Diving
Dives
I've dived with Susan Playfair 28 times:
Dive number | Date | Site | Location | Area | Country | Wreck | Freshwater | Depth (m) | Bottom time (min) | Total time (min) | Divers | Quality | Summary | Equipment |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
75 |
20 Mar 1982 | Breda | Benderloch | Oban | Scotland | 18 | 25 | 25 | Iain Hosking, Susan Playfair | First dive with Susan. Through holds, bridge etc. Sandals, cans, tyres, truck etc. Much silliness - somersaults, new underwater signals etc. Very relaxed dive - due to not having any gauges etc. | own | |||
76 |
20 Mar 1982 | Breda | Benderloch | Oban | Scotland | 14 | 15 | 15 | Iain Hosking, Eric Franz, Susan Playfair | Now low tide. Dived with Eric and Susan (Susan had the torch - we were invisible). Getting a little dark, but good fun. Dive-bombed Doc and Rob. | own | |||
79 |
27 Mar 1982 | Railway Quay | Oban Bay | Oban | Scotland | 5 | 15 | 15 | Iain Hosking, Susan Playfair | Little evidence of excess lobsters or congers. Best thing was light steaming past the pier - very dramatic. Grossly underweight. | own. 4lbs less weight. | |||
81 |
28 Mar 1982 | Easdale | Seil Island | Oban | Scotland | 25 | 20 | 20 | Iain Hosking, Ceri Reid, Susan Playfair | Not the quarries, but natural cliffs to the north. Amazing variety of sea life - fanworms, sea squirts, crustaceans of various kinds. Vis 6m at least. | own | |||
82 |
4 Apr 1982 | St Abbs | South side of the Firth of Forth | Forth | Scotland | 14 | 20 | 20 | Iain Hosking, Susan Playfair | Excellent dive - good u/w communication. | own | |||
84 |
10 Apr 1982 | Salen Pier | Salen | Mull | Scotland | 14 | 15 | 15 | Iain Hosking, Susan Playfair | Plowter round pier with Susan to check out her new dry suit. OK apart from neck seal. Plenty of somersaults etc. Also plenty of scallops. Vis crap. | own | |||
85 |
10 Apr 1982 | Rondo | Eileanan Glasa, Sound of Mull | Mull | Scotland | 32 | 20 | 30 | Iain Hosking, Susan Playfair | Found and buoyed the wreck, then swam down to the archway and further down. Lots of bits to swim through - great fun. Inadvertently went deeper than intended so did stops at 10 and 5m. Some current, poor vis. | own | |||
86 |
11 Apr 1982 | Rondo | Eileanan Glasa, Sound of Mull | Mull | Scotland | 30 | 20 | 20 | Iain Hosking, Susan Playfair | Early morning dive. Through prop tube and between hull and rock. Very pretty. Torch flooded again (and jammed shut). Snorkelled to lighthouse and watched swans nesting. | own | |||
89 |
12 Apr 1982 | Salen Pier | Salen | Mull | Scotland | 5 | 10 | 10 | Iain Hosking, Ewan Rowell, Susan Playfair | Just a plowter round the pier to look for leaks in Susan's and Ewan's dry suits. Two leaks in Ewan's - none in Susan's. Flipping cold without gloves. Hardly a dive. | own | |||
93 |
14 Apr 1982 | Rondo | Eileanan Glasa, Sound of Mull | Mull | Scotland | 40 | 15 | 25 | Iain Hosking, Susan Playfair | Deepest yet. Straight down to 40m. Black as pitch (no torches). Up to 30m where we were surrounded by a shoal of hundreds of fish. Usual acrobatics - passed Geoff and Mike, then on up to do planned 5 minute stops at 10m & 5m. Calm morning, water and air warm. Great start to the day (it pissed down afterwards). | own, except for Eric's Ulyxes death gauge | |||
94 |
14 Apr 1982 | Meldon | Loch Buie | Mull | Scotland | 14 | 47 | 47 | Iain Hosking, Geoff Hide, Susan Playfair | Threesome with Geoff and Susan. Down at rudder and along starboard side (huge props). Got separated immediately and swam round independently. Swam down prop shaft housing, inside stern and around boilers. Found Susan wrestling with a crab and looked for Geoff, who had surfaced by this time. Leak in groin of dry suit (ugh!). | own | |||
95 |
15 Apr 1982 | Rondo | Eileanan Glasa, Sound of Mull | Mull | Scotland | 26 | 20 | 20 | Iain Hosking, Susan Playfair | Bottom time restricted because of later dive on Hispania. Essentially a 26m plowter - through tubes downwards, usual somersaults etc. Really enjoyable dive. Separated temporarily. Dry suit dry again. | own | |||
96 |
15 Apr 1982 | Hispania | Sound of Mull | Mull | Scotland | 28 | 26 | 26 | Iain Hosking, Susan Playfair | Hit slack again. Along starboard side, into bridge, engine room (deeper than last time), over side by mistake and into stern cabin to look for Eric's torch. Spent ages untying the buoy, and overstepped no stop time. Trouble with sinuses. | own, except Malcolm's depth gauge | |||
97 |
15 Apr 1982 | Salen Pier | Salen | Mull | Scotland | 7 | 10 | 10 | Iain Hosking, Susan Playfair | Decompression dive. Boring. | own | |||
98 |
16 Apr 1982 | Rondo | Eileanan Glasa, Sound of Mull | Mull | Scotland | 40 | 17 | 27 | Iain Hosking, Susan Playfair | Second deepie - much better planned, both with torches. Saw wreck very clearly - not at all narced. Through tubes on way up, and under wreck. Some current. Sinuses kicking up again. | own | |||
99 |
16 Apr 1982 | Rondo | Eileanan Glasa, Sound of Mull | Mull | Scotland | 30 | 11 | 13 | Iain Hosking, Susan Playfair | Search for Ewan's tanks. Decent current at last...Wreck not buoyed, so had to find it again, by contouring at 15m. Down to 30m and back up slowly, very slowly, in fact all time slowest ascent. Curious wrasse. | own | |||
100 |
1 May 1982 | Loch Sunart | Scottish West Coast | Scotland | 15 | 30 | 30 | Iain Hosking, Ceri Reid, Susan Playfair | 100th dive! Weather conditions - hail and snow. Bottom is silt, shelving downwards and with many sea pens, crabs, scallops etc. Collected queenies for tea. Water warm. Leaks in dry suit and sinus trouble again. | own | ||||
104 |
30 May 1982 | St Abbs | South side of the Firth of Forth | Forth | Scotland | 12 | 30 | 30 | Iain Hosking, Ceri Reid, Susan Playfair | Low tide, good vis (10m). Wrasse, flounder and smaller fish, squat lobsters etc. Swam around Cathedral and elsewhere. Suit dry again after repairs. So was Susan's (much appreciated). | own | |||
105 |
12 Jun 1982 | Sound of Kerrera | Oban | Scotland | 20 | 20 | 20 | Iain Hosking, Eric Franz, Susan Playfair | Sloping bottom, silty and dark, but good vis - at least 10m. Hundreds of squat lobsters, plus scallops, squid, sea squirts, swimming crabs, large fish. I had to shorten the dive because of sinus trouble when we surfaced halfway through. Spent a surprisingly comfortable night in Eric's tent, on the shore of the Sound. | own | ||||
106 |
13 Jun 1982 | Easdale | Seil Island | Oban | Scotland | 22 | 30 | 30 | Iain Hosking, Eric Franz, Susan Playfair | Dived cliffs again. Fantastic vis: 60-100 feet. Incredible variety of life - squat lobsters, brightly-coloured sea anemones, plumose anemones, sea squirts, feather duster worms, dead men's fingers, cup coral, sun stars, starfish, sponges, nudibranchs, dogfish, wrasse, sea urchins, hydras, jellyfish, oysters and a cowrie which I found on my tank after the dive. Tremendous scenic dive. | own | |||
109 |
25 Jul 1982 | St Abbs | South side of the Firth of Forth | Forth | Scotland | 13 | 45 | 45 | Iain Hosking, Ceri Reid, Susan Playfair | Fed wrasse, made much use of underwater communications system. | own | |||
110 |
31 Jul 1982 | Karlsruhe | Scapa Flow | Orkney | Scotland | 25 | 28 | 30 | Iain Hosking, Susan Playfair | Good first dive of the trip, after a worrying couple of minutes when we found the buoy line had dragged off the wreck. The ship is lying at a steep angle on her port side. We covered about half of her, from engine room aft. Large gun on stern. Fish life prolific. Vis 10-11m. Problems - Susan's tank harness, fin strap, my new cuff and sinuses on way up. Stung by a jellyfish on the mouth. | own, except Snipe's 87 cu ft tank. | |||
111 |
1 Aug 1982 | Köln | Scapa Flow | Orkney | Scotland | 32 | 18 | 20 | Iain Hosking, Susan Playfair | Down buoy line to port side behind bridge. Quick look inside then swam to stern via two gun turrets. Stern almost pointed. Back to buoy line where we hung around for a while to check buoyancy for stops. Vis not so good - lots of plankton. 60s very comfy, sinuses cleared, no heater in cuff [eh?] - ace dive. | own, except twin 60s. | |||
112 |
1 Aug 1982 | Brummer | Scapa Flow | Orkney | Scotland | 34 | 16 | 27 | Iain Hosking, Susan Playfair | Planned 30 mins at 30m + stops at 10 & 5. Changed our minds when we went down to 27 at 32 + stops. In the event we went to 34m so Susan had us surface, somewhat dissatisfied, at 16 mins. Subtly narked, I swam to the stern instead of the bows, but we saw various gun turrets and dipped inside a couple of times. Good dive. We'll be back. | own, twin 60s. | |||
115 |
3 Aug 1982 | Markgraf | Scapa Flow | Orkney | Scotland | 45 | 17 | 17 | Iain Hosking, Susan Playfair | Perfect day - bright sunshine & flat calm. Down buoy line to a perfect landing on the bottom. Turned left for bows which were very impressive towering above us. Hawse pipes visible. Swam aft to where deck level comes above the seabed. Swam right underneath - wooden deck intact. Porthole with glass in it, still moveable. Also what might have been one of the side guns. Much purging of one another's demand valves, turning off air and flooding of masks on the stops. | own, twin 60s | |||
116 |
3 Aug 1982 | Destroyer | Scapa Flow | Orkney | Scotland | 16 | 33 | 33 | Iain Hosking, Susan Playfair | Evening plowter - wreck very broken up. Saw one gun, masts etc. Very colourful wrasse with fluorescent blue stripes. Found leaks in Susan's dry bag and compared demand valves. Some brass in wreck, which couldn't be removed. Good fun. | own, twin 60s | |||
117 |
4 Aug 1982 | Kronprinz Wilhelm | Scapa Flow | Orkney | Scotland | 36 | 14 | 17 | Iain Hosking, Susan Playfair | Vis poorer - 6m. Down buoy line to hull, where we shifted the shot and cut it free from the wreck. Up hull side of wreck towards bows - in and out of holes in the hull plates. Over hull to deck. Found two guns and a doorway in. Susan found a divers belt and gloves (standard divers dress type). No stop dive. | own, twin 60s | |||
118 |
4 Aug 1982 | Köln | Scapa Flow | Orkney | Scotland | 23 | 32 | 47 | Iain Hosking, Susan Playfair | Swam forward this time to see the other two-thirds of the wreck. Spent some time examining AA gun (and attendant fish) and then the bridge, under decks etc. On to bows - bow turrets missing. High speed fin back to line, past waist turret. | own, twin 60s, +12lbs |