Weymouth 3/4 September

[Tricky]

Last weekend I was in Weymouth for a branch dive trip off Autumn Dream ably skippered, as usual, by Len. Here's my report - it only covers the first dives each day as dive 2 on the Saturday was pretty boring and I didn't bother on Sunday as it was the same site again.

Saturday 3rd Sept - Dive 1 - The Sidon

Having done the M2 a couple of weeks earlier, and having not dived it before, I was happy with the choice of wreck for our first dive of the weekend. Having planned one of the longer dives, and being buddied with one of the more experienced guys in the club, we were in first and were tasked with checking the shot. A steady descent soon saw us at the wreck and it was clear that Len had placed the shot well (something that I get the impression he does regularly) a little forward of the conning tower.

We set off towards the stern, along the port side of the wreck and pretty much on top of it. I would have liked to spend a little more time around the stern, particularly underneath it, but my buddy seemed intent on heading foward as soon as we got there. On our forward journey I came off the wreck a bit and turned up a little to take in as much as I could. The Sidon is still pretty much intact and to see it towering over me (the viz was probably about 4-6m, maybe more) was quite something. We passed a number of other divers before we reached the bow, but I'm pleased to say that there was no-one like I'd had on the M2, kicking up the silt and spoiling the viz.

As at the stern, once we reached the bow my buddy was keen to start off towards the conning tower. I did get more of a chance to check things out, and did a quick check of the torpedo tube. Along the top of the wreck ahead of the conning tower were quite a number of holes that seemed to go a reasonable distance in to the wreck - nothing you could get in to though (not that I would), and they didn't really show anything interesting despite being inhabited by reasonable numbers of fish. We passed the shot and headed up on to the conning tower which is much larger than on the M2. After a good look around the shot, we headed down and around it, back forwards past the shot.

At this point we'd reached our planned bottom time so I popped the blob and we began our ascent. My stage was empty so I'd left it behind and had to deco out on my backgas. Not a problem, but with my Vytec adding the 3 minutes safety stop to the total deco, anything that could have saved a minute or two would have been welcome. We surfaced a few minutes over our planned total time but little was said of it.

Sunday 4th Sept - Dive 1 - HMS Landrail

I think I'd dived this once before as a newly qualified Sports Diver but it was so long ago that I couldn't remember it. As with Saturday's dive we were first in, but with a longer planned total time. Again, the shot was well placed, where I suspect was ahead of the stern. The Landrail is quite broken up so I was generally guessing at what I was looking at, and where we were heading. Our route took us towards the bow initially.

This wreck has lots of holes collapsed sections that provide hiding places for the fish and other creatures. On the way to the bow I saw an edible crab that, based on how much bigger than my had it was, must have been about 10" across - much bigger than any I'd seen before. I'm not much in to catching stuff on dives and I don't carry a goody back, but this guy was pretty tempting. I decided to leave it alone and continued on my way.

We shortly arrived at the bow (an assumption based on seeing a large, sort of pointed, upright piece of wreck) which we had a look round before going up over it, then down on to the rest of the wreck to head aft. Along this route we passed several areas that looked like they might be suitable for moderate penetration. As I was sure my buddy wouldn't notice if I disappeared in to the wreck, I decided not to bother this time. I spotted the skeleton of an eel on the seabed below one of these areas, but wasn't able to get in for a closer look. I also saw the back of what looked like a pretty big lobster but, as with the crab, I had nowhere to put it even if I'd been able to retrieve it, and he was bigger than the hole I was looking at him through.

Passing the shot, we found ourselves at the bow (an assumption based on seeing a large, sort of flat, upgright piece of wreck). Swimming towards it as we were, it loomed over us and, although I was shining my Salvo in to it, I couldn't see the back. My buddy was going round it so I followed him. On the end of the wreck, facing towards where we had come from, I saw a hole in the stern that looked large enough to swim through and I could see where we'd been through it. I checked my buddy to see him disappearing around the side and, after another quick look through the hole, decided that I could pass through and join him a little way ahead, so I did. Not exactly a penetration of the wreck, but it felt good to be swimming through it rather than around it.

Upon reaching the shot for a second time, ahead of our planned bottom time I called the dive and we ascended up the shot. I had just over 50% in the stage so did a gas switch at 18m. My buddy seemed to have forgotten that this was part of the plan and carried on his ascent during the switch. I continued when I was ready and caught up with him at 6m. Again my Vytec added the saftey stop to the total deco so I had more to do than my buddy, despite my gas switch. This time we surfaced well ahead of schedule, although it did mean we had to wait longer than expected for the skipper to pick us up (damn other divers getting spotted first )

So, another weekend in Weymouth, another two great dives. I would like to do both of these again with a buddy who is more on my wavelength though. The Landrail in particular could be explored in more detail I think. It's off to Exmouth this weekend, so I'm hoping that the diving will be as good as I've been getting used to. I've already put in my request to not dive the Lord Stewart and the Bretagne as, as good as they are, I've done them both on all my previous trips there so would like something new.