Date : 14th June 2008 Time : 43mins
Depth : 34m Temp : 14 C
Nitrox : 31%
I had to be feeling keen as I needed to be at the Marina at 6am to go on this dive. Although a little chilly as it was early morning, it was a lovely clear day and we headed out of the marina as scheduled. The wreck of the U130 lies a few miles south of The Birling Gap in Sussex. This 1st World War German submarine sank under tow on it’s way to get dismantled and now lies in a number of pieces across the bottom of the sea.
Before we started the dive my allocated buddy asked me if I would be ok on my own if we became separated. I said that I would and that pretty much set the tone for the dive. We started our descent and 20 metres down the shot line I could see shapes below me, considering the depth we were going to I was looking at them wondering what they were. Then I realised that I could already see the top of the wreck and I new I was in for a great dive in good visibility.
When I got to the bottom I looked around, checked out my equipment again and we then set off along the hull. The viz was about 10m which was superb and we could see large pieces of the wreck in clear light silhouetted against the light sand. There were plenty of fish around and soft corals on the steel plates. Then I spotted a huge old man of a lobster, it was an amazing size, living in a large steel tube beside the hull. I think I have only ever seen one bigger in the Isle of Man a couple of years ago.
I got my torch out and peered in through an open bulk head doorway to look at the gloomy disarray of the interior. How 31 men managed to sail around in that thing I will never know. They must have been pretty small! I also went in a larger more open area of the wreck which was easy to access.
After nearly 1/2 an hours bottom time I had clocked up a bit of deco to do and my buddy was long gone as he was diving on air. So I grabbed a nice lobster (not the old man!) popped it in my goody bag and sent the bag up with my surface marker buoy. Then I slowly ascended and did my decostop enjoying the memory of the experience I had just had.
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