UKRS Weymouth Trip

9th & 10th March 2002

This was the first of a series of trips to be organised by Andy Cox this year. We were booked into the Redcliff Hotel on the seafront in Weymouth with a great view over the flat calm water that lapped gently onto the sandy beach. Oh what a great weekend in prospect, surely it would be the same once we got beyond the cover of the Bill??

The cast for the weekend diving was, myself, Louise, Andy, Sophie, Dave, Niall, Chris Sharon, Alastair, Trevor & Simon.

So bright and early (11:30am what a great time to start the day) we assembled at the quayside to load everything onto Woody's boat, the "Our W". It wasn't long before we realised that the calm waters of the harbour were not what we were going to get once outside it. The going was tough and eventually 4 miles short of our intended dive site Woody decided that enough was enough and headed for the shelter of Ballaclava Bay.

So in we went, I was buddied by Louise,  for what must go down as one of the most boring drift dives ever. The only saving grace was that I found a torch, which I am currently in the process of nursing back to health.

There was one further good point, the lift on the back of Woody's boat. Someday all diving will be done this way.

For the second dive of the day we had decided, because of the conditions, to dive the Hood in Portland harbour. As we had several hours to kill before slack water we headed back into port to wait.

We had a good tour around the Hood and penetrated for short spells at various points, as usual the vis was better inside than outside. There were quite a lot of fish around including quite a large inquisitive wrasse near the lobster pots at the start of the dive.

Before we left for the day Woody phoned for a weather update and unfortunately reported a force 8 for the following day, but we lived in hope.

No point in hoping really because the diving gods had already decided to screw up our weekend. As per the forecast a force 8 was was delivered up on the Sunday morning. All that Woody could offer us was a return visit to Ballaclava Bay for another drift dive. The decision was unanimous "No way".

So with that it was time to pack away all the kit and head off home somewhat earlier than expected. All though the weather did not allow us to do the dives that were planned it was still nice to meet up with some old faces, and see some new ones.

One saving grace for me was that I managed to strike a deal with Simon to buy his Rec Wing and Travel Wing.

I will post some pics here once I get the 35mm sent off for developing. I the meantime for some instant digital pics see Chris Bells site.

Finally many thanks to Andy Cox for organising the weekend.