Arriving early on Friday evening it was impossible to resist diving on the famous Swanage Pier. With life in every corner, still water, shallow depth and the atmosphere that comes with a night dive it proved to be a great first sea dive for both Kevin and Jordon.Once under the pier it soon became apparent looking at their size the Spider Crabs had a plentiful supply of food. A Candy Striped Flat Worm sat amongst a lovely display of sponges whilst the Snakelocks anemone swayed gentle in the sea swell. Fan worms nervously retracted their feathers whilst we investigated a hole in one of the pier legs, which turned out to be the home of a Tompot Blenny. To round of our 60 minutes underwater a Snake Pipefish appeared from the seaweed that covered the sea floor.
Saturday was a nice leisurely start with a 10 minute chug out to the wreck of the Fleur De Leys, so why did we end up diving a rather lifeless 30 minutes at Ballard Point? Perhaps next time Tim will keep his eye on the buoy that marked the wreck. With the morning’s events on a somewhat choppy sea we felt it best to stick to the shadows of the pier in the afternoon, and with 6 happy divers 45 minutes later it proved to be a wise choice.
Heading out to the Fleur De Leys on Sunday morning with a flat calm sea the sun on our backs and five smiley divers was a pleasure. To actually get divers on the wreck was somewhat mind-boggling for Tim and a little gut wrenching for Kevin.
As we ascended down the shot line the wreck appeared through the gloom and welcomed us to the sea floor at 13 meters. My first impression, I wish my first wreck dive had had 7 meters visibility and was as full of life as the French fishing boat I was now looking at. Two patrolling Bass kept a watchful eye on us as we finned around taking in the shoals of Bib, countless crabs, shrimp and Wrasse darting about. After 30 minutes we were back on the boat talking about what a lovely dive we’d just had whilst at the same time trying to avoid Kev’s breakfast which by now was arranged all over the boat tubes.
Having introduced two divers to the English sea whilst developing our own boat handling and dive planning skills the weekend had been a success that was enjoyed by all.
Hope to see you all on June 9th and 10th when we shall be paying a visit to the wrecks of the James Egan Layne and Scylla.Don’t forget your weights Sue you may struggle to get down without them!!
