minimal information to put into a dive briefing. No wonder most dive club itineraries tend to follow a predictable yearly pattern of familiar sites.
The escape from compulsory club diving has led to a growing market for hardboat diving - faster, more comfortable boats than a club could afford, skippered by a professional, often with advanced wreck-finding technology.
Groups of divers now find each other based on common diving interests, rather than the fact that they live in roughly the same area as the dive club. Diving opportunities can come through email groups, Internet sites and mobile texts.
Divers who opt to explore new sites know the score (and the risks) and are less likely to throw a tantrum if a dive ends in disappointment. More personal responsibility and choice means that it's no longer feasible to blame the club's DO if you're not getting the diving you want - which is better all round!
Those faster, custom-designed dive-boats enable divers to explore offshore areas that were previously barely visited. Divers and skippers can be as adventurous as they want.
2. Better diving equipment
Early diving kit was home-made, and you were fortunate to get to 15m and back without something falling to bits - not exactly conducive to exploring the unknown though, amazingly, that's what many early divers did: that is, explore the unknown in less than 15m.
If today's regulators gave a laboured breathe at 50m, divers would feel seriously aggrieved. Most of the kit on sale is now specified to work under conditions that few divers will ever reach, on the basis that it's better to be over-specified than to push the limits.
Divers going further offshore to look for new wrecks in deeper waters have the kit for the job, and where most people were once limited to a single cylinder of air, divers today can choose twinsets, rebreathers and mixed gases.
Knowledge about decompression procedures has been revolutionised in the past decade. Decompression software is freely available over the Internet, and you can plan dives that were previously unthinkable on your PC. And there are ever-more sophisticated dive computers, such as the VR3, to monitor your dive and calculate your stops.
Video equipment and underwater housings are of a higher quality, simpler to use and cheaper, enabling divers to record and share the dive.
Another very helpful advance for UK divers has been in thermal protection. Once, drysuits were regarded as strange, experimental and possibly dangerous. A certain amount of leaking was viewed as inevitable and "dampsuits" would have been a more accurate description.
Now everybody dives with a drysuit, and undersuit technology is a science in its own right, because there is little point in having the kit and gas for a three-hour dive if you become hypothermic after 45 minutes.
In 1994 there was a major fuss when Polly Tapson organised an expedition to dive the Lusitania (at 93m) on trimix: people claimed it was reckless, unsafe and impossible. Controversy continued even after the dives had been completed without incident!
Today you can explore a 100m-plus wreck on a dive weekend and it isn't regarded as particularly noteworthy or unusual.
3. Advances in wreck- finding technology
A knackered fish-finder on your inflatable used to make it a bit of a guess whether that blob was a wreck or a rock, and whether you were over it when the shot was deployed.
Now, Global Positioning Systems and satellite navigation are more accurate and widely available. You can buy a hand-held GPS for £200.
Charts are supplied in electronic versions on CD, a format more easily updatable than print, and these digital charts integrate with other wreck-finding technologies.
Sophisticated electronics have become available for dive-boats. Taking frequent depth readings, they record and build up a profile of the seabed which is rendered as a 3D image on screen. A skipper can locate and view wrecks with far greater accuracy, and when he says the shot is in the boilers, he knows that for sure!
Before, you needed to be diving a fairly substantial wreck to be sure that you were on target. Today's skippers can find much smaller targets, such as older, more historic wrecks that may now stand only a metre or two off the seabed.
The full implications have yet to filter through to many divers. Most of the wrecks we visit are 19th and 20th century, but there are stacks of older wrecks, with fascinating histories and likely to yield interesting artefacts, just waiting to be discovered.
Many of these are close to shore, in less than 20m, so you don't have to be a tekkie to find yourself a virgin wreck.
What you may need is an interested skipper with the right technology and a circumspect approach - patience, some sound wreck research and a reasonable eye to identify the structure.
4. Changing expectations
Once, the mere act of submerging and seeing stuff - kelp! sea urchins! a fish! more kelp! - was enough. These days, divers have stacks of information about the best UK diving available, from books, magazines and the Dive Shows.
Most divers have dived abroad, and are less easily impressed. Diving as a sport has matured, and the number of experienced divers has increased.
This all leads to higher expectations and demands. While this is a useful motivating factor for skippers, requiring investment in better boats and equipment and better standards of customer care, it works both ways. UK divers need the capability and discipline to respond to the new opportunities.
Modern life and our consumer society seduce us into believing that we can have it all, now, as long as we have enough credit on our Mastercard.
"I can certainly put people on undived marks, but if you come here expecting a virgin, intact Titanic in 30m, you'll be disappointed," Bill Ruck told me, echoing the sentiments of many other skippers.
Newer divers may also have unrealistic expectations. Buying a regulator or computer that can take you to 200m does not magically enable you dive to 200m.
A skipper can take you to the best available site but getting the best underwater experience and returning safely depends on your diving skills.
With plenty of opportunity to build up wreck-diving experience and the wider availability of advanced diving courses - even PADI offers technical training now - UK divers have every opportunity to rise to the challenge.
Making the most of all this opportunity may require a new attitude - greater attention to detail and awareness of history for people exploring older, inshore virgin wrecks; better discipline and more openness from divers exploring at depth.
We have the skippers, the technology, the kit and the skills. If only we could sort out the flipping UK weather, we'd all be laughing!
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Rebreather divers, ready to go in and shoot video footage of an unknown wreck
Mounting a video housing on an under-water scooter allows the diver to shoot as much of the wreck as possible, while avoiding exertion at depth.
Modern electronics can provide a 3D image of the wreck and seabed.
Tense divers in the wheelhouse during a wreck search
Six Top Tips
1 Research! Research! Research!
Gather as much information as you can about your target wreck or area. Get a chart and try to work out which wrecks on it have already been dived and identified. Discuss possible target marks with the skipper. Local knowledge is invaluable, and isn't written down. Some of the best information comes from fishermen, who record any seabed obstructions that may endanger nets.
The Hydrographics Office usually has data on every wreck on the chart, though the accuracy depends on the quality of the survey, which is variable. Positions and information will not necessarily be accurate, especially if a wreck is undived. Give the HO any updated information and establish a good, co-operative relationship.
If you're after a particular wreck or type of wreck, the Public Record Office at Kew, Lloyds' shipping register, maritime and other specialist museums can provide useful clues and background. Getting hold of the ship's plans and specification are vital in helping to identify (or eliminate) any remains you may find on the seabed.
Wreck books are generally an interesting read, but most are compiled from records and, where a wreck is undived, there is no reality check. Many skippers advise me to take all information from wreck books and the Internet with a large dose of salt, no matter how authoritative the tone.
2 Be clear with the skipper
Unless the skipper has already "pinged" an undived mark and has it stored, the process is a search. Doing this with a group of restless divers staring over your shoulder and slack water approaching is enough to make the coolest character crack. Many skippers will abandon a search that doesn't produce quick results and put you in on the nearest known mark to earn the charter fee.
To find that elusive wreck, make it very clear that you want to devote the time to the search, and if you miss out on a dive, so be it. You'll pay the charter whatever. Or agree in advance on how long you are willing to search before switching to Plan B.
3 Be clear with your fellow-divers
Searching for new wrecks requires patience and sometimes hard choices. Make sure everybody on board knows what is involved and agree your plan of action beforehand. Don't row about how long to search and whether to dive over the skipper's head, or you may begin to appreciate why keel-hauling was considered a suitable punishment for dissent in the ranks.
4 Prepare for disappointments
There's no point throwing a tantrum if the promised treasure wreck turns out to be a wreck-shaped boulder or a manky old barge. If it was easy, somebody would probably have done it already.
5 Video it
If it's undived, it needs identifying. You may have a good idea from the size of the lump on the seabed and its position, but a number of wrecks have been misidentified because people made assumptions.
In the excitement it's easy to overlook features or misunderstand what you've seen. Video footage allows you to review, provides evidence and avoids the need to remove items - important on war graves or archaeologically significant wrecks.
Measuring what you find and comparing it with the wreck spec is another useful non-disturbance method. Photos or video footage of this process saves having to write stuff down under water and reduces the chance of mistakes.
The more cynical in the diving community will not consider a wreck found until images are presented. This may sound harsh, but divers have been known to claim that they dived a particular wreck based on traces of rust on their drysuit!
Kendall McDonald's guide to identifying wrecks, published in Diver, is available here
6 Prepare for the backlash
Diving new wrecks is a highly competitive area; many divers prefer to keep finds to themselves. It's difficult to argue with this when you've experienced a torrent of antagonism from those with a vested interest in a wreck: rival skippers, disgruntled divers or self-appointed "experts" fighting to maintain their status.
The more significant the find, the more flak you may get - but don't let the whingers win. Sharing information improves the diving choices for all of us (and gives diving magazines some good news to report!). Regard your wreck finds as an achievement to be celebrated, not as a naughty secret to be squirrelled away.
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Pick your skipper
Running a dive charter is not an easy business. Those in charge have to cover steep overheads and cope with a limited season, unpredictable weather and, it must be said, unpredictable behaviour from divers!
A skipper has no control over what divers do in the water, but has to deal with the outcome of any mistakes that they might make, resulting in missed stops, fast ascents and failure to follow surfacing instructions.
The consequences for the skipper of getting it wrong are grave. So it's understandable that many like to play safe and stick to known wrecks.
To do something that's a bit adventurous, you need to pick a skipper with the expertise, the boat and the bottle to rise to the challenge.
Just as you want to have faith in the skipper, the skipper needs to be confident that you can do the proposed dive safely.
If you haven't dived with the skipper before, be prepared to demonstrate that you know what you're doing. Remember that ultimately it is skippers, not divers, who find the wrecks.
The best way to find out what a skipper will do for you is to ask. We've selected a group from all over the country willing and able to take you somewhere new.
You can check out the Diver Classified Ads for a full listing of the UK's top skippers.
Orkneys
Skipper: Andy Cuthbertson
Boat: Jean Elaine (liveaboard), a converted fishing vessel taking up to 12 divers
Location: Stromness, Orkney
Contact: 01856 850 879, www.jeanelaine.co.uk
Skipper: John Thornton
Boat:mv Karin (liveaboard), a converted 80ft fishing vessel
Located: Stromness, Orkney
Contact: Tel (01856) 874 761, www.scapaflow.com
Orkney skippers are fabulous characters, but constantly in the wars - more scrapper than Scapa - so it's impossible to mention only one.
The Scapa wrecks are buoyed, which is hardly a wreck-finding challenge, but several Scapa skippers take on a more adventurous role, taking groups to explore the largely undived sites outside the Flow, and further afield.
Scapa was a major military and shipping base in both world wars, resulting in a lot of wrecks in all approaches to the Flow. The Scottish highlands are sparsely populated and diving facilities few and far between, so most wrecks are undived and the Scapa liveaboards are in a perfect position to take advantage.
John Thornton pioneered many dive sites within and around Scapa Flow, including HMS Hampshire (now officially out of bounds). He was also one of the first technical diving and rebreather instructors in the country, and remains at the cutting edge of adventurous diving. His spacious liveaboard provides a perfect dive platform, and though it is not the type of accommodation that suits the faint-hearted, improvements are made each season.
Thornton was the first skipper to recognise the potential of Wick, initiating expeditions to find and explore the pristine wrecks off the far north-east of Scotland.
He also takes dive groups to Shetland and west to Cape Wrath, always on the lookout for undived wrecks. He publishes an online diary of his expedition exploits and outlines future trips.
Andy Cuthbertson is a quietly spoken, highly experienced skipper who excels at locating target wrecks outside the Flow. He works closely with wreck-researchers and dive-organisers, using his extensive local knowledge to pin down likely positions. He found the WW1 yacht Zarefah in 2002 and ex-liner HMS Caribbean earlier this year.
Cuthbertson is well-respected for his ability to judge incoming weather systems and make the most of diving opportunities in some of the most exposed and treacherous waters in the UK. His "can do" attitude and enthusiasm for wreck projects makes him a popular choice.
Jean Elaine is a comfortable and homely liveaboard, more than able to explore around the Orkneys, Shetlands and west towards Cape Wrath.
With few suitable harbours or locally based charter boats, Cape Wrath is a prime location for finding undived wrecks - as long as the weather holds! Be prepared to dive 50m-plus.
Mainland Scotland
Skipper: George Mair
Boat:Loyal Mediator (liveaboard), a converted Loyal-class tender. The only recreational dive-boat with an onboard hyperbaric chamber, it takes 12 divers.
Location: Oban, Sound of Mull
Contact: 01855 821548
www.scapaflow.com
You would think there was little left to find in the Sound of Mull, but Mair is regularly finding undived wrecks there and in surrounding areas. Most divers stick with the many classic wrecks, so there is plenty of unexplored territory.
Mair is a keen wreck-finder with state of the art electronics. "The 3D images of each wreck we put divers on gets stored and improved with each visit. Every so often the software gets updated so that we benefit from data gathered by other ships and they benefit from ours. Over time, we build up a fantastically detailed profile of the seabed.
"There are a lot of undived wrecks here but they do tend to be at depth - the waters round here get very deep very quickly."
Most dive groups arrive with a clear idea about where they want to go and Mair is happy to oblige. He takes every opportunity to check out marks and search for new wrecks. The boat also carries a magnetometer to differentiate between rocks and wreckage.
"We get divers who want to spend several hours in-water. I don't have a problem with that, even though they will end up a long way from the wreck site - as long as everybody concerned follows the agreed procedures and stays together on decompression. More challenging dives definitely require better divers in order for everybody to stay safe."
Mediator regularly makes trips to Ireland and the northern isles, and is well equipped to spend time at sea. If you're looking for an offshore wreck, no other UK recreational dive boat can match Mediator's capabilities, making it a favourite choice for expeditions.
Skipper: Bill Ruck
Boat: Top Cat - new catamaran-style dayboat that provides a fast, stable platform for up to 12 divers
Location: Lossiemouth, Moray Firth
Contact: 01309 690421, www.moraydiving.com
Based in Lossiemouth, Bill Ruck's is the only Moray Firth-based dive charter, and he has extensive experience of putting divers on the area's wrecks.
Much of the shipping heading to and from Scapa Flow during the two world wars passed through the Moray Firth, where German U-boats lay in wait, so there is no shortage of wrecks.
"Finding new wrecks is definitely something I like to do," says Ruck. "The Moray Firth is largely unexplored by divers and has not been properly surveyed by the Hydrographics Office.
"There are stacks of unknown marks, and anything in 55m or more is pretty much guaranteed to be undived.
"There are also many unknown marks and wrecks in shallower depths. While it's impossible to tell whether they have been dived, they certainly haven't been visited recently."
Ruck keeps his own database of wreck information and benefits from close links with local wreck-researcher John Leigh and information from fishermen.
The area he believes will yield lots of new wrecks is between Lossiemouth and Fraserburgh, and he has already been over many of the marks he hopes will be explored by divers in the near future.
"Diving any virgin wreck is a gamble. You may get a fishing boat, you may find a submarine," he says. "As long as divers are prepared to put the time into finding and identifying new wrecks, their efforts will definitely be rewarded in this area."
North-east
Skipper: Alan Lopez
Boat: Spellbinder (dayboat)
Location: North Shields
Contact: 0191 258 2797
There is a huge number of wrecks out of the North-east, but very little is heard about the diving. Over the past 10 years or so, dedicated groups of divers have been working through the marks.
"The shallower, inshore wrecks tend to be smashed to bits - mostly by the weather, but divers have also taken their toll," says Alan Lopez.
"Everything up to about 50m has been hammered, but beyond that there are masses of pristine wrecks. I've got groups of rebreather divers who dive 100m and more, and they are regularly finding wrecks that are perfectly intact."
Advances in electronics have helped Lopez. "I've got the MaxSea software which ties into the echo-sounder and take a depth-reading every second. It gives an accurate 3D image of the wreck and I can discuss with the divers exactly where they would like the shot to go in."
An ex-fisherman himself, Lopez has accumulated a wealth of information from the skippers of commercial fishing vessels. Winter evenings are spent towing the magnetometer around on the chance of picking up new marks.
"I wouldn't rely on the wreck books; some are complete fiction," he says. Many of the best wrecks and promising sites are a good two-hour steam offshore.
South-east
Skipper: Paul Childs
Boat:Defiant (dayboat) - a custom-designed catamaran-style dive-boat providing speed and a stable platform for up to 12 divers. It has the latest electronics and a diver lift.
Location: Littlehampton
Contact: 01903 739090, www.divedefiant.co.uk
Paul Childs works with a number of organised dive groups who carry out their own wreck research.
"A lot of our exploration diving is done mid-week," he says. "The tides don't always work for weekend diving, and most Saturdays and Sundays are the bread-and-butter bookings for known wrecks."
The boat is well-equipped for wreck-hunting. "Many of the undived wrecks are further and further offshore, on the French side of the Channel.
"Divers need to realise that if the assistance of the Coastguard is required, you could end up in France."
For divers wishing to stay closer to home, the area south of the Isle of Wight has a lot of big wrecks waiting to be discovered.
Skipper: Tim Bennetto
Boat: Spartacat (dayboat) - a custom-designed, catamaran-style dive-boat providing speed and a stable platform for up to 12 divers, the latest electronics and a diver lift.
Location: Brighton
Contact: 01273 586445, www.spartacat.co.uk
"The south coast is well-dived, so finding a substantial new wreck means going offshore," says Tim Bennetto. "You're more exposed, and divers need to be prepared for the harder conditions. However, there are lots of small wrecks inshore that haven't been touched."
Bennetto has been taking Spartacat further south-west in search of new wrecks, using Falmouth as a base for weekly expeditions. With a fast boat, he can also take divers to the French side of the Channel to explore.
"The French don't dive off their coast as intensively as we do in the UK," he explains.
"The visibility offshore is a lot better, but divers need to be capable of 50m-plus dives to take advantage of this."
A useful section of Bennetto's website outlines the procedures expected for decompression dives. "I'd recommend that divers take a look at that before coming on board," he advises.
South
Skipper: Grahame Knott
Boat: Wey Chieftain (dayboat) has been sold, but under construction is a custom-designed catamaran-style dive-boat providing speed, and a stable platform for up to 12 divers. It has all the latest electronics and a diver lift
Location: Weymouth
Contact: 07966 242 460 www.weychieftain.co.uk
"You don't have to dive deep to dive on virgin wrecks - we are now much more able to locate historic wrecks in inshore waters, but divers need to be better prepared to appreciate what they're looking at, as the sites will largely be flattened," advises Grahame Knott.
A genuine enthusiasm for wreck history motivates Knott's work, and while this should make him an obvious ally of the archaeologists, he doesn't always agree with an archaeological approach.
"If there are interesting finds, I like to see them raised and restored, not left on the seabed," he says. "I'm confident that there are some fantastic artefacts to be recovered from older, shallow wreck sites."
Knott's catamaran-style boat is ideally placed to take divers offshore.
"We've explored the larger Channel wrecks out of Weymouth, but Hurd Deep and the Channel islands are now within the reach of day-boats like mine, with plenty of opportunity to dive on new wrecks."
South-west
Skipper: Fred Buckingham
Boat: Pamela P (dayboat) - a new catamaran-style dive-boat with diver lift. It's fast, stable and can carry up to 12 divers.
Location: Penzance
Contact: 01736 364182
Fred Buckingham has been a diving enthusiast for 30 years and now runs his own dive boat, which can reach wrecks as far away as the Scilly Isles. "There are hundreds of potential new wrecks within a day's travel of Penzance, but occasionally I put divers on what looks to be an undived mark and there are signs that someone else got there first."
Many divers arrive with their own research: "The best approach seems to be collating information from a wide variety of sources - including local fishermen. If the information checks out across a number of sources, that means you have a good chance of success.
"But do bear in mind that numbers from the Hydrographic Office can be wrong, and some books about this area appear to be mischievously inaccurate when it comes to wreck positions."
Buckingham's boat uses the latest SeaMap software and has an onboard magnetometer. "The technology today is fantastic, but finding new wrecks still requires time, money and good luck. You could search and find nothing, or find six wrecks in an afternoon."
Skipper: Steve Wright
Boat: Loyal Watcher (liveaboard)
Location: Plymouth
Contact: 01752 491490, www.diveplymouth.co.uk
Steve Wright is the leading light among bright young skippers, having graduated from the mean fields of Weymouth hardboat diving to take the helm of Loyal Watcher, a converted ex-Navy tender.
He immediately found a following by going out looking for any wrecks that divers cared to put on their wishlists, from those of Donegal and Jutland to the gold wreck Egypt and Flying Enterprise, and taking divers out to RMS Carpathia.
"The Channel east of Portland is pretty well-explored, and the best area for finding new wrecks is between Start Point and Land's End, which makes Plymouth the ideal base," he says.
"Here in the South-west we're lucky enough to have the best of everything - great wrecks, visibility that's often 20-30m and reasonable sea temperatures, which makes for more comfortable dives." That hasn't stopped Loyal Watcher undertaking expeditions overseas and around the UK.
Skipper: Chris Lowe
Boat: Atlantic Diver (dayboat), an Offshore 105 with a diver lift
Location: Newquay, Cornwall
Contact: 07860 927 833 www.atlanticdiver.co.uk
The north of Cornwall faces out into the Atlantic, providing tough conditions for divers and dive-boats, so despite the fantastic visibility, there are very few charters - so numerous undived wrecks.
Chris Lowe keeps an updated chart of everything dived and marks that still need investigating. "I love it - finding out where the wrecks are and what they are definitely keeps me interested," he says.
Lowe is an important part of the Newquay maritime community. An ex- fisherman, he enjoys the confidence of the local fishing community, who feed back information about the location of wrecks and obstructions encountered.
Lowe's impressive list of successes include the WW1hospital ship Rewa, the Armenian, HMCS Regina, and the last lost copper wreck - the St George. Last time I dived with him we checked an undived mark he thought might be a chunk of HMS Warwick, but turned out to be a complete wreck - and a total mystery.
"If you want to get out there, I'm happy to take you. The conditions here don't suit everybody, as we tend to get a bit of Atlantic swell, even when the winds are light, but the possibilities for divers are tremendous."
Lowe has a variety of undived marks to be explored in the 30-45m range, closer to shore, as well as offshore marks in 60-80m.
Ireland
Skipper: Al Wright
Boat: Salutay (liveaboard), a motor yacht with room room for 10 divers
Location: Bangor, Northern Ireland, but often picks up divers from Portpatrick on the West Coast of Scotland
Contact: 028 9181 2081
Divers may only recently have become aware of the great wrecks off Donegal, but Al Wright has been diving them with local Irish-based divers for a long time.
Norse Maid Charters, which operates Salutay, has been around for 25 years, offering extensive experience of the dive sites around Loch Swilly (Donegal), the Isle of Man, Rathlin island, and the east coast of Ireland, as well as the Scottish islands of Mull, Tiree and Coll.
Wright was responsible for locating all the submarine wrecks for Operation Deadlight in 2002. "The east coast of Ireland offers lots of new wreck opportunities. We have found many wrecks around the Isle of Man, and there are plenty more to be explored."
Many divers book Salutay to visit known wreck sites, but if the weather turns bad they can find themselves exploring something unknown. This is what happened to me in 2003, when gale-force winds scuppered our plans to visit Loch Swilly. Wright located a huge virgin wreck, City Mobile, on the east coast - just to keep the divers' spirits up!
One for 2005
mv Cicala, a monster dive boat over 100ft long with offshore capabilities, is due to start operating in 2005. Wreck researcher Kevin Heath is part of the team hoping to offer divers adventurous wreck expeditions.
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