Teignmouth June ´06

Teignmouth is a pretty seaside town in south Devon; complete the archetypal pier and sandy beach, ideal for summer holidaymakers with their families. It also provided use with some superb diving...

Getting There..

Teignmouth is part of the English Reviera that has Torquay at its heart. So heading for Torquay will lead you right to the town. But for those who wish to know, the Scubafish Party took the M3,A303 to Exeter, then the A 38 to Teignmouth. Seeting out at about 7am that gave us a journey time of about 4 hours.

The Camp site

The Camp site had great views and fantastic clean facilities, there was drinking water available just 100 meters from the top field camp site, the pitch was at an angle but you could still sleep on it quite comfortably. There were plenty of toilet facilities quite close to the campsite and porta loos even closer to the pitches. There is a pub on the site as well as a supplies shop they sell towels and lighters if you forget them so don’t panic.

The Dive Centre

Quite different form your usual dive centre, it is a rather an old shop with a cobbled floor, it’s rather cosy with limited supplies, the staff are friendly and the turn over time is rather fast for the boats, so be prepared to put your backs in to pushing the trolley and loading it on to the boat, ensure that you take plenty of drinks and a bit of food.

The Boat

The boat is a great hard boat called Seaquest, there is tea served after the dives and the dive brief is very brief and to the point, the boats head is clean and small and there is a rest area if you need to have a seat. You can comfortably kit up 10 divers with enough space to move around if you keep it neat and tidy and out of the way.

The Dives

The Bretagne

On the 10th of August 1918, during the last few months of the 1st World War, the Bretagne was about 4 miles N.E. of Hopes Nose, Devon, on passage from Barry to Rouen carrying a cargo of Welsh steam coal. The sea was calm in Torbay but there was a thick fog. On an open bridge with no electronic instruments and only regular blasts on her steam whistle the crew kept a watchful eye in the surrounding fog. Suddenly, at about 10:30am, the bow of another vessel, a French steamer the Renée Marthe, loomed out of the mist and struck into the starboard quarter, fatally damaging the Bretagne. When the ships came apart her fate was sealed. Despite the efforts of her crew, she slowly settled in the water and as the First Mate, Mr. Harry Watterson went back to get his possessions a wave slammed the door shut behind him and she sank with him still aboard! There she lay at 25 metres on a shale and sand bottom. At some point the navy swept the flimsy wooden bridge, funnel and masts which were a possible shipping hazard.

This is a 30 meter dive, short boat ride away. The entry is a backward roll or a forward roll if you choose, we took the latter, we went down the shot line and landed on a bit of wreckage this wreck is buoyed so you can go down the line, the vis was about 3-4 meters as we descended we hit a bit of bad vis but the dive was still a go, as we got to the wreck you could see there where shoals of bib and cod they where silver and some where stripy they where gorgeous and the size of them was amazing, the wreck was covered in a fine silt and dead mans fingers there needs to be an awarness that you need to watch your fins and maintain good buoyancy this is a great wreck.

The Pipes

This was a photographers dive there was loads to see if you just sort of narrowed your vision down to the little things there are nudies, dogfish hiding in the Kelp, loads of nems and spider crabs this all make great subjects and as this is a shallow dive you are getting the light I would suggest that you take a torch just to help you focus on your subject the dive was fantastic the vis was a lot better 5-6 metere which was great.

The Galacia

It lies at around 20m this wreck is like a flat pack IKEA ship it is neatly laid out along the bottom, this wreck is also a little treasure trove of animals and activities, you have to let your eyes adjust to the small creatures and nems which dot this wreck, as you travel along the bottom keep and eye out for a giant lobster he’s gorgeous and he will pose for the camera. The ship has been salvaged heavily but it is still in good shape and you can tell where the bridge is.

The Angel Rocks

Fantastic dive a bit of currant going north east which was a bit of a drift, but that just helped us along, there was lots of life, the dive was quite a colourful one with many types of kelp and sea weed about with loads of animal life around unfortunately whilst we where there we happened to be diving in the middle of a spear fishing tournament which is why the fish where a bit skittish and rightly so!!

Teign Diving Centre

If you wish to dive these sites and many more in Teignmouth please give the Teign Diving Centre a call, or check out their web site.

Tel: 01626 773965

Teign Diving Centre

Angie Davies