Mull September 2025 - A Week on the MV Honeydew
Author: Tessa Fisher
Date: 21th Sep 2025
All I can say is what a great week on MV Honeydew with my buddy for the week, Ash Jessop!
There were 8 divers on board and of those 3 marine biologists and 1 who has passed the ‘Sea Search’ exam.
Our 1st and ‘shake down’ dive was the wreck of the Breda, on the descent the first 3m were ‘definitely peaty’ but below that the vis did clear. A conger under a plate on the sea bed…typical as a card reader error had just arose on the camera. I might just have picked up a bottle from the wreck.
Second dive was Sassanach Point: a scenic dive and ahhh, continued issues with the settings on my camera.
Swimming scallops never fail to amuse, and a topknot with purple markings spotted by Ash.
Day 2 and the most challenging dive of the week (one buddy pair were swept away from the shot and having been picked up opted not to be dropped off for another go). The wreck of the Rondo which lies against an almost vertical wall with the rudder at 6m and the bow at 50m (where frankly it just becomes increasingly grey with less life). There was a current throughout the dive and in reality the only place out of the current was to the starboard side in the dip between the wall and the hull of the wreck. On the safety stop, Microfilament on the rudder had caught around another diver’s reg resulting in her buddy pulling out snips to cut it.
Next came Calve wall, another scenic dive with a slight current/upcurrent and a scorpion fish.
The third day, Tuesday, saw another very pretty scenic dive on Sunart Wall, lots of line clawed squat lobsters, leopard gobies, football sea squirts and a dogfish.
Second dive and halfway point of the dives throughout the week was Arusha Pinacle where Ash and I surprised ourselves not only circumnavigating the pinnacle but returning to the shot! More pretty squidgy stuff, various starfish and a lobster.
Wednesday saw Auliston Point, my log book reads “very pretty chilled squidgy dive”. The second dive was Orinsay Back wall & we saw a nudibranch! Plus possibly my find of the week, an octopus!
Downside of the dive was my CO2 cartridge did not pierce, so Ash deployed his (changed the mechanism in the DSMB & checked how to inflate from a drysuit hose when we were back on the boat).
Thursday we saw a wreck, the Hispania, which we shared with 3 divers from another boat, I await their video footage! On reaching the shot we noticed another diver had the extra line to the smaller secondary buoy had wedged between the bcd and cylinder of another diver, this was easily rectified underwater. We followed a tiny fish most of the way down the shot line as it finned against the current above it. One dragonet posed for a photo opportunity, we went to the rudder and end of the propeller shaft where the current picked up, then hunkered down on the seabed to the port side of the hull. In the deck we passed the winches at the bow and along a companion way although we couldn’t climb the ladder at the end due to obstructions. We had enough 32% left for a quick drop in to the hold where we saw the ‘wall’ of concrete bags. Some of the biggest fish I have ever seen on a dive (discounting sharks) in the wreck.
A “mud dive” followed and we were warned not to stir up the seabed and so kill the vis, this resulted in one diver asking if they landed in the muddy seabed would they be able to get out or would they remain suctioned to it. The dive didn’t disappoint, 2 types of sea pens, more hermit crabs than I remember ever seeing, more swimming scallops, another dogfish, brittle stars and so many long legged squat lobsters. My turn to test out the new part on the CO2 cartridge DSMB, it inflated faster than ever.
The last diving day saw the John Preston wall, a wall with the wreck of the John Preston which had been carrying slate. Having learnt that kelp, shells etc on top of urchins is not there by accident we did look much more closely. Again many more female cuckoo wrasse than males, more dragonets, leopard gobies, ling clawed squat lobsters, anemones, sea squirts, Devonshire cup corals, a sea spider (only spotted on the photo when back in the boat), a large sea slug free floating in the downdraft of a fin and a topknot. Ash did indicate that he was cold and water had entered in to his not so drysuit via the neck seal (that said he didn’t cut the dive short). Back in the boat and it seems his weight harness pushed against the neck seal and this seems to cause it to ruck and crease leading to him being wet through.
Last dive and having dried his undersuit leggings over the vent from the engine room, Ash was not going to miss a dive, when went back to the Breda where another dive boat dropped divers before us. There was somewhat reduced visibility at the bottom of the shot where the silt had been kicked up and where we released a fellow divers fin from the shot line. Once out of the silt the vis was better than on our 1st dive of the week, again HUGE fish. Plus we saw the chassis of a car and returned to this to ascend the shot. Looking at my dive computer on the ascent at 7.2 m we hit a peaty top layer in the water.
Would I go again? In a heartbeat! In fact 5 from the club, 1 partner, 1 from JBOD, 2 from Cirencester, 2 from Leeds and 1 from Stroud are off to Northern on MV Honeydew in 2026, excited already!
