Portland

Portland - M2 weekend!

Aquanaut Dive Club trip - this time to Portland, Dorset over the weekend of 20th and 21st October 2007. Five hardy souls braved the strong ale and dodgy curries and had some great dives. A nearly empty Hotel Aqua (well it is October and only real divers venture out at this time of year) looked after us for two nights and the breakfast was a good as ever. We were diving with Dive Dorset on Goose with skipper Troy.

We were to dive on The Arfon on Saturday but the sea was a little "choppy" so we opted for the Black Hawk wreck instead. A nice shallow dive with plenty of wreckage on a sandy bottom. After a return to port for lunch and gas we ventured out again and dived the James Fennell. Well only four of did the dive as the zip on my dry suit finally gave way when kitting up. Damn. I had been nursing the zip through the last few weekends and the dry suit was actually booked in for repair and MOT the following week. The zip was definitely going to leak as there was now a 2 inch gap at one end where the teeth were not locked. So, when the boys were in the water I made a call to O'Three to ask if they had any hire suits my size. Marcus came up with the goods and I had a free loan of a suit for the diving on the Sunday. What customer service! I can't thank them enough - I was on the list again to dive the M2!. Thanks also go to Tom of Dive Dorset who drove round to O'Three to collect the suit before they closed.

O'Three - damn good suits and first class customer service!


Goose comes along side.	John, Gaz, Jeremy, Pete and Keith. (is his shiny new loan suit from O'Three)

The cafe - scene of many a giant breakfast.	Dive Dorset gas station - soon to be under new ownership?

Sometimes the boys just go too far.	Mr Cowley doesn't understand how a big lump of concrete can float.

Gaz is happy - he has been diving.	John, Gaz, Keith and Jeremy.

Bib .......	........ and more Bib.
After watching England get beaten by South Africa in the Rugby World Cup Final we retired early. Sunday was the big day - would the weather be kind to us? The seagulls woke us up at 5.30am as usual and the sky was blue and the wind was nowhere to be seen. We were on! After breakfast we met up with skipper Troy and he confirmed that we were good to go. We were off to dive the M2, a 90m long submarine aircraft carrier of all things! Lying nearly intact upright on the seabed at 34m in Lyme Bay. What a dive it was. I was buddied with John and after reaching the bottom of the shot we find that the grapple hook had dragged and was off the wreck. Luckily John was listening to the boat briefing and off along the seabed he went on the correct compass bearing. Suddenly this huge hull loomed out of the gloom and we were there. Small enough to swim around in one dive we examined the opening for the torpedo tubes on the bow and the propshafts, keel and rudder at the stern. Plus the conning tower, seaplane hanger and recovery winch in between. A truly memorable, atmospheric dive. Can't wait to go back.

Why is it that some people look so damn ugly with their masks on?

Pete (with Christmas hat) and Gaz	Keith and JC.

Gaz	John.