Portland June 19th-20th 1999

Portland, June 19th/20th

Last update: 08/11/99

(Plan initially hatched in the Faraday and Firkin on May 18th, refined in the Eagle and in the Morpeth Arms on June 16th. Is there some pattern here?)

The weekend was eventually based around the Fathom & Blues Dive Centre.

The sites around Portland range from 10m to 18m sites in and around the harbour and gentle drifts, through more distant wrecks in the 30m to 35m range, up to even deeper offshore wrecks and high speed drifts near the Portland Race.

The range of boats available allow groups to fragment and regroup if necessary, choosing the type of dives that they feel happy with. So we did this for the first dive.

The Team

Kevin B.
Tim G.
Sarah A.
Kim S.
Paul F.
Maria P.
Paul G.
Angharad B-W

Diving arrangements

Tides were approaching neaps, HW on Saturday at 12:00 and on Sunday 12:30.

Alas, the excellent weather of the previous week had broken: Saturday was cool and grey, then it got very windy overnight. Wind and sea conditions on the Sunday meant that a lot of diveboats hung around the harbour and the Hood on Sunday rather than going to offshore sites.

Between us, we did these dives (times and depths are those that I logged):

	Saturday afternoon (option A) M2 submarine (West of Chesil in about 33m, sank 1932) Unfortunately I arrived too late for this one, and one of the two buddy pairs that did go managed to miss the submarine (despite it being 35m long). A return visit is therefore necessary!
	Saturday afternoon (option B) The Sand Dredger (just outside harbour in ~10m) A gentle introduction to UK diving for some of us! The vis was liable to be somewhat better than the harbour wrecks (sandy bottom rather than silty), and not too over-exciting...
	Saturday evening Grove Point drift 26.3m, 20 minutes Far end of Balaclava Bay: expected ~15m max on the reef but ended up rather deeper on a sandy seabed. There were large crabs to be seen however, and what was believed to have been a thornback ray.
	Sunday 12:30 HMS Hood 15.6m, 40 minutes (WW1 blockship in harbour entrance) Overrun with boats and divers when we went down, but still reasonably good vis. I really enjoyed this dive!

we didn't eventually do these: maybe next time...

	Night dive?
	Alex van Opstal (6000ton liner, sunk 1939, in ~30m)
	Sunday Drift dive on the ebb down the estuary of the Fleet

or Aeolian Sky (~30m), or Lulworth Banks (9-20m), or "Aerials" drift, or....

There's some information about Dorset diving here and here, and a good article about Portland (with excellent aerial photograph) in the launch issue of Dive magazine.

Diving costs:
Boat costs per head were about Ł16.50 for the M2, Ł10 for the closer sites.
Air about Ł2.50 per fill.

Accommodation

Four of us shared a simple but OK bunkroom at Fathom & Blues, others were at the Ferry Bridge Inn.

Equipment

Some of us hired equipment from Fathom & Blues: prices were fairly reasonable (e.g. full kit about Ł25 for a day), with 50% off for subsequent days. Cylinder hire (air) Ł6.50 first day including first fill.
The drawback was that the equipment couldn't be taken off-site for shore dives, etc., but only used when diving from F&B's boats.

Transport

Three cars went eventually, travelling down on Saturday morning and returning on Sunday afternoon.
Trains weren't used on this occasion, but from Waterloo to Weymouth takes 2hrs40m or so direct (service about hourly at xx:30).

Cars cost about Ł6 each for the weekend to the Port Authority to use the port complex.
The Port Authority charge F&B (and the other dive operators) who pass the charge on to their customers - unfortunately therefore it's pretty much unavoidable.
Parking was free in the Ferry Bridge Inn carpark, so it would be sensible in future if that gets used wherever possible.

Contacts

Fathom & Blues    01305 826789
Breakwater Diving Centre     01305 860269
Parry's    01305 821261     (As of 11/99 now being run by the former Weymouth Scuba Centre)
Portland Dive Centre    01305 820870
Portland Oceaneering (shop & servicing) Link removed because they sponsor competitive spearfishing.