Castaways Sub-Aqua Club
	A Branch (Branch No 2071) of The British Sub-Aqua Club

Seven go diving in Weymouth

(or how to freeze your b**** off!)

30th-31st March 1996

When Suzanne first suggested going diving at the end of March, it seemed like a good idea (partly because it was January, March was a long time off and the memories of the Red Sea trip in December were still vivid in our minds). However, as March approached with no sign of spring and the ambient temperature still being very low (the report of the coldest water temperature off Brighton in some 30 years did not help) the enthusiasm drastically waned. Succumbing to a cold the week before the trip tempted us to give the trip a miss however, Suzanne's encouragement that it wouldn't be too bad, persuaded us to give it a go.

The start of another diving season was heralded in the usual way, getting out of bed before the sun in order to drive down to Weymouth. Suzanne must have been on good t with the Sun god, as it was very sunny.

We all met at the dive shop, Old Harbour Divers at 9 o'clock to start preparing the kit from it's winter storage. - By 11am we were on the our way with a trainee cox in charge of the RIB We headed for the dredger outside of the harbour wall at Portland, but there was a slight swell and two other boatloads of divers about to jump in and stir up the brown stuff. So back inside the harbour we went to do the Countess of Erme.

We dived in 3 groups, Suzanne and Jake, Neal and Claire, and Slay to act as referee between John and I. Although there was another boat at the wreck the viz was very good for the Countess of Erme (apart from when divers from this other boat decided to trawl along the bottom).'There was not much life around although a crab and lobster ( I think) were spotted by the other group, but there were loads of dead mens fingers and sponges on the wreck. The water was very cold (the computer later reported 6(C) so after about 20 minutes we decided to head for the surface.

Considering how cold & hungry we were, ifs amazing how poor the fish & chips from the harbour front just up from OHDS seemed. Heading back out after lunch, the tides were in our favour so the, Hood was the chosen dive site. I decided to miss this dive as I was already freezing, but the rest had a good dive, although once again they reported that there wasn't much life' around. Following dekitting we headed for our rooms for the night to have a hot shower and slowly defrost by sitting very close to the radiators. The evening was spent in the usual post-dive manner - in a pub eating an imbibing a few "divers lemonades". Luckily Suzanne didn't find the scrumpy this time, as no-one would've been pleased with a blocked sink!

Sunday started out the same as Saturday, blight and sunny but with a serious ground frost. This made me think twice about going in as I did not look forward to putting on a frozen wetsuit. Turned out it was just cold. We headed around Portland Bill to do a gentle drift dive at the Aeriels. The viz was a bit better than on the Countess, and the water felt a bit warmer (must have been the ASDA bags on my feet as the computer said it was the same!). We came across a Iumpsucker (stuck on a rock) and after a couple of minutes of prodding and looking closely decided that it was alive. We tried unsuccessfully to capture a crab for tea, but Claire and Neal had more luck coming up with a crab and numerous mussels. In the afternoon only the brave four (as they put it) decided to do another dive.

At the end of the weekend, we all agreed that it was a successful Castaways weekend, with us all prepared for the diving season. For all of you other Castaway members who decided it was too cold you were right but you missed out on a good weekend's diving and the chance to develop a suntan. And next year if Suzanne suggests a trip at the same time, I'll probably go - but only if I've got a dry suit!

Jane Redford (with nit-picking from John)