Just returned from our excellent excursion to Portland to dive with Skindeep Diving Weymouth. Len, our admirable skipper, gave us the best dive sites we could ask for given the relatively poor underwater visibility. Maggie gave us cups of team, support and encouragement.
We stayed in the ‘Bunker’. A ten minute walk from the Marina and just across the road from Chesil Beach and convenient hostelries.
The weather was glorious. Shorts were the standard dress code (not just for Steve).
Over three days we managed four lumps of metal – The M2, James Fennell, St Dunstan and Black Hawk (bow) and 3 drifts. The viz on the M2 and St Dunstan was disappointing at about a metre driven by the recent poor weather and a lot of plankton (good news for the fishes !). The shallower drifts all had better viz at up to 5m. The first started with the scattered wreckage of the James Fennell and merged into a nice sedate drift. The drift to Portland head was a little more exciting especially for those going shallow. There was plenty of life to glimpse on the way.
The dive of the weekend was undoubtedly the Black Hawk. Scattered wreckage creating wonderful shapes emerging from the sand and gravel ridges. Teeming with life. All kinds of beautiful Wrasse including male cuckoos, large Tompots and Bib of all shapes and sizes (including huge), Pollack and sightings of parts of Congers. Lots of crabs of varying persuasions -including spiders and huge edibles. Some very pretty irridescent lobster. This must a be a truly awesome wreck in better visibility.
Our Barbi on Chesil Beach was undoubtedly the catering success of the weekend. Watching the sunset into the distant coastline.
Thank you to Emma, Steve and Paul for the additional photos
