Weymouth 2002

Friday August 23rd , once again August Bank Holiday was here and as in previous years I found myself heading south for the annual trip to sunny Weymouth in Dorset. I travelled down with "Tricky Dicky Pucknell" and even though we encountered some heavy traffic and the heavens opened with a deluge of seemingly biblical proportions the journey seemed to pass fairly quickly despite my dodgy map reading skills resulting in our taking the scenic route.

On our arrival at the B&B we were welcomed by the owners Ron & Kathy, both very diver friendly (hardly surprising seeing as they both dive). Settling in we headed for the harbour to find "Top Cat" our charter boat. "Top Cat" was at it’s usual mooring unloading happy anglers. Once the fishy boys had gone we loaded our dive gear and made our reacquaintance with Ivan the skipper, a veritable mountain of a man with one of the most friendly personalities you’ll ever encounter. Whilst we were there Ivan got down into the engine compartment and started doing repairs which was a bit of a worry as we needed "Top Cat" for the weekend. It wasn’t long before "Biff Rountree" was up to his elbows in grease much to the consternation of Sue as he was getting oil on the brand new T shirt he’d had for his birthday. Finally the repairs were done we said farewell until the morning to Ivan, and went in search of food, and what better than fresh fish & chips followed by a few beers then back to the B&B to sleep.

Saturday August 24th, 8-30am breakfast (very civilised), to be greeted by the rest of the crowd who arrived at various times the previous evening. After filling up with coffee, toast, cereal, bacon, egg, sausage etc, in other words a typical English pudgey belly breakfast, we grabbed the packed lunch containing a good size portion of bread pudding (pudgey belly lunch) prepared by our hostess Kathy and headed for the harbour and "Top Cat".  After we’d all boarded there was a flurry of activity as we started hunting through our dive bags sorting out our gear so we were ready to dive as soon as we arrived on the dive site.

Ivan headed out towards the "Sidon", which was to be our first dive of the weekend. On our way out to the dive site Sue and Sarah quickly located the sunniest most comfortable position on the boat and muscled everyone else out of the way then settled down to top up the tans whilst catching up on their beauty sleep.

The "Sidon" is an intact wreck of a submarine that originally sank in the 1950’s after a torpedo accident, it was then salvaged and resank in its current position to be used as a sonar training target. It sits upright at a depth of approx 34mtrs. We descended down the shot line straight onto the wreck and made our way along the port side towards the bow, where the torpedo tubes are clearly visible. After this we headed for the stern and then back to the conning tower. It’s a good wreck because it’s so intact you can easily orientate yourself and identify what your looking at, however because it’s such an intact submarine there isn’t a great deal to see.

After surfacing we anchored just off Chesil Beach to have lunch and chill out. Some of us decided to have a swim, all I can say is it was very bracing or in other words "bloody freezing" and cold enough to freeze the balls of a brass monkey, so when I say "chill out" I mean it literally. 

Dive 2 was on the "James Fennel" a wreck lying in approx 18mtrs. It’s fairly broken up amongst some massive boulders, this means you never know what’s around the next boulder and there’s loads of holes to search through.

Our first day of diving was over so Ivan took us back to Weymouth. Just as he was easing "Top Cat" onto its mooring some half wit of a boy chucked a crab line in front of the boat and it got caught under the boat. We all thought the worst and assumed it was caught around the prop, lucky for Ivan he had a boat full of divers. I jumped in wearing just trunks and a mask and immediately thought of "brass monkeys".  Fortunately the line was only caught around the rudder, so it was simple to untangle it. It wasn’t until after I’d finished that with a wicked grin on his face that Ivan said he wouldn’t go in there as he knew what gets dumped in there!! Anyway "Top Cat" was now ready for the next day.

That evening we went our own ways to find food and arranged to all meet up later at a pub. Big Paul Nickels, Tricky Dicky and myself went walkabout like hunter gatherers seeking quality sustenance, so we ended up in a kebab shop. That done we headed for the pub rendezvous to begin in earnest the important task of consuming liquid refreshment. 2am and I finally crawled into bed, thank goodness tomorrow’s a late start.

Sunday 25th August, Bleary eyed and it’s time for another pudgey belly breakfast and then to "Top Cat" for our second days diving. Our first dive was on the "Bennendyk" a wreck I’ve never visited before. This wreck was more to my liking as it is fairly broken up so offers a lot of opportunity to rummage around, hunting for food and any other goodies to be found. At the end of this dive we went to "Lulworth Cove" a small sheltered anchorage were we had lunch and relaxed. Some of the people on board claimed to be admiring the yachts and motor cruisers as they came and went, personally I think the admiring glances were more probably directed at the top totty as they sunned themselves in their bikinis or at the guys showing off their buff bods as they stripped down to their shorts.

Lunch break over and we off for a drift dive over Lulworth Flats. The vis was a bit murky but still good enough for some scallop hunting, although not quite the same as scalloping at Brixham as on this drift you got one chance to grab them as you flew past. 

On our way back to Weymouth harbour we had the unexpected pleasure of having a dolphin follow the boat close behind for about half an hour, occasionally jumping clear of the water, putting a smile on all of our faces.

This evening we were all going out to a carvery in a pub we visit each year. On our arrival the place was heaving with people and the queue for food was depressingly long, I could feel the pounds dropping off as I waited to be served and I’m sure by the time I reached the front my ribs were starting to show through my skin (I wish!!), anyway that was my reasoning behind piling the food high on my plate, purely to maintain my figure. During the meal there was little conversation as we were all too occupied munching our way through the small mountain range on our plates that we referred to as dinner. Eating done it was time for the entertainment to begin, this evening it was a pub quiz. So armed with pen and paper and tongues firmly gripped between our teeth we attempted to show just how clever we were, a task I hasten to add we failed in. Despite the copious amount of cheating we still didn’t win the team quiz, although when you consider one answer to the question "Name the two chemists who invented Worcestershire Sauce" came back as Leon Perrin (Mrs Biff) its hardly surprising. After a good night out it was time to return to the B&B and dream of diving. 

Monday 26th August, after having over indulged ourselves on pudgey belly breakfasts, lunchs and dinners we all waddled down to "Top Cat" for our final day of diving. Today we were heading further out to the "Pommeranian". Once on site we quickly kitted up, just before entering the water Sue (Mrs Biff) my buddy gave me her dive brief which basically implied, if I didn’t stay with her through out the dive I may have difficulty fathering anymore children. Once again Ivan’s shotting of the wreck was spot on, we dropped straight on the wreck. The first thing I found was a small dead tope (shark), my inner child took control so I couldn’t resist briefly playing with it. That done it was time to be a little more serious and move on. I found a hole, inverted myself so as to get my head in only to come face to face with a conger with a head the size of a Labradors. After a hasty retreat we moved on having a good ferret around until it was time to ascend with my buddy (see Sue, I do stay with my buddy).once back on "Top Cat" Ivan was complaining about the smell of a conger Biff had sent up on his lifting bag. The reason it smelt so bad was it had been dead for quite some time even when Biff found it, seems like I’m not the only one whose inner child takes control sometimes.

As our final dive was to be in Portland harbour Ivan headed "Top Cat" back to Weymouth. On our way back Sue and Sarah miraculously produced water pistols and set about the easiest target on board, Joel "Pee Wee" Pearl. Despite his protests that the clothes he was wearing were the ones he had to drive home in, whoever got hold of the pistols relentlessly soaked him until it appeared he’d wet himself. 

The final dive was a drift over a silty bottom in about 15mtrs, this dive’s become as much of a fixture as the visit to the carvery. It doesn’t sound very exciting but because Portland has been used by military and commercial ships for years it’s amazing what can be found ie; knives, forks, spoons, plates, cups, trays to put them all on, bottles of various sizes, shapes and colours, bullets and an assortment of other ships fittings. After the dive we laid out our finds selected the most interesting items to keep, then dumped the rest over board for another diver to find.

The final dive was done and all that remained was for us to return to Weymouth say our farewells to Ivan and make our way home. Finally thanks to Ralph for organising the trip this year and I’m sure most of us will be back next year.

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