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It had been looking grim all week according to the weather sites. Gale force winds and high seas were forecast for Saturday and although a window of calm was forecast for Sunday there was doubt whether it would calm down enough to get out.
I spoke with Steve (Channel Diver) yesterday morning and he said it was looking dodgy so I resigned myself to the fact that the last dive of the year would be at Stoney Cove but when I checked at 5pm Steve confirmed all was good to go....Excellent ... finish the year with a dive on the Moldavia
I got up at 0320 this morning and was on the road by 0340, having packed the car last night. I arrived in Brighton bang on time just as Bob, my buddy for the day arrived. We exchanged pleasantries and set about loading kit on the boat.
In due course, two other DIRers Clare & Al arrived, for which I was mighty grateful because Clare was bringing my gas. At 0700 sharp-ish we set off from the quay and it was clear that the weather had improved dramaticaly but it was going to be a bumpy ride. It was shaping up to be a beautiful day though and as the sun rose there was very little cloud and two and a quarter hours later we were on the site waiting for the slack.
Although Bob & I had exchanged a couple of pm's we hadn't really talked much about the dive, agreeing to plan it on the boat .... it's one of those really nice things about DIR that you know what to expect from the deco so after a short confirmation of the plan we jumped in, set off down the shot and bubble checked at 6m.....then off we went. It was immediately obvious we were not going to get the Red Sea vis that I had enjoyed with Howard Jr earlier in the year ... in fact it was quite mucky .... I am not a good judge of these things but I guess 3m tops. The sea temp was 12degC so we were not planning a long dive but we made steady progress seeing a nice lobster in the open and a couple of sizeable crabs before coming to the blue fishing net which I recognised, from the summer dive, fluming on the Port bow area.... and soon enough we came to the bow so turned back.
Neither of us fancied a long deco so we thumbed the dive. We had agreed I would run the deco which went uneventfully and as I shot the bag at 21m I was glad I had done a little refresher during the week, it went like a dream and I was also glad I had "borrowed" my mate's spool without the knots in it so that when Bob deployed his up the same line it ran up smoothly.
The trip back was really pleasant, the wind had died right down and the sea had calmed with no white horses so much amusing banter ensued ... in stark contrast to the very quiet trip out
After saying our goodbyes I set off and got home at around 1630.
So a long day, expensive gas, quite a bit of fuel ..... but diving should not be assessed by cost ... it was a lot of fun and a great way to round the year off
Thanks to Al and Clare for the company, Bob for being my buddy, Steve for making the right call and GLOC for the gas ...(the cheque is inthe post ... honest !)
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and I live 50m from the sea 
Originally Posted by Mal Bridgeman 
