Drifting the Rumps
Friday evenings dive was cancelled as we didn’t have a boat. After a quick chat it was decided that we would go and dive the Ezra Weston. Slack water was around 3pm and as it was neap tides slack water should last for a long time. By the time we arrived at the site it was about 30 minutes after slack, we dropped the anchor. The sea was flat and the wind was non existant, but for some reason the GPS said we were moving at 1ft per second. Watching us drift away from our shot we had obviously missed slack water, which was strange as we had so much slack water last weekend on a spring tide. It was decided that we wouldn’t dive as too much current would ruin the dive. So off we went to get a better idea of how the seabed lies around the area. We eventually ended up near an island called the Mouls, I decide to jump in and have a look.
Down I went, landing on a compact bottom of sea shells and sand. Close by was a small reef, I had a quick look but was soon swept away onto the sand. A little further along I came across a few more rocks and was again swept away. I then came across a large reef system, large rocks standing up 3-4 metres with a large amount of wrasse around. There was a lot of rubbish in the crevices a combination of kelp, plastic bags and net. The current was minimal, which seemed strange. There were a few jewel anemones but not much else on the reef, which was also not as expected. I stayed around for quite a while trying to see if there was anything else worth looking at but didn’t find anything. There was a spookiness to the area which I have never felt before on a dive, being solo and having no current after such a strong current was probably all it was but it just didn’t feel right. Soon I found myself off onto the sand again. The sand now seemed endless so I started my ascent.
The guys on the boat said I had drifted around Rumps point, which I thought would have had a howling current around it, but instead it was the area that had no current. Must be to do with other features in the area. Not a dive I’d do again deliberately, although just around the corner from the Rumps are a couple of wrecks including the Maria Assumpta, they might be worth investigating. I’ll take a look when I’m bored again. After watching a video clip of where the Assumpta sank, it was actually right on the point I drifted past, 3 people lost their lives there, spooky!
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