The last time I dived the Mixon Hole it was 26th June 1988! It was part of my snorkelling test where I had to ‘free dive’ to the edge of the Mixon and pick up some weeds to prove I could snorkel to 7m. Dan my dive buddy also dived it a couple of decades ago.
Dan and I have been trying for over a year to dive the Mixon Hole but with the bad weather we were ‘blown out’ some 4 times. So finally we did!
Simon who runs Southern Coastal Charters picked us up from the East Beach at Selsey.
We got to the Mixon Hole a bit later than planned and we did find there was a current running at the bottom. There did not appear to be any current at the surface so that was a bit odd.
The north wall appeared to be less steep than I remembered it but there was more life. The descent is a little tricky as you are descending a slope, so we tended to bump a lot on the way down. Next time we will face into the Hole and gently swim forward. As soon as we got to the bottom a dogfish swam between us, which I think was pretty cool.
We came across an active spider crab of a reasonable size. Dan and I both caught a dogfish with our bare hands, which we both ate later. I did catch a lobster but it was too small so let it go.
The main event was me trying to catch a flatfish and failing. With all my air out of my dry suit and BCD I used my diver’s knife to stab him. He was strong enough to lift me up off the bottom a few inches which enabled him to move down as Dan tried to put him in the bag.
I never realized the adrenaline would get to me with that sort event. Afterwards my heart was pumping as was my breathing down at 26m. I made a conscious effort to calm down but I did use a lot of air.
Score so far: Flatfish 2, Percy 0
We left the bottom with 4 minutes of bottom time left and had a very steady assent. Lovely dive and we are planned to dive it again in two weeks time.
Link to video Mixon Hole 5th June 2010
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