Lundy 2004 – Newbury SAC invades.

Listen to the shipping forecast, between Plymouth, Fasnet  & Irish Sea and you will hear Lundy, but it’s not just a shipping area.  Lundy is a small island, only 5km by 1.25km at its widest, sat where the Bristol Channel meets the Atlantic Ocean.  It has been a royal rabbit warren (yeah farming rabbits), a hideout for smugglers & pirates, a stronghold for the law enforcement agencies to stop smuggling & piracy and now a Marine Nature reserve & the first no-take zone in British Waters.

            June 2004 sees a party of 12 NewburySAC members arrive at the tiny unspoilt fishing village of Clovelly to load the charter boat with our diving kit & spend the night at the New Inn before setting off for our first dive & a long weekend on Lundy the following morning.  The steep pedestrian only streets provided a challenge, but nothing the determined diver can’t overcome.

Friday morning after a jolly communal breakfast we set off on the Lundy Murrelet, a converted fishing boat which is named after a rare bird the skipper, Colin Eastman, saw the day she was delivered.  Colin was an excellent choice of skipper, he is a local man who knows the waters well, he is also a diver who can tell about the sites he is dropping the divers on, but the day does not turn out as planned, the wind is blowing a force 7 and the waves as we reach Hartland point are becoming a little too exciting for even the hardiest diver.  We return to Clovelly & resign ourselves to a day sightseeing and walking on the beautiful North Devon Coast and another night at the picturesque New Inn.

Saturday is much better.  The wind has died down overnight and after reaching Lundy & offloading our bags onto the only vehicle on the island (the warden’s Landrover) we set off for our first dive.  The crystal clear water is a pleasure to jump into after the sun’s heat, Pete’s Pinnacle a scattering of wreckage covered in sea life.  Some huge pink sea fans, sea cucumbers, Sunset coral, scarlet & gold cup corals, red Deadman’s fingers, candy striped flat worms & nudibranch heaven.

A picnic lunch on the boat in Gannets Bay is a delight for the seal lovers, watching them play is a lovely prelude to the second dive at Brazen Ward where colourful fish (cuckoo wrasse ballan wrasse ,tompot blennies etc) dart in & out of the corals, squid eggs dangle like translucent candles from pink sea fans and many types of anemone.

Time to view our accommodation, after an energising walk up the steep hill we find the castle, no doors locked – you can trust the locals!  Living in a real live castle has to be an interesting experience, The landmark trust have renovated some of the beautiful buildings on the Island for use by tourists, we had enough people to hire the whole castle.

Like any civilised country Lundy has a pub!  The Marisco tavern is the centre of life on the island and serves excellent meals including lamb from the island.  Rounding the day off with the local beer & a communal meal was perfect.

Waking up to the sound of sea & seagulls, yes that’s all you can hear we meandered down to the boat where our cylinders had been filled overnight.  Sunday morning & the most recent Wreck around the island MV Robert.  Most people enjoyed a leisurely swim around her & pronounced her a lovely, interesting dive covered in life.  Two people only saw 2 sq meters of her, but counted 7 different species of nudibranch and were disappointed not to have had more time to explore further! 

Lunchtime included a swim with the seals in Gannets bay, The NewburySAC members thought that the seals were pretty cool with their breath holding abilities, their perfect buoyancy control & their sleek built in fins.  The seals thought the NSAC members were pretty silly with their long breathing tubes, their buoyancy suits & strange coloured fins!

A short trip after lunch to Gannets rock to marvel at the underwater life, more corals, brightly coloured fish etc. etc. etc.  before heading back to the castle & a well earned Pimms, and  sampling the delights of Sunday Roast at the Marisco Tavern.

Surprisingly enough for 2004 Monday dawned bright & sunny, leaving our bags in the halls of the castle for delivery to the boat later in the day (Service with a smile) we boarded the Lundy Murrelet for our last day & our trip back to the mainland.  The first dive was on one of Britain’s protected wrecks for which we had the licence to dive.  The Iona II is a paddle steamer possibly an American civil war blockade runner.  She is certainly not in tact, but in the crystal clear waters you can see that she is an unusual wreck and,of course teaming with life.

Lunch with the seals again, watching puffins on the cliff & dear scramble up paths mountain goats would fear to tread.  We had been told that we may see whales if we were lucky, looking to the North we could certainly see Wales.  The weather had been kind to us & 3 days of the four the sea had been flat perfect for a diving holiday.

The last dive was something of a pantomime for two of our divers.  Knoll Pins has a colony of Red Band fish; it was one of the diver’s dreams to see them so he was poking his torch into their holes to catch a glimpse whilst the other watched them poke up behind him.

Changing out of our kit & starting the voyage home we all agreed that it was a superb trip, one the club will run again, but perhaps not in 2005.

Information Colin Eastman (Lundy Murrelet) 07974805086

Landmark Trust (accommodation on Lundy) 01268 825 925

www.lundy-charters.co.uk

See the full-size photos here