15th april 2007

On what turned out to be the most fantastic day of the year so far, 9 brave divers set out on a day dash to Swanage, one of the clubs first coastal trips of 2007.   For some it would be the first time in the UK seas and they were counting on this trip to complete their qualifications.

Although ropes off were not until 11am we all set of early in preparation.  Alas it was not early enough.  The good weather had brought divers from far and wide, there was no chance of getting a space on the pier car park.  (Unless you’re Hannah, she must have a sweet smile!)  The rest of us settled for the nearby long stay car park and lugged our kit down. 

After a nice breakfast we got ourselves to our vessel for the day ‘Sidewinder’.  The eager newbies loaded the kit. Dave the skipper gave us the safety brief and we were ready for the off.

Fleur de Lys- The first dive of the day was the Fleur de Lys, a fishing boat wreck, in around 15m of water.

As one of the first pairs, Hannah and myself entered the water whilst the tide was still running quite hard, we drifted on to the shot and slowly made our way down.  Visibility wasn’t great but we could at least see the wreckage.  We circled the wreck a few times, looking for sites of interested, being careful to avoid the nails!!! 

I then decided it was time to deploy the SMB and drift off looking for lunch.  Disaster, it was at this moment I realised that the last person I had lent my SMB to had tangled the line.  Another lap of the Fleur led us to Phil, Marc and Ben.  A bit of sign language and a SMB later and we were ready to start our drift. 

The poor vis forced us to focus our attentions and although we found a few scallops and a crab (that wouldn’t come out to play.)  There wasn’t much life.

Peverel Ledges - The ledges are a natural rock formation.   Our intention was to drift with the current along the ledges looking for wildlife.

Depending on each pairs order of drop off seemed to determine how well they drifted, as one of the first pairs again Hannah and myself were lucky to catch a couple of knots and spent the first half flying over the rocks.  However, the rocks didn’t last forever and soon we were flying over the sand instead.  Those who were dropped closer inshore spent the whole time over the rocky bottom although they had to work harder as the current was much less.  Unfortunately no where was the visibility that good.  Despite this we still saw plenty of spider crabs, a thornback ray, a few rock salmon, some dragonette and many other forms of sea life. 

Back to shore with a cup of hot chocolate and it was time to get stuck in traffic for the prolonged journey home!!

View of a Newbie - How do I describe my first trip in the sea?  Scary, thrilling, exhilarating and fun rolled up into one!  I loved every minute oh, except for when Mel decided to throw a HUGE crab at my face!

I wasn’t really sure what to expect whilst we were making our way out on the boat, but I went along with the flow and was very well looked after by my instructor leaving me feel very at ease and ready to take on the sea.

3,2,1 GO – in we get and swim to the shot and we start to descend. At this point I was getting slightly apprehensive as I was unable to sink, but Mel was making her merry way down, so I pulled hard and suddenly started to drop into the dark… I made it – phew!

We get to the wreck, which took me about two goes round to work out what it was – a boat apparently! That was fun, but a little small.  I was feeling quite confident (despite not being able to see much) then Mel tries to deploy her SMB…. What a laugh – 10 minutes of getting a little cold while she struggles with the line!  It could have been a very stressful time, but Mel was calm so I was too.

Then came the fun bit (not mugging Marc for his SMB!) we drifted along the bottom taking in all the wildlife – a couple of scallops (Steve and Simon), a few baby crabs and some lovely shells – I loved it!

The second dive was very interesting – I felt like we went round in the same circle about 5 times and didn’t move very far, but it was still fun, apart from the crab in the face incident!!  I was a little more apprehensive about this one and spent most of the time bumping into Mel for fear that I would loose her.  Still, the time flew by and I picked up a couple of shells as souvenirs, so I will always have a reminder of my first dive in the sea.

Big thanks to Mel for making it such a good dive and I’m really looking forward to the next one!
And today I passed my Ocean Diver qualification, so huge thanks to all the instructors for helping me through it.

The end.