Weymouth Harbour, or more properly, Portland Harbour, is littered with shipwrecks. Apparently, whichever direction you go, eventually you will go over a wreck. So, the good points are that there are plenty to choose from, the other good point is that being a harbour, it is relatively sheltered from the ravages of the main sea. We had arranged to dive on 'The Hood' in the morning & 'The Spaniard' in the afternoon. The Hood is unusual in that it is at the bottom deliberately, rather than being there because it stopped floating one day. It was sunk in order to block the entrance to the harbour during World War 1 to keep German U-boats from entering & causing trouble.

Being somewhat of a nuisance when it comes to diving, I had been pestering Dave to take me diving to the sea for ages, & he finally relented a few weeks ago & booked for us to dive in Portland Harbour. It was the final dives that I needed to complete my Club Diver experience, & by a coincidence, Tim Crook was in the same position, so was invited along too. To make up the numbers, Ian McDean came down as well. He should be well known to club members for giving the DIR (Doing It Right) lecture early on in our training. It seemed that Dave would dive with Tim & I would dive with Ian. I had been warned by Dave that Ian would almost certainly have something to say about my kit set-up, but that it would be positive criticism, rather than negative - I am always happy to benefit from others experience, so looked forward to getting some good tips & advice.

We decided to travel down on the Thursday night, camp in Portland, then drive to the port in the morning - good plan. Malvern to Weymouth/Portland takes about 3 ½ hours in total. We took the M5 to Bridgewater, then cross-country to Yeovil, head towards Dorchester, then pick up the Weymouth road. Our destination was the Haven holiday camp on the coast. On arrival, we pitched our tents, then went in search of food. Haven has the equivalent of McDonalds, but we weren't allowed in by the cranially challenged security staff until we had checked in, which involved walking back to the camp-site to pay the somewhat extortionate fee of £3 each! Dave was disappointed because he had managed to avoid paying last time. He was doubly disappointed when we elected to go to a pub rather than for a McHaven burger, which prompted the payment in the first place! There is an excellent pub called the Marquis of Granby out the gates, up to the traffic lights, turn left & walk to the top of the hill.

The night was not without its drama. Haven had thoughtfully located the camping area on the top of the hill, overlooking the bay, so Mr Windy had a good run up across the channel from France before hitting us full on. To say it was a bad nights sleep is something of an understatement, none of us slept much at all, & at one point the tent pegs gave up & our tent all but lifted off. Haven had also thoughtfully located the camping area on the hardest ground so that we would not make too many deep holes with our pegs.

Seven am in the morning, the alarms went off, by ten past we were packed, by twenty past we were away, vowing never to return. So it was that three exhausted divers arrived at Portland Harbour & made their way into the café for breakfast. Ian arrived shortly afterwards, complaining of an early start - we came very close to giving him a good slap!

Our boat, 'Top Gun' was due to leave at 9:00am, so we kitted up at the car & walked onto the boat. Another good point - you can park within 3 metres of the boats! We were away. Andy, our skipper took us out to the harbour entrance, a trip of less than 10 minutes. He gave us a brief on what to expect, how to signal him & the exit & entry procedure - we did a stride entry, & were lifted out on a special lift attached to the rear of the boat - luxury. Since the dive is tidal, the optimum dive time at this time of year is 9:30am, so, on the dot, we were starting our dive.

Once in the water, we descended as quickly as possible to avoid being swept around by the tides. Below the level of the Hood (about 5 metres) the waters calmed & we could enjoy the swim. The maximum depth we achieved on this dive was 18m, which was pretty well as deep as you could go on this boat.

The dive itself took us along the outside edge of the boat, peering into port-holes & trying to make sense of the large holes that appeared along the way. As it was my first wreck dive & the visibility was West-Waleian, we didn't venture more than a half-body length inside. Towards the end of the boat, we began to feel the tidal effects, so turned around & made our way back to the starting point again. Eventually it was time to surface. Ian deployed his DSMB & we began the slow rise to the surface. We had planned to do a 3-minute safety stop at 6metres to avoid the worst of the tide. This turned out to be a very good idea as once we reached 4-5 metres, the tide created havoc, Ian disappeared in a cloud of bubbles & I struggled to maintain balance, finding it exciting rather than scary. Eventually, we broke the surface & 'Top Gun' was with us in less than a minute. The lift worked well & we were soon on our way back to shore for a well-earned cuppa.