Five Go Diving (Johnny Taylor)
The Bank Holiday weekend saw Arden Divers, Will, Abi, Johnny, Chris H and Sophie, head to Swanage, planning to dive the pier on Saturday and the Kiarra and Valentine Tanks on the Sunday. We travelled down to Dorset on the hottest day of the year so far, set up camp in a beautiful campsite and had high hopes for some glorious diving. Unfortunately, the weather gods had missed the briefing and decided that a gentle breeze from the south was boring and a strong north easterly was much more fun for Sunday! Hearing this forecast, we altered out plan for Saturday to make sure that we got one boat dive.
Saturday
Tom Pot Blennie (Sophie Hastie)
We started out with diving under the iconic Swanage Pier. This was the first UK sea dive for all of us this year and it was a lovely gentle bimble of a dive. We were treated to lots of spider crabs, tom pot blennies, nudibranchs and various wrasse. There was enough surge to keep it interesting and remind us that we were in the sea, but not so much to be a bother. In the afternoon we dived the Betsy Anna. This is a steam ship that sunk in 1926 and sits at 25 meters. Unfortunately, the warm weather had brought on a strong algae bloom and the vis and light were terrible. We were still treated to several huge congas and more tom pots, peering out at us through the gloom! There were other fish about but ID was impossible in the dark! Will, Abi and Johnny certainly deserved their low vis dive sign off for that dive!
Sunday
The Arden Committee Meeting (Will Broughton)
As we feared, our boat was cancelled on Sunday, and the swell was too much to dive from the Pier. We made the most of the day and headed to Corfe Castle to fantasise about being ruthless kings and queens, try to spot the peregrine falcons and play Pooh Sticks. Later Sophie suggested a walk to Chapman’s Pool beach, warning the others that it is a ‘bit of a scramble’. They were unimpressed by how much a scramble it was and thought lowering yourself down a sheer drop on a rope deserved stronger adjectives! Everyone enjoyed a paddle and looking for fossils in the rocks though.
It was a shame not to do more diving, but it was a great weekend all the same.
