wreck

Log This Dive

JEAN ALAIN

The Jean Alain is one of those wrecks we keep coming back to in Cornwall. She's not huge, a modest trawler at 13.4 metres, but she sank upright in 1984 and that makes all the difference. Dropping onto her deck at 22 metres, you’re straight into the superstructure. We love nosing around the wheelhouse, imagining the last moments, though she’s now well-encrusted with dead man's fingers, their soft white tentacles waving in the surge. This isn’t a deep dive, making for good bottom time to really explore. We’ve found conger eels tucked into the engine room, their heads peering out, and often see bib schooling around the mast. The conditions can be typical Cornish, a bit of a current sometimes, and visibility that ranges from sparkling 15 metres to a more atmospheric green soup. Our best dives have been on a slack tide, giving us plenty of time to poke into every crevice, feeling for the edges of rusted metal, and watching the crabs scuttling over the hull. She’s perfect for divers who appreciate a well-preserved wreck you can actually penetrate a little, without needing advanced certs. Just bring a good torch; it gets dark in there.