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As two of the Club's most recently qualified Sports Divers, Gill and I thought it would be good to see what diving was like away from the exotic Blue Lagoon. Rachel, Tony, and Phil had also decided to 'share the experience'.Most of the 22 strong party arrived in Weymouth at various times on Friday night (in a few cases Saturday morning) and met at the Kings Arms. Dan and Liz got the 'most time on the A34 wondering where all the traffic came from' award, taking 5 hours to do the 160 mile trip. Well done chaps!The party was split into 2 groups, some on a local hard boat and the club RIB taking the newly qualified and 7 potential minders so there was no chance of us doing a runner!The first dive on Saturday was the Countess of Erne. This was really enjoyable because the wreck is still intact and actually looks like a ship. You'd have thought they could have afforded a prop, but at least they'd taken the coal out! There were plenty of things to explore and loads of silt for me to stir up with my inexpert buoyancy control and finning. Excellent fun and guaranteed to hack off any divers coming after you!On our return the wind picked up even more and the rain started. Conditions had been too bad for the hard boat to go out, so the other dive party (plus some of the RIB brigade) returned to the Countess that afternoon.Sunday's weather couldn't have been more of a contrast and the plan was to get in three dives to make up for Saturday. The sun had put his hat on (all day) and the hard boat got to its planned sites. We 'did' the Spaniard at 15m hauling an SMB around for the benefit of another dive boat. (Which then cleared off elsewhere, don't you just hate that when it happens?)Next on the agenda was the Landing Craft but we couldn't find the right buoy and the echo sounder didn't spot it either. Doug went in to check out what he thought was the likeliest site (with me as his personal albatross) but there was nothing but silt at the bottom (17m), most of which I managed to trawl up with my fins! This led to an impromptu return along the SMB line to the buoy line in very bad viz. No big deal for Doug but I was glad I had been taught this in the Bluey beforehand!We surfaced in an apparently empty harbour. This was a tad unexpected as the pubs were still shut. Then Doug spotted the RIB a couple of hundred yards away from us having a close look at the harbour wall! We were quite intrigued when we saw the paddles come out and decided to start swimming to them. This is when I found out how hard it is to swim any distance in 'real' conditions. By the time we met up the fuel line had been reconnected (!) and all was well.Being gluttons for punishment we returned to the Countess. Visibility was less good this time as other divers had already been there and stirred the silt (funny, I thought that was my job).After a short break to change tanks it was then off to the Sand Barges for a final shallow dive. Gill and I were dropped off in about 5-8m viz and had an enjoyable half hour finning along the wall and back at about 6m. Again we were surprised how much marine life there was, lots of large crabs and Gill even saw a pipefish.On our return we all got turns to drive the RIB. Tony decided the throttle was really an on/off switch and nearly launched my better half off the back! After shooting in and out of the harbour like the proverbial fiddlers elbow it was time to carry Chris off the boat (can't be getting her wet feet now can we) and watch the less old and frail ones do the hard work of winching the boat back onto the trailer.We got back home late Sunday night, tired but with more practical experience under our (weight)belts, which is really what it's all about.Things I Learned from the Weekend:
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