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Swanage Trip Report May 2024

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Swanage Trip Report 18th/19th May 2024

The Bicester Club embarked on its first weekend trip of the year to Swanage . Two days of diving on the Jurassic Coast of Dorset with Swanage Boat Charters.

The first day started with the classic “Old Harry’s Rock” drift dive. 45 minutes gentle drift across the face of the white cliffs at a depth of 16m. Lots to see, cat sharks, undulate rays, some odd looking cylinders left over from WW2 and lots of broken drainage pipe dumped there.

The afternoon dive was a trip to the Black Hawk Bow off Warburrow Bay at 17m. In visibility of less than 3m this dive was very challenging for everyone but the well broken up wreck site was full of sea life for everyone to enjoy. Bib, conger, lobsters and nudibranch city – at least 4 varieties were spotted!

On returning to Swanage we encountered hundreds of gulls across the surface of the sea. Closer inspection revealed hundreds of white fish (type unknown) in a feeding frenzy. There must have been a very large shoal of small fish attracting predators from all around. See a short video clip here:  Swanage 2024 – 2 

Day 2 and the diving continued with a morning dive, in choppy conditions, on the Fluer in Swanage bay. The two part dive on the old fishing boat and the newly sunk barge was again in low visibility of 3m but the barge was full of nudi’s and even a young lobster.

The afternoon dive was on the Valentine tanks in Studland Bay at 17m. Always a joy to dive and never disappointing. This time the site had been damaged by the reckless sandbagging of main tank by the marine conservation society hence turning the wreck into conga eel “HQ” for the area. But we were still able to enjoy the visit and seeing such a large gathering of conga eels was an amazing spectacle.

A great start to the diving year and a taste of amazing dives to come.

 

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