Blue lagoon Arlesey, April 2012

Last Sunday Phil, Ben and Gary had a dive in the "blue lagoon Arlesey". 

The dive itself was pretty uneventful with poor vis, being only about 3-4 mts . This was due chiefly by all the rain we have had and also by a couple of other clubs at the site. 

North Herts sac have the lease to the lake but they sub let it to Mid herts sac and Stevenage SAA .Unfortunately we chose the weekend when both clubs were doing OW Training. 

Water temp was 10 degrees and we had a 50min dive. Max depth was about 11mts, slightly low water level because of the drought. Its pretty easy to find your way around due to lines being laid to most of the features in the lake which include several small boats, cars, a cabin cruiser as well as the huts and quarrying equipment. It also has training platforms at 6 and 10 mts. 

The lake is home to some very big fish including a big catfish that lives under the cabin cruiser but they were elusive today. This time of the year the big fish tend to lay up in the margins but in the summer the two huts act as a protective reef to the thousands of small fry and so the big predatory fish tend to hang around them.  The lake is situated in the village of Arlesey close to Baldock, 35min up the A1, though no facilities at the site it makes a good alternative from Wraysbury but you have to be out of water by 930 due to the sailing club and they limit visiting divers to 4 .  In the summer north herts often have their club nights at the site with a dive and BBQ.  Anyone who fancies different site and wants to dive the lake let me (Gary C) know and I’ll tell you who to contact.

Kimmeridge, April 2012

On the 14th and 15th of April, we had our first warm up diving weekend of the season. We picked Swanage for one day and Kimmeridge for the next day, due to the easy launching and sheltered slipways with array of different diving sites in nice sheltered waters..

We picked accommodation at Helston Touring Park in Swanage with a Farm House that turned out to be a Palace! The first morning on Saturday was diving out of Swanage with a forecast of NW winds which makes it perfect in Swanage Bay. We picked the Fleur De Lys which is a small wooden vessel that caught fire and sunk, in 12m of water. This made a nice easy dive for our newly qualified divers as well as a warm up dive for our experienced divers. Its a haven for marine life with cuttle fish, lobster, and an array of other life living on her. Viz was around 2-3m due to the unsettled weather we had before hand. We used two Ribs for the trip making shuttle trips to the dive site.

After the early morning dives, some of the experienced divers took a RIB out to the Kyarra as slack was around 11am. She is a old steamer that was sunk by a German U-Boat at a depth of 30m. As usual a small current was running on the shot and being a popular wreck two other hard boats were also deploying divers on this wreck. As me and Cheryl B descended down, the lights went out and we arrived at the bottom. I haven't dived her before in the dark so found it challenging finding my way around, but I did find a large edible crab at the beginning of the dive to say 'Welcome to the Kyarra'!

The weather was cold at around 10 degrees air temperature which made some of us only have one dive.. but James and Steve W had a dive on the Tanville ledges in the Bay which make a good second dive at around 6-9m. This is a rocky reef that runs out from the shore line in the bay with an array of different marine life. At the end of the day, we retrieved the boats and headed back to our warm palace to get cleaned up for the evening drink and dinner at the bar at the touring Park.

On the Sunday we took the RIBs to Kimmeridge! The sun was out and the sea was nice and calm. I always find this a magical place with fantastic launching and fantastic scenery. As for the diving; we have the Blackhawk at 16-18m which was a liberty ship that had been sunk by a another German U-boat in the War- well broken up but like a fish tank. I found it the best dive on her yet, 4-5m viz and a Ballam Wrasse that took a liking to me and for a good few minutes interacted with me as we were swimming together! Also James and Ian found Squid on her!

The Second dive was the Barge and Nature trail, this was a great way to finish the day. The Viz was around 4-5m with yet again lots of marine life, and a Boiler where a Conger has made it's home and greeted James.

It was a Fantastic weekend with fantastic members! They made the trip. I had a very enjoyable dive with two of our newly qualified divers - Tom and Joanna, who both did really well. A very Big thanks to Kerry for towing and Cox'n, Alex T for assisting with the boat launching and retrieving and equipment repairs on site, Lesley for assisting the Cox and boat handling, Keep up the good work! James, Steve and Paula for their big input with the diving and pairing.

Simon.