The club’s first sea trip of the year took place over the weekend of 7 – 8 May, with an excellent couple of days in Weymouth diving on the hardboat Tango.
The weather was kind to us. There was sun and warmth, and most importantly only light winds, sparing us the copious vomiting that sometimes seems to be a feature of a trip on the Tango.
Diving wise we kicked of with what should have been a nice gentle easing-back-into-things dive on the Gertrude, a broken up wreck at around 18m just off Chesil beach. Unfortunately, the vis was dreadful and many of us cut the dive short, saving ourselves for the day’s main course, the HMS M2 Submarine.
Sitting upright in about 33m, the M2 is a largely intact aircraft carrying submarine that sank during exercises in 1932. Shallow enough to be accessible to Sports Divers, yet deep enough to have avoided being broken up too much, it’s a very clearly recognisable wreck. The visibility was better than we had had earlier in the day, but still a little murky. Even so, the approaching conning tower made for an impressive sight, and the decks and hangar were well worth exploring.
On the Sunday we dived the wreck of the Aeolian Sky at around 30m. The visibility on the Aeolian Sky was excellent and for me it was the highlight of the trip. We were mainly focused around the accommodation block, where there were some stunning jewel anenomes. Unfortunately, as I was carrying a deco stage for the first time in the sea, I had decided to leave my camera on the boat!
We finished the diving with a very productive scalloping drift across the Lulworth Banks.
The après dive activities were equally enjoyable. On Friday night we were treated to an excellent set by local musician Billy Hutchinson, who awarded me a shot of tequila for knowing (i.e. guessing) when ‘Up the Junction’ was first released. Obviously with diving the next day I passed the tequila on to someone who would appreciate it more. Pete Talbot was very disappointed that Billy didn’t know any Celine Dion. The rest of us weren’t. Then on Saturday night after another fine meal at The George we retired to the Tango to celebrate Alastair’s birthday with cake and a toast with something utterly disgusting that Jon had found in the back of a cupboard.
All in all a fantastic weekend. Big thanks to Andy Dale for a great job organising it, and all who went for great company.
