Imported post
I arrived in Portland friday evening and met John Duncan in the bunker car park.
We then proceeded to the pub over the road and were joined by Angus, here we met the other guys staying in the bunker, they were to be on Autumn Dream.
Sat am, after a full fat mega calorie brecky we head into Weymouth and our dive boat Skindeep.
Skindeep is a new cat with a tail lift with plenty of space and benches.
Here l met the others, Nicky, Philip (Frogkick), Lou, Caroline, Paul Bogle, Sharon (Angus's friend) Mark (disadvocate- divernet) & his buddy Alex.
We discussed with Ian the skipper where we would like to go, l suggested the Salsette and he gave me a strange look and agreed.
We passed Portland harbour and soon reached the wreck site, strange l thought to myself, the Salsette in Lyme Bay and we would have to go around the Bill to get there, still the skipper knows best.
Down the shot l go, onto the wreck at 26 mtrs, maybe the Salsette is shallower than l thought.
Lost the light at about 12 mtrs very dark at the bottom and the vis an atmospheric and moody 1 mtr. Saw one small fish?, a couple of small crabs and a couple of hermit crabs.
Back on deck the skipper admits it was the Bill & Ben or Ben & Dick wreck (Binnendyk)
Second dive the good old Countess of Erne, in a majestic 1.5 mtrs vis, which is better vis than l had last time.
Next day, John Duncan waves goodbye to his weight belt and the boat sets off with only five divers, Angus, Paul, Nicky, Philip & Myself.
Skipper asks where we would like to go and l say the M2Sub, he agrees and drops us off on the east side of Portland bill, ended up, surprisingly not fining the M2 but had a pleasant drift with Paul Bogle as my buddy.
Second dive, the wreck of the Hartlepool, stunning is not the word..............crap is......................well crap vis, l'd guess 10-12 no 12-15 inches, after a couple of minutes down both Angus and l decided enough was enough.
The best thing about the last dive is that it made me realise that the vis on the previous three dives of 1 to 1.5 mtrs was pretty good.
The boat and Skipper are excellent.
Had a great weekend, thanks for arranging it Philip.
