Swanage Megatrip

I used the club Rib on this weekend, great fun to use, especially with the water so flat calm, although it's evident that we all need to go on a navigation course & How To Use The GPS course (Is there an SDC?) judging by the time it took to find the petrified forest. You'd think a large forest on a flat seabed would be easy to find, no! (Editor - In fact is was amazing we found Middle Poole Patch, it's often been missed on attempted dives and we got it shotted exactly) I can confirm there is a forest but sadly all the birds & badgers have gone.

A successful dive barring the loss of one fin on a "graceful" boat re-entry! The second wave had a quick hunt for said fin, but soon got distracted by hermit crabs, nudibranches and little fishes galore.

The Fleur de Lys was the next drop off for the Ribers who saw loads of "stuff". Including another pair of divers who surfaced two hundred meters apart, one up the shot & another on an SMB, obviously not Hellfins divers, who all surfaced in the same pairs they went down in :) One pair even found time for some distance line work on the dive.

Others did hardboat trips to the Kyarra & did a drift, and we also got a pair in under the pier i.e. proper Swanage stuff.

It was a sunny day (just look at the sunburnt faces down the pub this week) so a BBQ was suggested for the evening, a committee was formed, a meeting held, action points raised, food was bought, the off licence was cleared out, & the food was burnt to a crisp. Proper BBQ!

A few rather keen divers were down the pier by 7am Sunday morning to bags a parking spot on the pier even though the first hardboat dive was not until 11.30. The hardboaters did a swift drift over some sand, a crab caught Cleggy's attention, must've been love at first bite. The Ribers did their navigation course via Brussels. (Editor - in fact another perfect locating of the dive site, I'll have to let other people cox more often!)

It was all aboard the Swanage Diver for some, the Aeolian Sky was the next stop, although a bit of a trip out. Great visibility, calm sea, great wreck, swim throughs, fish & stuff, its a defo for the next trip to Swanage. Matt spotted a lobster - but Cleggy failed to retrieve it, no lobster for dinner tonight!

Great weather, good diving, great company, thanks to Mark & Shona for organising, three cheers!