Once again it was Weymouth time, it did not seem that the last time we were here was over a year ago, celebrating Mikes birthday. We set off early on Friday afternoon and arrived in Weymouth at a descent hour. Once in Weymouth, the task ahead of us was to locate the b & b, armed with what Debbie called a map, we did not have a hope in hell’s chance. After several domestics in the car driving around, we parked up and set about finding our lodgings on foot. Now it was my turn to navigate, and hey presto where do we end up? The b & b!! No comment from Mike!!
After unpacking it was time for food, Mike and I met up with Martin P and Dave T and headed off for grub. After food, it is only natural for us to be watered, and so the pub in the harbour called us in. Here we met up with Debbie and Sarah, whose arrival in Weymouth was heard by all in the immediate vicinity!! After discussions we headed off to our beds dreaming for sunshine and calm waters for the next few days.

Saturday
A nice late start, we met up with our fellow divers at breakfast, here we were told by our leader the plans for the next few days. There was plenty of talk about Danny’s escapades in the town the previous night, we never did get the full story, perhaps an article in Snark Danny, or should we contact Chris!!
The weather was excellent - hot and sunny, with no wind. We all arrived at the harbour to find Ivan and Top Cat waiting for us, he could not believe we were all so early. Once all the kit was onboard, we had sometime to kill so we did a little bit of shopping. Debbie bought a "Shaun the Sheep" balloon to add to the character of Top Cat. (Is Debbie sad?). We were then off, out onto the open seas heading towards our first dive site.

First on the agenda was a Belgian passenger liner called the Alex Van Opstal, she was mined in September 1939 while enroute from New York to Antwerp. By the time we were all back on the boat, it was quite late, so we decided to only have one dive today, we did not want to be late for our carvary dinner that was booked for tonight. Back at base it was time to join the shower queue and get spruced up for dinner. Ivan was joining us, and off we went to get well and truly stuffed. The food was excellent, Ivan beat Paul and went back for seconds!! After an excellent evening we made our way back to base, we had an extremely early start in the morning, and our beloved D.O. was joining us in the afternoon. (That is if his Ford CRAPri would be able to make it all that way!!!)

Sunday
Up at the crack of dawn, even the landlady would not get up to give us a breakfast it was so early. Once again the weather was wonderful, blue skies, and not a cloud in sight. First dive of the day was to be the submarine the M2, this 1650 ton 296’ submarine sunk with all hands in January, 1932. She was adapted to carry a small Peto sea plane, speculation is that she dived with the hangar doors open. It was an excellent dive, and you clearly see the catapult launch for the sea plane and the conning tower.
Once back on board it was time to catch some rays!! It was still quite early and the plan for the rest of the day was to make our way over to Chesil Beach, where we would pick up Ralph, his equipment and luggage. Top Cat could not go right into the beach so he would have to swim, with gear, over to the boat (Ralph did not know this yet). Ivan bought us into the shore as close as possible, we then swan the rest of the way trying to keep clothes etc dry above our heads. We had planned to spend the next few hours on the beach, and Ivan would moor up a few hundred yards off shore. The sun was really strong, and Sarah and I were the only ones to brave a couple of dips in the sea, the rest had come ashore in their drysuits, it was only us two in our cosies. The water was lovely and clear and even quite warm!
Ralph turned up about 12o’clock, and was not amused when he saw how far he thought he had to swim out to Top Cat with all his gear, we left him sulking and sleeping on the beach while the rest of us found went in search of food, we were even entertained by a live band while we ate! (Well, one singer - I think he was supposed to be a singer!!)
At about 2 o’clock, we returned to our sleeping D.O. and Ivan bought Top Cat in as close as possible, we then started ferrying bags and equipment back to the boat, Ralph was not amused he had to get wet. Once all aboard it was off to the next dive site.
The Frognor was a 1,500 ton Norwegian steamship which was torpedoed and sunk in April 1918. It was a very interesting dive and the visibility was quite good. One thing that Sarah and I noticed was that there was not a great deal of marine life on any of the wrecks we had dived so far. Back in the harbour we dropped off our bottles in the dive shop and once again headed back to the b & b for the race to the showers. Tonight we were to sample the delights of the local Chinese.

Monday

All up for breakfast looking blurry eyed, the weather was not so good today, the wind had really picked up, and the sun was nowhere to be seen. We all headed off to the harbour. Once all the bottles were onboard, we set off. It was going to be rough and I was thankful for taking two seasickness pills. As we made our way out of the harbour, we passed dive boats returning with divers who had only got wet because of the size of the waves. Things were not looking good. We found out why when we hit the open seas!! The waves were huge, the sky was grey, it looked pretty miserable. After being tossed about for about ten minutes it was decided that we would make our way to Portland harbour. Once inside the harbour and back into relatively calm seas it was decided that we would plop over the side onto the wreck of a landing craft, anther wreck was close by as well, it was possible to do both in the same dive. We had a good look around, the visibility was bad due to being on a mud bottom, but it was still an enjoyable dive. With all divers back onboard we had to then tackle the waves again to get back into the harbour.

Ruffty Tuffty Divers!!

Once back in the harbour and moored up, the majority of the group decided that due to the weather conditions they would shoot off early and give the afternoon dive a miss. After they had left, the rest of us went in search of chips. We made our way back to the boat to get ready for our final dive of the weekend. The seas were still as rough so we went back over to Portland harbour. This time we were going to do the Bottle Bank. It did not sound terribly interesting, but turned out to be one of the best dives of the weekend.

Sue & Debs ready for the off!

As soon as Debbie and I hit the bottom, we found a Wedgwood plate dated 1942, and from here onwards it was like being in Harrods at Sale time. There were goodies everywhere, our bag was so heavy we had to drag it across the seabed, unfortunately we did not have a lifting bag so getting it to the surface was an experience!! Everybody came back with bags full of plates, bottles, cutlery, cups, and buzzing with excitement. We all laid out our treasures on the back of the boat, I’m sure we had enough crockery for a dinner service!! After cleaning up our goodies, and posing for pictures, we made our way back to the harbour.
We said our farewells to Ivan, and headed off for a cream tea to reflect on the weekend and especially on our last dive.
Thanks to Debbie for organising a most enjoyable weekend and to everyone who went, I hope you allenjoyed it as much as myself and Mike.

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