The second weekend of keeping the RIB at Sea Palling was another success with 2 dives on the same day again. It was an early start though for the first dive, with the crew of 5 arriving at 6am to get the boat ready.

• Divers: James, Jane
• Max Depth: 24.1 metres
• Dive Time: 37
• Water temperature: 17 degrees C
• Viz: 5 metres
• Dive Details: 

It was early when we arrived at Sea Palling: 6am to be precise.  Mick fetched Lowestoft Diver. We prepped her and loaded our dive kit, and then she was towed to the beach.  Despite a small delay searching for the trailer winch crank, we were on our way by 7am, plenty of time for slack which was estimated to be at 8am.  The sea was beautifully calm.  Luke drove, heading for SS Artemisia which had been enjoyed by LSAC divers the previous week.  On low tide the boilers are at approx 20m, so suitable for our Ocean Divers. Close to the coordinates, we looked out for the blue buoy (seen on-site from Lowestoft Diver the previous weekend, and presumed to be tied to the wreck). Then using the fishfinder we confirmed the location and threw over the grapple which sank almost vertically.  It was 7.30 and we were already on slack!  James and I kitted up quickly, entered the water and descended alongside the shotline. The planned dive time was 35 minutes to allow the second wave of divers time on the wreck too. The wreck loomed upon us; it was an incredible sight, and we were still several metres from her!  The shot line took us close to the huge boilers. We descended further and tied off the grapple, communicated to each other that we didn’t think we needed to use the wreck reel, and swam North along the boat.  At 20+ metres, and being still quite early in the morning, the site was a little dark and brown, but you could still clearly see the detail of the wreck and the abundance of fish.  After a few minutes, we turned and headed back to the boilers a few meters over, returning to the boilers and the shot.  We then proceeded across all 3 boilers looking in amongst them, once again returning to the shot.  With still a few minutes until we were due to return, we headed for a short swim south on the wreckage.  At this point the drone of a very large diesel engine could be heard, something big was passing overhead. We slowly headed back to the shot but this time we realised that we weren’t sure where the boilers or the shot were! 
Fortunately, Swimming over the edge of the hull allowed us to gain our bearings and it only took a minute or two before those huge boilers became visible again, and we were able to see the shotline; we began our ascent.  James did a 10-metre safety stop and I began my 6 metre stop.  At this point, we were holding the shotline, and the depth was showing on my computer anywhere between 7 and 5 metres.  It was then we realised it was getting choppy at the surface, and slack was probably over!  At the surface, we were helped to de-ballast, de-kit and board Lowestoft Diver.  Lesson learned: despite the good vis, we should have used the wreck reel!

• Divers: Luke, Jack
• Max Depth: 21 metres
• Dive Time: 27
• Water temperature: degrees C
• Viz: metres
• Dive Details: