Chesil Beach - The Treasurers' Tale

Lowlights:Being woken up at 4am by icebergs and polar bears trying to sink my narrowboat; kitting up in 2 degrees (brrr); losing Steve in zero viz; getting out of the surf the wrong way up; scrabbling up the near-vertical pebble beach in full kit determined not to have to do two journeys; a very damp dry suit; a dead computer; getting dressed (brrr); not being able to wash my kit down for days due to frozen water pipes

Highlights:Meteorite storm (superb shooting stars in a perfectly clear night sky); Alan (no fins) English; finding nudibranchs in zero viz; finding Steve in zero viz; hot beef stew and a pint in the pub; hot tea in the café; that tired but satisfied feeling that comes from doing an exhilarating UK dive; doing a UK dive and not getting blown out!

(Trip photos)

The cold crisp morning of Saturday 3rd January 2009, saw 4 hardy fellows (some might say stupid), Steve, Pete, Rod and Alan, head for the shores of the Dorset coast, to brave the depths of the calm winter seas. Fortunately at that time of the morning most were still in bed so the journey down was pleasant and uneventful. At some stages of the journey however the air temperature did read -7 degrees C.

We met in the car park of Hotel Aqua in Castletown, Portland to be joined by another frequent flyer on Bicester Dive Club trips, Sharky. It appears we weren't the only loonies to be diving as there were others in the car park preparing to head out to sea.

The trip was almost off, with the Saturday having to be cancelled due to a forecast wind force of 6 to 7. Just a bit choppy for even the rufty tufty divers!

For the Sunday, 9 divers made it - Colin Murray, Anoushka Clark-Dunn, Sharky Ward, Peter Choppen, Rod Hogg, Simon Robins, Cathy & Steve Prior, and Geoff Vernon

We dived the Flag Theofano and the Landing Craft. More details on the dives below the story.

Colin 'Smiler' Murray – cheering everyone up with his grin!

2008 has not been a good year for our dive trips, with most of our trips so far being cancelled due to bad weather. West Bay was going to be the one to kick start our diving. In the 12 years or so that Steve Prior has been organising the West Bay trip it has never been called of and has seen some excellent diving. But what happened this year.