Dive year 2006
The year 2006 began with several trips up to Gullmarn north of Gothenburg. In the cold January water we made many nice dives.
The week before Easter we arranged a trip down to Öresund to dive on the minesweeper M-575 and the steamship S/S Polaris. The weather forecast for the week was that it would be windy and rainy a bit but not more than that we would be able to carry out our dives on the wrecks.
During the week we set off from Viken, just north of Helsingborg, where we lived in a cottage and with the marina only a few hundred meters away.
Early on Sunday we went out to M-575. After locating the wreck on the echo sounder we threw in the towline and hooked it to the ship. There was a moderate current on the surface and down on the wreck it was insignificant. Visibility was around 3 m. During the week we did further dives at the site and filmed some but on the last day the current was too strong to do any diving. Diving on S/S Polaris was carried out on Tuesday and it was sunny and not too windy.
A couple of weeks after the Öresund trip we dived on M/T Martina and Franz at Kullen but otherwise there were many trips that were cancelled due to bad weather.
At the end of May another planned wreck dive blew in and there was no possibility of getting out to sea. Bad luck! But the solution was instead to go to the quarry St. Björkeröd and do two dives there. Felt absolutely great. Exciting with remnants left from the quarry and trees that had grown up before the quarry was filled with water.
As an introduction to other course activities, we conducted our Intro to tech with Richard Johansson down in Mölle in June. There we went through basic diving techniques and procedures. After this, we went down to Råå just south of Helsingborg. From here we would go out by boat to S/S Robert. We got down to the marina in good time and changed and when the boat appeared we loaded our stuff and got on board. It took about half an hour to go out and a while later we were ready to jump in. The surface conditions were very good. The water was mirror-like, the sun was shining and the current was non-existent. Visibility in the water was good down to 20-25 m but deeper there were a lot of particles in the water and visibility was about 2 m. Despite the limited visibility at the site, we conducted a very nice dive on the wreck.
During V 26 we had an intensive course week, Technical Diver, to gain a little more knowledge about a little deeper diving with mix, around Kullen starting from Mölle harbour. Richard Johansson was our guide here too. The first day of the week offered big waves but during the remaining days the water was mirror-clear and the sun warmed the air to between 23 and 29 degrees. The water temperature was around 16 degrees all week.
After the course week we went down to Öresund again to dive on S/S Robert. This time we started from Ålabodarna just south of Helsingborg. This time the visibility was good and the sunny weather meant that it was bright in the water down on the wreck. There was a northerly wind, about 5-7 m/s, but the current was non-existent.
During July we did several nature dives and we also dived on the wreck Krossaren near Malmö. We stepped into the water and broke the surface straight away and swam towards the starboard mark which is about 30 m from land. We came straight to the wreck or rather the remains of it. Last time we were here it was a really nice dive with many penetration opportunities but now it has been scrapped in the spring and it is clear that they did not skimp on the explosives when they did the job. A man at the site described the people who blew it up as “enthusiastic”. According to the same man, about 1000 tons of scrap have been salvaged but an estimate is that there are about 400 tons left which may be correct considering how the site now looks.
Due to the many planned wreck trips being cancelled for various reasons we started looking around more and more for alternative places to dive. One such place was the mines in Derome where we found a lot of remains from the mining and some resorts and car wrecks.
When we first went to dive in the Derome mines, we didn’t have much hope that there would be anything interesting there. The information we had suggested that it would mostly be a swampy place with poor visibility and nothing of value to see. There might also be a small passage that went into the rock a little bit, but this was not confirmed in any way. During the autumn we carried out several dives at the site and we found that about 10m in, the passage divides, the left part extends 13m and the right 16m into the rock, the height difference from the opening to the end inside the right part is about 5m. However, the most interesting thing was in the exploration, which meant that we found another mine passage, 30m in and about 10m in diameter. So in retrospect, one can only conclude that a dive that would give a complete picture of the place has only attracted more to get a better idea of what mining once looked like here.
We believe that it is definitely worth visiting the Derome mines and if you want to see what is hidden beneath the surface, several dives are required. There are at least two entrances to the rock. There is also a car wreck, an old Opel Kapitän. There are also many structures and remains to look at from the mining. Including ladders, conveyor belts and other wooden structures. In September we had booked a trip to the German submarine U-251 and the minesweeper M-403, both of which are located off the island of Anholt in the Kattegat. The distance to these wrecks is about 30 minutes by boat from Torekov. Unfortunately the weather was too bad for this to work so instead we dived the Kronprins Wilhelm. It was quite windy but the current was minimal and visibility was very good which meant we got a good overview of the ship. The next day it was even windier than before and we then dived on Holmen VI and Herriesburg. We also did a nice dive on Bygdöy. Despite the weather preventing us from diving the wrecks we had planned, we still had some great dives.
At the end of October we were supposed to dive Taifun but the weather meant that we instead dived M-575 and Fusion H10. The dive on M-575 started with just over a knot of surface current. It subsided at a depth of three meters and visibility down to the wreck was then six meters. After 40 minutes of bottom time we made our way back to the line and began our ascent. Since visibility was good we saw most of what the wreck has to offer: the foredeck cannon, mine detection equipment, grenade boxes, boots, ammunition, etc. On Fusion H10, which is a fishing boat that stands keel-straight at 27 m, there are many details to see, such as winches, compressor and toilet.
At the beginning of November there was snow on the ground and zero degrees in the air and the journey was towards a new exciting dive site. An old mine. We had originally found out about the site from Johnny (Chairman of Tingsryd Divers) and then we had consulted with various people and in this way gathered information about the site. Once there we saw that the site had the potential for a truly optimal dive. Stefan and Thomas went in first and were met with good visibility in the five-degree water. After an hour of diving we switched and I dived with Johnny. During the descent you pass old ladders and regulations. You also have to watch out for logs that hang both vertically and transversely in the shaft. From the main shaft there are interesting places into the rock at varying depths. During November we returned several times to the mines in Fredriksberg and Thomas made a very good UV map of the mine.
After the mines in Fredriksberg we moved about 10 km for a dive in the Inglamåla iron mine. A fairly unexplored dive site that does not invite further exploration. A difficult start and well down to 12 m. you encounter a muddy bottom that easily makes visibility zero. A lot of old wood and a few wooden ladders are scattered on the bottom. To get into the water you first have to go through a long mine shaft and then assemble a ladder to get down with.
In December we were fed up with all the wreck trips that were cancelled so we decided to buy our own boat which we did and much of December was spent getting it ready for the 2007 season however we did manage to make another trip to the Fredriksberg mines. Thomas had printed out the UV maps that he had drawn over the mine and they were very accurate but we also discovered some new passages that we had not seen before.
Early in the morning we left Halmstad. The air temperature was 6 degrees and the journey to the mines took 2 hours. When we arrived at Fredriksberg we had a coffee and then went into the water. This dive we entered from the main shaft at the 25 m level and made our way up through the rock to a depth of 8 meters. From here a narrow passage continued further south. The UV image below shows this place and you can clearly see how gas has collected on the roof.
Before the second dive of the day, Johnny joined us and we went through what we were going to do on the dive. This dive we entered from the main shaft at the 13 m level. We also explored parts of the 11 m level.
After these two dives we went together to Växjö and filled our tanks at Magnus’s and then continued down to Tingsryd Diver’s premises in Tingsryd where we had a bite to eat, watched dive films, planned the second day’s dive and chatted. We also spent the night here.
The next day we went up to the mine and did a really fun dive. This time we left the camera on land and concentrated solely on enjoying the trip.