The Scillies Trip

by Jane Sheldon, July 2011

15/10/2011

28 miles off Land’s End lies a divers’ paradise of up to 1,000 wrecks and crystal clear waters, The Scilly Islands. Testimony to the cleansing powers of the waters was demonstrated on ‘Britain’s Secret Seas’ recently, when Paul Rose dived the remains of the Torry Canyon, one of the largest tankers of its time, wrecked in 1967. She now lies completely reclaimed by the sea, difficult to find under a forest of kelp and sea life.

With today’s GPS, it’s hard to imagine the bravery of those that set to sea in the past. 300 years ago the loss of 450 men, including Rear Admiral Sir Clowdisley Shovell, in one night from four ships as they returned victorious from the battle of the Nile, fought under Nelson’s command, prompted the prize of longitude to be issued.

The accommodation was just a stone’s throw from the sea so, when tides require an early start, our diveboat Moonshadow, was only a short walk. The hard-boat Moonshadow has easy access, a giant stride exit and a ladder re-entry. Two dives a day meant lunch on board, basking in the sun in sheltered white sand coves, accompanied by the scent of Johnson’s baby powder as Andrea dowsed us all, getting back into her suit.

With long days, there was plenty of time to explore St Marys and if you’ve tried out all the pubs (alcoholics anonymous?) how cool was taking a boat out to another island for supper. Best of all there’s the gig racing. Gig’s are Cornish elm rowing boats which seat six people and a Cox. Its heroic stuff and they row from island to island, as pilots would have done years ago in order to win the job of piloting ships through Scillies channels to safety. Praise be girls, they take their tops off while they row but, bad luck boys, they haven’t persuaded the girls team to yet!

Thanks to Jason Pepper for being a great trip leader and ensuring we all had fun.