Last weekend saw 16 club members making the trip to Portland, where we 'Teamed up' with Fathom and Blues for some RIB dives. After spending 3 1/2 hours fighting the traffic on Friday night we eventually met up at The Royal Breakwater bar where there was much deliberation about who should sleep where, and if Mike Gear 'really did snore THAT badly'. Then it was beer and discussion about the planned diving for the next day.
Dale had very kindly scheduled the first dives on Saturday for midday, which judging by the state of the hangovers was not a bad thing. We had a mixed group, so there were 2 itineraries booked. The Countess of Erne, and the M2. Viz on The Countess was about 4 metres so not that bad, and was thoroughly enjoyed by those that did the dive, the M2 on the other hand was 'interesting' to say the least. Someone turned the lights off at 17 meters, and with a little current running, it made for an exciting dive. Stories of the huge conger eels, and massive crabs were the talk of the rib ride back.
After a spot of lunch it was time to kit up again for the second dives of the day. Lulworth banks and The James Fennel. For those who haven't done Lulworth Banks, this is a great drift dive. Scallop bed central. F&B have a strict "no take" policy this left some of the divers frustrated in having to leave the food for the BBQ on the bottom - guys, remember fish are friends! Also spotted during the dive was a Thornback Ray, cuttle fish and squid. The guys doing The James Fennel also had a good dive, especially Helen and Charlotte, who, not content with looking at the wreck decided they'd have a little drift dive as well. 25 minutes later they surfaced to find that they were possibly marginally closer to France than they were to England. After making contact with a passing Catamaran, (well actually it nearly ran them over) and using some passable French linguistic skills (just in case) the RIB finally picked them up.
F&B had organized a BBQ for us on the Saturday night with the promise of 'all the beer you could drink'. Being the premier dive club in Portsmouth etc and not wanting to let anyone down, we put in a commendable performance and attempted to drink any profit Dale may have made during the day. Due to the fact that the weather was turning and the BBQ had gone out it was decided that we would retire to The Breakwater for a quicky just before going to bed. It was there that we discovered that contrary to popular belief, Elvis is NOT dead but resides in Portland. Shocking scenes followed as the beer flowed and confidence grew, nearly everyone thought they could do better. Jules in particular was on fine fettle as some shocking video footage of him dancing proves!!
Sunday saw an early start and a few missing faces - something to do with the beer I assume. The weather had also deteriorated so the planned drift off White Nothe was changed to the Landing craft and the Bombard unit in the harbour. Nice dive with plenty to see and lots of life on it.
Charlotte eventually surfaced from her pit and decided that the car was a much better place to be than a RIB. However with much persuasion she decided to come for a ride to Pulpit Rock. Unfortunately the weather was getting worse, and with 2 meter swells and a Force 4 blowing she wished she hadn't as she was drenched in about 30 seconds! So we turned around and did The Countess.
It was yet another classic club weekend away, with plenty of fun and some excellent diving.
Many thanks to Dale , Ron and all the staff at F&B for making it a great weekend. More trips are planned for the next few months so if you want to join in let us know in the dive centre.
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