(Not) diving the Mohegan

After descending from the surface and following a north-east compass bearing, it is just a few minutes' swim to the broken hull of the Mohegan. On the way the seabed comprises medium-sized boulders with coarse sand and broken shell in-between. Marine life on the rocks includes gorgonia fans, dead men's fingers and jewel anemones. On the sand you might spot the occasional flattie or anglerfish.

Of course, the above description of the approach to the Mohegan, is written by a diver who actually made the decision to leave the confines of the rib. I cannot confirm nor deny the above description as I chose to travel 700 miles and pay £300 to sit in a suddenly spacious rib above the wreck, engaged in mildly amusing banter with a slightly eccentric skipper. Perhaps a more accurate description of my activities would reveal that I did not willingly "choose" to sit in the rib but was "forced" into this position as a result of complications with my tackle.

Whilst the vast majority of diving equipment/paraphernalia/ tackle often appears complicated to a non diver or a newbie, one would assume (including the author of this tragedy) that a hose is indeed a hose and a dry suit connector is indeed a dry suit connector. How wrong could a person be? Hoses, or more correctly hose connections, actually have sexes. There are male connections and there are female connections and as I attempted to kit up on the rib above the Mohegan, using a hose from an old dry suit with a new dry suit I was thwarted by the sad realisation that homosexual hose configurations were not possible.

As 11 members of the dive club flirted with conger eels and enjoyed the pleasures of the Mohegan I sat almost 30 metres above them, I had intended for this to be my first wreck dive and was deeply disappointed to miss the dive. However, I learnt two things that day, firstly that the skipper had a strange burning sensation between his toes and liked to discuss this at great length but perhaps more importantly I learnt that you should always check your gear on dry land or you too may find yourself all dressed up with no place to go!

..........Five months have passed since the activities described above and whilst the jest and jovialities have somewhat died down it is still rare for a Friday night to pass by without a Mohegan mocking moment. Why the mocking five months later I ask? I answer....jealousy. Jealousy of what I hear you say..........

Archie the anglerfish of course!

It occurred to me that the 11 people who dived the Mohegan saw.....rotten wood, wood from 100 years ago, oh and a conger eel.....a common conger eel. Did anyone see an anglerfish?, a rare, camouflaged anglerfish on that trip? Oh yes, I did!!!! So thinking about this it would appear that I have been mocked when in fact I should be the mocker. Rotten wood vs anglerfish, I think I know what I prefer!

On a separate note, does this whole episode reveal something about diving? Who else saw the anglerfish? Sladey. Why did Sladey see the anglerfish? He was my buddy, but why else? Because he never saw a dugong. Eureka...I figured it out, diving is a funny old business but ultimately fair. I could not see the Mohegan, so I saw an Anglerfish. Sladey never saw a dugong and he saw an anglerfish! This is reassuring...I can continue my diving knowing full well that if you ever miss anything exciting don't worry as you are rewarded with something else!