Thursday 17th June

Yesterday was a busy day, finishing off the NAS Part I course, new folks arriving during the afternoon, and an evening lecture from Colin Martin about his work on the ‘Swan’ wreck off Duart Point in the Sound of Mull. Inspiration for us all!


The NAS Introduction and Part I courses are now complete. This morning the Field School began in earnest and Mary started the day with an introduction to the John Preston; the aims and objectives of the Field School; the programme of events for the next two and a half weeks; including all the Part III courses we will be able to achieve.


We then began today’s Part III course, learning how to use ‘Site Recorder’, a powerful computer programme that we will be using to record and log all data from the John Preston. All the Field School participants need to be able to use the programme to add data and ultimately enhance the site archive.


After what seemed like a long day carrying out exercises on our laptops we were all a bit ‘glazed’ and needed some light relief – a dive on the John Preston would do!

We all met at the boat at 7pm and made the very short journey round the corner to the bay and the site of the John Preston. Safety briefs, BAR checks, and we were off. We all enjoyed our first visit to the site. There was a slight tide crossing the site but visibility was brilliant. We all saw the keel and most of us managed to locate and identify some features from the site plan. 40 minutes was over all too soon and we were all back on the boat.

Returned to the Café at the Dive Centre for coffee and cake and ‘blog’ writing before we head home – via the pub of course.