Blackwater divers travelled to Slade Harbour Friday, 15th July to attend the annual South East Dive Rally hosted by Hook Head Sub Aqua Club where 185 divers from all over Ireland enjoyed the treasures of the Hook Peninsula.
The weather conditions sided with the Hook SAC club, where a large volume of divers arrived with ribs, campervans and tents to begin a weekend of diving and also to meet fellow divers from north and south.
It proved to be a weekend hard to beat where nautical gods shone on the divers. Starting at 8am sharp, a comprehensive dive brief was given to all divers where a varied selection of dive sites were on offer. Blackwater divers were joined by Cork Army Group and Athlone SAC for their dive weekend.
Diving officer for the weekend Maurice Carroll choose the Girl Arlene wreck situated 4 miles off Slade Harbour. The Girl Arleen wreck was a fishing trawler sunk in 1995 after the collision with another boat due to dense fog.
The wreck is mostly broken up, but the wheelhouse is intact and absolutely teeming with life. The wreck lies in 27m, due east of Baggabaun head. The upside down wheelhouse is the most interesting section of the wreck and one can venture inside and see the crew’s toilet and sink stuck to the roof!
The rest of the wreckage is quite flattened and strewn across the seabed next to the wheelhouse.
On decent, it was apparent the Girl Arlene was a favored site, beautiful jewelled anemones covered the wreck with richly coloured dahlia anemone; pouting, pollack, whiting wrasse (ballan and cuckoo), blenny, flatfish, dogfish, conger eel, ling, lobsters, tube worms to name but a few. Temperatures were to a nice 13 degrees with excellent visibility at the seabed.
Saturday evening, divers headed to Western Rock which proved to be a different dive altogether due to a strong drift but proved to be a challenging but rewarding dive also. Club Diver Eamonn O’Herlihy joined the Hook SAC club for a 10m shore dive between Slade Harbour and Hook Head on Sunday where Eamonn, thankfully brought his camera to capture some amazing photos!
BLACKWATER SEARCH AND RECOVERY RAFT RUN
Yes, its back. Preparations are in full swing for the Blackwater Search and Recovery Raft Run being held Sunday, 28th August. The raft run will begin in Ballyhooly and finish at Ashe Quay, Fermoy.
The course is approximately 8km in length with the depth varying from a maximum of 3 metres.
To register your raft, please contact Ken Barry on 086-1018424 who will register your interest and send you your sponsorship cads and provide information of the event.
