Like many new divers I learnt to dive abroad. Whilst on Honeymoon my wife and myself wandered past a dive shop...... “PADI; I've heard of that. Let's take a look!”. Next thing we know we're in the sea getting our first peek of the 70% of the earth 's surface that's underwater! We were so taken we immediately went into our AOW course and continued with a few more dives whilst island hopping.
Once back in the UK though, we were kind of thinking “Now what...what do we do with that plastic PADI qualification card apart from scape ice from the car windscreen in winter?” And that's when the World Wide Web came in handy and we happened across The Diving Club in Reading. We attended a few of the social evenings and got talking with a few of the more experienced members, asking all types of questions to satisfy my “concerns” about UK diving. Everyone has been really accommodating and understanding of us UK newbies and so the time came to commit to a UK dive.
The weekend of 30th July is one that will stick with Kim and myself for quite a while being one of our first UK sea dives with the club. It's kind of a big step with so many new experiences being thrown into the mix compared to diving abroad; using a dry-suit, thick gloves, hood and under-suit all reducing mobility compared to that shorty, the reduced visibility, cooler water, using a DSMB, even using a lift to get back on the boat (how lazy are us Brits!)
Admittedly the worse thing for us about UK diving can be the early start. Even though the first dive wasn't until 10:30 a.m. we knew that the pier at Swanage gets really busy with divers past about 7:30 a.m. So we decided to set off at 5:00 a.m..........that's right........5:00 a.m.!!! At least we did actually manage to get a spot on the pier though otherwise we would have been really cheesed off.
As soon as we met up with the others we all headed off for a cuppa, which brightened up the drizzly somewhat cool morning. Then around 9:00ish we trotted off and found the free trolleys on the pier to lug all our kit to the boat in. Everyone mucks in at this point and helps each other out, as let's face it this is the hardest part of the day! Malcolm, probably the oldest member diving that day, became our pack-horse and pushed all our gear for us........ I could get used to this! All the stuff is then transferred to the spacious deck and everyone starts to settle into their own little space before the skipper's ready to head off. After a thorough briefing regards safety on the boat, understanding the shot line, how to use the lift to get back on board, etc we're off!!!
Clan MacVey - Wreck
Right then, buddy check, shuffle to the back of the boat, the horn sounds and …....oh yeah, put my reg in first (it helps sometimes in diving!) and GERONIMO!!!
A couple of fin strokes, grab hold of the shot line and after checking my buddy's ok, down we go. A little spooky at first in the reduced visibility, but as the wreck comes into view, that all goes out of your mind. I was very pleasantly surprised at the amount of sea life, so much so that to be honest I couldn't describe the wreck itself to you if I tried! Shoals of bib, loads of dead men's fingers, Tompot Blennys (pictured), several large lobsters (looked delicious!) and spider and edible crabs.
Unbeknown to me it's fine to take a couple of crabs if it takes your fancy, as one diver back on the boat revealed later.
The time flies by and before you know it we're at 40 mins and it's time to surface. DSMB use is a must in this area and deployment requires a little practice as we were to find out. I thought I'd got it all in hand, but as the DSMB ascended, so did I for a couple of meters until I spotted the snag on my reel. No harm done, but in future I should make more use of my buddy or just let it go.....lesson learnt! Once back on the surface, the boat was quick to spot us and quickly motor over as we just bobbed about for a few minutes. No swimming was necessary as the skipper pulled tight along side us, we grabbed the line on the side and then swiftly onto the lift. Back on board we were handed a cup of hot chocolate to warm us up, but with the water at 17 or 18 degrees C it was nearly as warm as the water in Malta we'd experienced earlier in the year. Dive one complete, bring on the next!
Old Harry Drift
Only 3 club divers on this one so I buddied up with Clare and Roger. Once in the water we dropped straight down and regrouped on the bottom. Clare and Roger sent up the DSMB and Clare then took the lead; all I had to do was follow on behind. Being a fairly inexperienced diver though this was slightly easier said than done! 
For me it was a reasonable current and controlling my speed and direction whilst hovering a couple of feet off the sea bed was at times challenging. Thankfully my buddies kept a close eye on me and at one point Roger saw me struggling so just took hold of my cylinder and changed my direction for me! As I settled into it though I was able to look around me a bit more and spotted a large blue starfish, a few large dogfish and loads of clams and anemones etc. We also spotted a Sea Scorpion pictured here.
The ascent was easy enough too as I just lightly held onto Clare when we reached 5m so as to not drift away.
Drift dives might not be for everyone, as you don't exactly get long to look at the sea life as it whizzes past, but they are a different experience and kind of fun trying to not bump into fellow divers, rocks, the sea bed, etc
Après Dive-Saturday night
We'd opted for the cheap and cheerful camping option as the weather was good, so after de-kitting and loading the cars we headed off to the site which was only a 2 minute drive away. Tent set up and a couple of beers later we all headed into town for a group meal, Pizza being the order of the day......well we could have cooked for ourselves, but our car couldn't take all the dive gear, camping gear and cooking gear!!!
As it turned out it was carnival weekend in Swanage, so following our meal we all headed down to the beach to watch the firework display. It was packed but we managed to get a good spot dangling our legs over the sea wall. The display was quite impressive and looked cracking as it reflected on the water. I've been to worse organised shows you have to pay for in the past so this really was quite a bonus. And finally off to bed around 11:00 p.m. in prep for another early start.
Valentine Tanks – Wreck
The following morning we were joined by new club member, James, and a non club member friend of ours, Dan. We decided to mix up the buddy pairs to enable James to dive with one of the experienced guys, Roger, whilst Kim dived with Clare and Benjamin. I buddied with Dan, who is similar experience level to myself and on this easy dive we thought it a good idea just to try another buddy for the hell of it!
The wreck itself had quite an interesting story as basically it was an experimental tank with a “skirt” attached to it which was supposed to make it float. The long and short of it was it didn't work in anything more than flat calm water, which I suppose from our point of view was quite fortunate. There were actually 2 tanks connected by a line so we were able to see 2 small wrecks with quite a nice swim between them. The visibility was pretty good and the amount of life on them was fantastic; dogfish, anemones, tubeworms, codling, all types of crabs and even a large conger (which I missed.....bum!).
The best for me though were the shrimps which if you settled calmly with them, they would crawl onto your hand to investigate.....wow, I thought this kind of encounter only happened in warmer waters. Topped off with 18 degree C water and we really could have been in a warmer country. Dan had a slightly less enjoyable dive though as he lost his mini video camera......doh; must do that lanyard up a bit tighter next time!
Fleur de Lys – Wreck
Last dive of the weekend and sadly Roger & Clare's car developed a problem, so Clare kindly opted out of the dive to see to the mobile mechanic and Benjamin was a bit chilly in his wetsuit. James wasn't too sure of his sea legs so it was down to Roger, Kim and myself to uphold the stoic nature of our club, supported by Dan just to make up the numbers.
The sun was out, the temperature was high and we all couldn't wait to cool off and jump in. Roger and Kim were brave enough to dive without hoods and gloves but being as “follically challenged” as I am and Dan with his general neoprene fetish we stuck with the British tradition of 20mm of neoprene on every square millimetre of our lily white bodies.
Down on the wreck there was once again a plethora of life and I saw a couple of fantastic sized bass, distinctive by their speed and spiked dorsal fin when we got too close. You'd pay a fortune for fish like that in Waitrose; if only I could devise a way of catching them. Dan on the other hand was just manically trying to grab anything that moved, just to see if he could (tsk, tsk Dan, that's no way to treat the marine life!). Of course he couldn't, but it made me laugh a bit too much watching him try and so I spent the next few minutes practising my mask clearing skills as my laughter wrinkles kept springing leaks left, right and centre.
After the wreck we headed off for a little drift, and although we more or less stuck together as a foursome, it was better that we paired off just in case and had our own DSMB's. We borrowed Roger's as although mine worked, it was a bit cheap and nasty and didn't self seal so went limp on the surface.....must add that to the list of must have's that is quickly growing!
During the drift, much slower than the previous days, Dan managed to find a torch which already had a couple of barnacles growing on it. Unbelievably, back on the boat later it actually worked and was a reasonable LED one. Good result and in some way made up for his lost mini video camera. Perhaps this is the Swanage divers version of an under water Swap Shop?
The dive came to an end all too quick and so we ascended to our safety stop. This was all going fine until shortly after hearing the boat nearby, Dan started moving away from me at quite a rate. It was fairly obvious that the boat had caught our DSMB and so Dan let go and we just hovered. We had a spare with us, but I could see another blob above us anyway, even though we couldn't see the other divers. We surfaced and stuck close to that blob and the boat was shortly with us. Dan dived under the boat and got the remains of the slashed DSMB off the boat prop, of course only after being asked to do so by the captain.
Back on board it turned out that Roger had got our line caught around his legs once the boat got close to them, so he cut the line and managed to save Dan's reel. Sorry about the DSMB Roger, but looking on the bright side it has given the four of us a good story to tell down the pub!
The End of a Fun Weekend
After packing up the dive kit, making sure all was well with Roger & Clare's car (even though the mechanic turned up well after we were all back on land; typical!) we all headed back to the campsite to pack up the tents. Everyone felt a little more bonded as club members, I think, after some great dives, a few beers and a few stories to share together. In my mind diving in a club environment is a great way to gain experience and confidence as well as having a good laugh along the way. Many thanks to all the club members who made it such a great weekend and in particular Roger & Clare who really took care of us and put up with my many stupid questions. Cheers guys.........can't wait for the next one!
NOTE: Thanks to Roger Selwyn for some of the photos.