[Janos]

Well, here's a trip report of sorts.

I turned up at Weymouth, bought a twinpack of pasties [1]. Only to be greated by Howard P saying that the dive was off because of fog. I was a little surprised, as I thought it would burn off, but so it goes.

Then Howard P acted like his namesake and suggested it was time for breakfast. So we went to the cafe and I had a nice but pricey bacon sandwich.

After half a dozen calls to Brian Aquanauts [2] we had six of us booked on to dive something.

I drove down to Plymouth, with Missus GPS taking us on a not particularly efficient route. As despite my best efforts to lose Mark [3] the Dude arrived in Plymouth ahead of us. We turned up at 12ish

It was the Transac race in town so parking was a nightmare. After much faffing we were all loaded and parked up and on track for the 2pm (yes really) lock.

Only problem was that Graham wasn't with us, as he was still parking, but he met us at the lock and all was well.

First dive was the Persier. My last eight dives (4 Portsmouth, 4 Swanage) have had a maximum of 2m (yes 2m - I measured it) viz so the nice blue water was a pleasant experience on the way out. Although it was what I was expecting and why I suggested Plymouth. The dive on the Persier itself was really enjoyable for me. There was shedloads of life, a lovely swimthrough at the tunnel, and Ada told us afterwards about the fire control system by the engine room. Superb.

Back on board we motored slowly over to the Scylla and plopped in. I lvoe the Scylla as she is so wreck like. We weaved in and out and I finished up with a swim along the length of the wreck looking for weightbelts. I know Mark was natually in a Bad Mood after all his hard work had gone to waste but I really enjoyed the couple of dives we did.

Saturday I dived with Woz. Again with Aquanauts and the unimitable Dougie as skipper. We had a couple of really great, easy dives. First on the Mewstone which was Dogfish City, and secondly on the Glen Strath Allen, where I practiced my cuttlefish mating gestures and found a stone knob.

So after a couple of weekends of distinctly average diving, it was really enjoyable to get out in 10m of viz in bright sunshine for some truly enjoyable diving.

Janos

PS- And the life in Plymouth is like nothing else. I'm sure there are species there that aren't found a hundred miles or so up the coast in Swanage.



[1] - Yes the Dude did wnd up eating one. Funny that.
[2] - A man who really does go the extra mile. Well done.
[3] - It's like that advert - "yes dear, we've lost them - but how are the goign to find the restaurant now"