Despite the windy weather, 12 keen members of Putney SAC headed out for some diving just off the coast of Brighton on the 31st March 2019. A nice late start for a change and a quick stop off at Newhaven Scuba to pick up some rental cylinders got us to Brighton Marina at about 12:30pm ready to board Channel Diver and head out for the afternoon.
Due to the weather not being quite as bad as anticipated we stuck with the original plan and headed out to the SS Pentyrch, a 103m long cargo ship torpedoed by UB-40 (the German submarine, not the band!) on 18th April 1918 on a voyage from Tyne to Genoa with a cargo of coal. The visibility wasn’t great and the conditions were very choppy, with a bit of swell down on the wreck, butnevertheless a very interesting wreck and definitely one that needs another couple of visits to properly explore it.
After a surface interval involving a few peoples lunches reappearing we headed further in-shore for a slightly more sheltered dive under Brighton pier. A huge bed of mussels, a few tompot blennies and crabs galore! We even found a discarded reciprocating saw.
Overall a good day out for both wreckies and fish-huggers alike, one we’ll definitely aim to get out for again soon!
