Report by Anne Gehring In May 2011, 19 of us plus
two dogs, Jemma and Bella, enjoyed a week on the Isles of Scilly, staying on
St Mary’s. For some members of the group who had dived around the islands many times
in the past this was
a trip down memory lane. In fact Roger has probably been visiting
the islands for around 20 years. There were
nine of us diving plus Steve Venn who was there every day giving us a helping hand – Thanks Steve.
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| The diving was a bit mixed due to the sea
conditions but overall we had some very good dives. We dived several wrecks and
on the Friday we did the Plympton and Hathor which lie off St Agnes. The Hathor
which is double the size of the Plympton lies across it having sunk some 10 years
after the Plympton crushing it. The sponge ledges were covered with an array of
large yellow sponges. |
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Fish weren’t in abundance but we did see some colourful wrasse and the usual lobsters.
The sea urchins were huge and I have never seen so many sea cucumbers in the one
area. To round off the week our second dive on Friday was Wingletang Ledge which
was so colourful with lots of life and covered in beautiful anemones. |
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| While we were diving the ladies
managed to occupy their time with plenty of walking taking in most if not all of
the island. One of the days several of them took a boat trip to Tresco and enjoyed
the beauty of the island’s botanical Abbey Gardens. Some of them decided to walk
round Tresco and arranged to meet up with the others later for afternoon tea. However
the walk took longer than anticipated, so while the others got the boat back to
St Mary’s as planned, the intrepid group had to put their best foot forward to ensure
they got the last boat back – so no afternoon tea and cream scones for them!
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Most evenings the majority of us managed to meet up for dinner.
Monday was Curry night, Tuesday Fish and Chips on the beach followed by an evening
walk round the Garrison. Wednesday all 19 of us enjoyed a meal at the Bishop and
Wolf and on Thursday night the majority of us had another good meal and evening
together, this time at the Old Town Inn.
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I think everyone would agree
that all round we had a good week and I know there are some of us who would like
to go back again.
Finally, this holiday wouldn’t have happened if it hadn’t been
for Roger Turner organising the trip – so on behalf of everyone – Thank You Roger
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