Cardiff BSAC Forums

This trip was surprisingly well attended for such a cold time of year, it also seems everyone enjoyed the diving by the reports I've received.

I've posted three of them here;

This one's from Anne

A fine weekend and small neaps made it all look good for those setting off from Cardiff on Friday night.

With a couple of last minute changes (namely Ross and Mark who were sharing flu) we set off to take over Weymouth. Split between the house and the bunker (and no - it wasn't based on alcohol requirements nor the ability to snore) so Friday night saw us all staying close to home.

Saturday dawned fair, and we all scrambled down to meet the boats. I was a little enthusiastic on the time scales, so we were there long before the skippers! Given the clement weather we had decided that each boat would do dives on Black hawk and Lulworth banks one day and James Fennel and Crab city (drift around Portland Bill) the next, swapping round appropriately.

From my point of view the dives were great, visibility was reasonable at about 4 - 5 metres, as ever I am useless at describing dives, just to say the James Fennel is a nice bimble round then off on a drift dive looking for the other wrecks allegedly in the area. Having been unable to decide which lumps were rocks and which were bits of ships (I was later reliably informed that they were rocks!) we spent a happy 20 mins or so drifting along trying to miss these rocky wrecks which loomed suddenly out of the sea bed

The drift dive in the afternoon was a brisk 1 knot, fortunately across a reasonably flat sea bed, often covered as far as the eye could see by mussel beds interspersed with clumps of white shelled snails all doing what comes naturally!! Crab city was a good name with all sorts, including spider, edible, velvet swimming and hermit crabs often in the small gullies which opened up from time to time.

Next day and the Black hawk was fun, although could get silty if stirred up. Lots of fish life to be seen, and as Helen and I described them "A couple of wheely things" Rhian has now promised to give us a Wreck identification course after I came out with that one!

Final shopping trip took us to Lulworth banks, I am glad I had the wing with plenty of lift when we came back with the big bag of scallops!

All in all, I heard mentions of bib, wrasse, john dory, tom pot blennies, pipe fish dog fish and smooth hounds to name a few. Lobsters crabs and a couple of big plaice also found their way to the boats with respective divers.

Reports from those on Wave Chieftain seem to have been favourable, especially the heated indoor kitting up area! There were some learning curves involving ascents but they were survived and hopefully experienced gained from.

I have certainly learnt to my cost that the new way I decided to put the weights in the integrated pocket didn't work and apart from a rather faster than approved ascent over the last 3 metres it cost a fortune to replace the 3kilo pouch which had fallen out!

P.S. If you want air in Weymouth I would suggest anywhere other than the Old Harbour dive shop, unless you like taking your wing apart, all in case you got the floor of the dive shop wet!

This one's from Brian

The drive to Weymouth was quiet so I was the first to reach the Bunkhouse around 5.30pm – but the door was locked. Fortunately I had the numbers for the B&B to call them for the access code to get the front door key! A quick recce of the local area found three pubs (that all served food) and a café/restaurant within a ten minute walk. Not long after getting back to the house, Andy Powell arrived. Now with company, I headed back to the Cove House Inn for a meal and a few beverages. We were soon joined by Adrian, Helen and the rest of the gang! Our side of the bar was no longer empty or quiet! Those of us that didn’t head back to the Bunkhouse ”early”, found that the “Star Wars Bar” was no longer so “Star Wars”. Most of the stalwarts seemed quite disappointed about that!

With twenty two people diving, the group was split across two boats. Each would do two dives in a different area on Saturday, and then swap places on Sunday. As well as our club members, we had Russell, Ollie and Dave from the Barry club on board.

Saturday morning was a lot more like spring than November as our boat (DiveTime) headed out to the Black Hawk wreck. The sun was out, blue skies overhead, and surface conditions that made Cosmeston (Our local duck pond) look rough! Air temperatures were around 10C as we headed out, slightly cooler than the expected water temps. Amazing weather for November!

Buddied with Gemma, our first dive was on the Black Hawk, an older wreck with only the larger metal wreckage still intact. The visibility was around 4-5 metres, better out of the current. Lots of bib and pouting were shoaled around the wreck, with plenty of other fish – mainly goldsinnys, blennies and wrasse - either hidden away between the struts and plates, or just passing through. After surveying the major parts of the wreck, we wandered up and down the shallow gullies that ran nearby. There we found a lot more wildlife, including “decorated” spider crabs, Tompot blennies, and even a John Dory tucked away against the side of some rocks.

After spotting an intact shell (of the artillery variety) lying on the rocks, I didn’t have enough confidence in my memory that blue really was the colour traditionally used in the UK for dummy bombs, to bag and lift it. After just over three quarters of an hour it was time to come up, back into the now even warmer sunlight and clear skies.

During the surface interval we sat on deck in the sun with a nice packed lunch (ham, tomato, and cream cheese bagels; crisps; cake and fruit washed down with tea/coffee/hot chocolate) we were concerned to hear that a boat just around the point from us had reported divers with symptoms of DCI. After a few minutes of listening to the radio, the watched the rescue helicopter on its way to take them to Poole. (Anyone know how they got on?)

It was soon time to get ready for the next dive: a drift over Lulworth Banks. After a briefing from the skipper, and a quick buddy check, we splashed into the water and down to the bottom (Where’s the shotline? Oops – drift diving!) We even remembered to send up the DSMB as we set off! (Note to self - let go of the velcro tab on the DSMB before it starts rocketing upwards, otherwise it does come away!)

The bottom was sandy, with some fine gravel and rocky outcrops, a whole different environment again! Visibility was slightly better than the first dive. The noticeable feature this time was the abundance of scallops. I was told the current was about half a knot, enough to keep us moving without making it too hard to stop and take a look at things that caught our eye.

Did we really see two big artillery shells as we drifted by? As I tried to scrape crud off one of the big, cylindrical, pointy-at-one-end objects it suddenly struck me that scraping and scratching my knife against what could have been a bomb was probably a less than sensible idea – so back to picking up, and sharing the drift experience with, the occasional spider crab. Just at the end of the dive, we saw shoals of bib and other fish just as we started our ascent.

Quickly packing our kit away, we headed back to port where we managed to unload our tanks – sorry cylinders! - just before the second boat landed. We left the cylinders at the Old Harbour Dive shop where we would collect them the next morning. Saturday evening was a meal at the local Weatherspoons with a few beers in the local hostelries.

The next day started slightly later, and after collecting our cylinders, we were eventually off to the other side of the Bill, for a wreck/drift dive at the James Fennel.

The skipper took us around the side of the Bill to an area with three wrecks scattered around. The plan was to take a look at what wreckage we could see, then drift off along the boulders. The wrecks were quite old, and again only larger pieces of steelwork were identifiable – but still fun to swim around. Heading off to the south west encountered another environment amongst the boulders and kelp growing there. We quickly came across a large spotted (aka Ballan – thanks Teresa!) wrasse that patiently waited for us to catch up so we could look at it.

As we drifted away again, the wrasse paid another visit to look at us (only fair I suppose, but I think we got the better deal!). Amongst the boulders were quite a few fan worms, smaller crab and smaller fish. At the shallower depths we only needed torches to peer into some of the nooks and crannies – no lobsters, just more wrasse and blennies. In Cossie tradition I did recover another golf ball from a small clearing!

Lunch this time was meat and potato pies, that didn’t go down so well with most people. Still, it was something to munch on while warming up in the sun on deck.

The final dive was to be another drift dive. After being briefed by the skipper on a 45 min bottom time to avoid straying into rougher waters, Gemma and I were off again. The current was quite stronger than the previous afternoon’s dive, which made for an interesting time launching the DSMB while keeping steady. This time we were going over mussel beds – another first for me! There were mussels everywhere, with lots of cool little hermit crabs wandering across them. (I’d only seen them in rock pools and pets shops before!)

In the gravel spaces between the beds we saw and quickly passed lots of edible crabs, of a good size, with an occasional spider crab caught visible in the open. With the stronger current this really was like flying along the seabed. We were having such a good time that it took the threat of doing deco to persuade Gemma to want to leave (yep we really did reach over 26m!).

After fighting with the reel to reach the surface, I had vague “Open Water” thoughts as our boat (in what seemed like the far distance) moved away, only to stop to pick up some other divers. To my quiet relief DiveTime turned and came towards us, cutting engines as it got close so we could swim/drift/collide into the granny rope on its side. Catching and riding the lift to the deck felt like a rodeo ride as the water was a bit choppier than when we had gone in. It was nice to sit down, change kit, and grin like an idiot after surviving what felt like wild rides below and on the surface.

All too soon, we were on the quayside after two great days diving. Farewells were said and our drives home began. My taking a wrong turn while looking for the M5 in the fog was repaid by the free firework displays as I headed to and through Bristol city centre.

I’m not yet used to diving in UK saltwater, so the diversity, shapes and colours of our “local” wildlife still amazes me! Thanks to Gemma for being a good buddy, and an even bigger thanks to Anne and the guys and gals of Cardiff (and Barry) BSAC for organising and making it such a great weekend – off, on, and under the water!

This one's from Bill

This was supposed to be a training weekend for the new comers, to show them what a diving boat was. What boat discipline meant. What self discipline was required to be a diver etc, etc?

It just turned out to be another excuse for a gigantic (P*%%) knees up.

The game of “Guess what I’ve left at home” began quite early, then we had dive boat bingo (guess which boat you are on as I’ve forgotten to send out instructions) and the usual grumpy, end of season skippers, arguing over which diver should be sacrificed first and put on the spit to cook.

I ended up on a huge yellow monster, which was a cross between a floating dock and a Sunderland flying boat. To get into the toilet, you had to get somebody to dislocate one shoulder and be able to climb stairs using only one leg.

The G forces involved made cylinders roll around the deck taking out divers like a ten pin bowling alley. The sea was flat calm, warm and wet (leaky dry suit, again!) Visibility was frightening. Dogfish, lobsters, cuttlefish, pollack, pouting, whiting, bass, wrasse, pipefish, and loads of other stuff. (Mostly inedible so it doesn’t count)

Early afternoon aperitifs were followed by a compulsory nap, to regain stamina for the evening session. Somebody who insisted on doing the backing singing and dancing to the Karaoke singers, ended up at Portland Young Offenders Institution by falling asleep in the back of the taxi and the Russian driver mistaking his mumbles for complaints, chucked him out there.

One young lady felt sorry for the residents of Weymouth, so kept feeding the parking meters with coins, but leaving the tickets in for grateful parkers.

Ascent rates were scorned at, and the Branch mission to establish the audibility of modern dive computer alarms was confirmed. You can barely hear an Aladdin wrapped in a soggy bear, at the bottom of a dive bag, but three Suunto’s self synchronized could be heard by other dive boats up to two miles away.

One diver took a dislike to somebody leaving a large lump of cast iron on the quayside, so gave it a nudge with his car. He will get estimates on Monday.