On Saturday morning we got off to a great start diving the wreck of the Betsy Anna. This was an amazing wreck at 25 metres with so much life on it (I'm sure you've seen the video James has sent around). After a long (but busy) surface interval we went out to do our second dive on the Carentan at 30 metres. Once again we had amazing viz and lots of life (have a look at James' video). As far as I'm aware both of these wrecks haven't been dived by the club before - making it even more rewarding for me. It was a very long but also very enjoyable day. After the boats were put back on their trailers and we had returned to the camp site, we sat eating fish and chips watching the fireworks from the festival...Perfect!
On Sunday the weather was not so good (we still had sunshine but the wind had picked up) and we were expecting it to be a nightmare to get out of Swanage with the festival traffic, so decided to keep things simple. We did a lovely drift dive in the morning followed by a dive on the Fleur De Lys. This is a wreck I've dived lots of time and if I'm truthful was not looking forward to it, but 'wow' once we got into the water everything changed. The wreck was teeming with life. My favourite bits of the dive were seeing a John Dory and a massive Cuttle Fish - What a great way to end the trip.
Once safely back on land we had lunch on the pier whilst watching the Red Arrows display, which was fantastic. I really could not have asked for anymore from this trip.
I just want to add a massive thank you to everyone that came making this trip possible. Simon and Cheryl for supplying Jaffa, Towing and helping me plan, Kerry & Martin - the Coxswain's, Alex T for Prepping Elstree Diver and helping with the boats all weekend & the instructors for their time and guidance.
Bring on the next trip... what to do next???
Craig B
