Didnt we have a lovely time he day we went to Swanage

[Snash]

Firstly, thanks to all those who gave me advice on diving at Swanage Pier – much appreciated. Jo and I headed down this weekend to see if we could go and get wet. It was only Jo’s second UK dive.

Swanage Pier - whaddya do?


Lovely day on Saturday even if it was very blowy and most of the hard boats had canned it. Decided to take the Sandbanks/ Studland ferry as opposed to blatting round via Corfe Castle.

Parked up in the long stay car park and did the trolley shuttle bit as advised by Janos – worked really well. What happened next restored my faith in UK divers – as we were kitting up a number of divers came up and spoke to us and gave us advice about what to do and what to see. Now I usually RIB/ hard boat dive and Rule No 1 applies – “the other boat is full of knobbers”. This changed my view and it was great to see so many people enjoying themselves.

However, most folk did say that the viz was 5hite and indeed they were right. Still it did not deter us (after all we had driven all that way and we could practice with Jo’s dry suit and buoyancy). Went in off behind the gents (oo-er matron) and swam to the pier and then descended into less that 1m viz. Still Jo coped with it very well and as I said afterwards if you can cope with that poor viz and also dive in less than 4ms in a dry suit without buoyancy problems you can dive anywhere. Shame about the viz as we had some good fun and enjoyed the dive.

Well, we eventually clambered out and had a pastie and a tea on the pier whilst waiting for our tanks to be filled. (as I’m hoping the weather is a little kinder for my Farnes trip next weekend). Then did the trolley shuffle and got changed. We then wandered into town and ended up in Earthlights for cake and coffee – hmm. Not quite so sure about the healing crystals though…

We then drove over to Flansham near Bognor Regis to stay with my mum who was house sitting a friend’s farm whilst they were away on holiday. Had a fantastic dinner with a superb roast leg of lamb studded with garlic. Mum had an old friend over for dinner – a 95-year-old lady. Now most of you will think, what could be worse than having dinner with a 95 year old, but Jean is still sharp as a button and when asked what she would like to drink before dinner asked for a whisky and water….. She then had a couple of glasses of wine with the meal and regaled us with stories such as:

-during the war she was the first woman to go on HMS Prince of Wales (yes, that one) as she was a Wren and her boss was court-martialled on board the ship whilst it was in Rosyth (with the captain of the PoW and HMS Hood in attendance). Jean had to give evidence.

HMS Prince of Wales (1939) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

-a party she went to on HMS Hood (yes, that one) just before it left to go back out on its fateful last journey.


HMS Hood (51) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

-Running a fishing hotel on Loch Awe where my mother worked (she lived next door) with the riotous parties that went on (mainly involving Glasgow CID).

Eventually tumbled into bed after a great day; very tired but very happy. A really great day; even if only 30 odd minutes was under water.


Snash

[Lou]

Glad you got in, and what a nice report - do you have Jean's address? - she can come to our next party