Eleven club members dived sites at Portland on the weekend of 16th/17th May 2026
On Saturday we left Portland on Jurassic Aqua Sports ‘Wave Rider’ Catamaran with ropes off at 10.00 am. We reached the first dive site ‘Aerials’ about 45 minutes later. Aerials is a shelved site and whilst some of us stopped at around 20 meters, others went to 30 meters. Visibility was around 3/4 meters and we all enjoyed a drift dive along the shelves with dive times of between 45/57 minutes.
Following a lunch of pasties supplied by the skipper Dave Collins we then dived on the wreck of The James Fennel. Visibility reduced to around 2/3 meters, and, with the current picking up, we again did a drift dive. The depth of the wreck was 18 metres and although some reduced their dive times others achieved dives of the expected time.
Most of us met at Salt Restaurant on Saturday night and had a great social evening chatting about the events of the day.
Sunday saw us at the Marina at 9am, and with ropes off at the quay we set a course for The British Inventor – a wreck on Lulworth Banks. Visibility at 20 metres depth was around 3-4 metres, and the wreck gave lots of opportunity to explore cavities where we could view the local life. This included octopus, scallops, lobster and crab. Steve Carter and Dave Ford found an old rifle cartridge and a bullet. Dive times varied but most were around 40-50 minutes.
Our second dive on Sunday was on the wreck of The Hartlepool. This dive was around 15 metres. The wreck is broken up but again plates and crevices were home to more sea life which this time included conger eel.
Overall , everyone agreed it was a great weekend and one we will be repeating.
Thanks to Keith Henderson for organising the trip.
