With freezing strong easterlies blowing, 5 UBUC’ers decided we’d head down to Hope Cove to shelter out of the wind. With clear blue skies it seemed like a beautiful day to go diving!
Once we arrived at Inner Hope, we spent around an hour getting the boat and kit ready (pretty speedy for a UBUC boat trip!). We hit the water with high spirits, all ready to go and dive some of the sites near Hope Cove. This enthusiasm lasted for about 40 seconds until the engine cut out. We decided to row the boat back to shore (we were not very far away). Once we got there, we took the engine cover off. We drained the fuel from the carb and checked the spark plugs (one of which wasn’t sparking, so we changed it). We managed to get the engine started again, but she wasn’t sounding right so we headed back to where we launched from. And then she cut out again, so we ended up rowing / towing the boat back. In typical UBUC style, a great start for the new boat!
Inner Hope, looking at Outer Hope
Denis and I ended up heading out for a shore dive whilst the others ate and kept warm. We spent about 20 minutes on sand and swell, eventually hitting some rocks and kelp where we found possibly the largest lobster I’ve ever seen, wandering around on the sand. It was so big I was actually scared to go too close. We then found lots more lobsters and eventually a lobster pot that had lots of lobsters inside it with their claws taped up (possibly for breeding / growing?). The visibility was brilliant, 8-10m, it was really really clear! Unfortunately I had to call the dive after around 35 minutes as my hands had reached the point of hurting from the cold. We had a nice 10 min or so swim back on the surface.
A random couple on the beach…
The other three decided to bail on the diving after we’d done ours, so we all got changed, packed up, I did a beautiful parallel park with the trailer and then we all bundled into Ollie’s car and headed round to a pub at Outer Hope. After a very nice afternoon lunch / early dinner, we headed back to Bristol for the inevitable cleaning and dismantling of the boat.
Holding air beautifully!
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