Easter again, must be Dover
It’s nearly Easter and I have had this trip booked for about 6 months, it will be the third year I have been to Dover. Although it is supposed to be a YD dive trip I have found it much more of social occasion than a dive trip, I should think others on the trip would disagree. The diving in the last two years hasn’t been that great and Andy has taken much stick regarding his wreck finding skills, however this year Andy has sold his boat Taurus and has enlisted the help of another local skipper Dave Batchelor and his boat Neptune so we will see how Dave does.
Easter Saturday will be my first dive and as yet I don’t know what it is but I do know it will be no deeper than 35m. I need to get gas and fills for the weekend so I be off to DiveLife to sort out O2 and fills for my twins.
Good Friday finally arrived and after having a very bad week, suffering with my sinuses I left home at 6.30am for my journey to Dover. I had a good run down and when I arrived I phoned Andy and he came down and met me at the Lifeboat station, Andy and the boys took me in and we had a cuppa and a chat.
About an hour later the guys who had dived arrived back, so we headed off to the cafe for lunch, Howard wanted to go to the Castle so a couple of us headed off for an afternoon of culture. I had taken photos of the castle for the last couple of years so it was good to have a look as it was quite a nice afternoon.
Friday night we went out for an Indian meal then headed back to the B & B for a relatively early night. On Saturday morning we met at the boat and loaded up, Neptune is a good boat with a nice big kitting up bench but with the the mostly Inspiration and twinsets on board even that was a tight squeeze. The dives planned for today were the HMS Blackwater and the Brazen, I dived with Howard and Sarah (blondie) for this dive when we got to the bottom of the shot Howard reeled off and started the dive, we had to reel off because of the conditions and Dave the skipper wanted us to return to the shotline. After another hearty lunch we headed back out for a dive on the Brazen, like the morning dive we had to reel off and Howard managed to do a couple of figure of eights with the line.
As usual in Dover the diving tends to end quite late so it was a quick wash and brushup then down stairs for a meal, in the past we have had some interesting entertainment but this year we were on out own but we all enjoyed a lovely meal. This years entertainment was in the form of a sambucca game which Howard tried to master.
Sundays dives were more or less the same as the day before except for a very bumpy run out in the afternoon, we dived the Maldova in the morning and wreck on the Varne bank in the afternoon, this would have been a great spidging wreck but was a bit more difficult as we had to reel off and return to the shotline. The shotline ascent was very interesting as I was into deco and thought I was doing quite well at 6m only to check my computer and find I was at 4.5m, so I decended a little thinking I had ascended somehow, next minute I was down at 9m and Howard was looking very confused. Getting back on the boat was a bit of a surprise as well as I had difficulty getting back on the dive lift, I seemed to be struggling for a few minutes only to find out from Dave when I eventually got back on board that a ferry had just passed and the wake was making us bounce around a bit.
Monday morning was a lovely sunny day and Dave the skipper said it was good enough to go and do the “champaign wreck” - The Siene, again quite dark but the wreck had the best viz of the weekend and was full of life, there was a mass of pollock on the wreck and the wreck itself was covered in lovely plumose anenomies. Howard had a confused moment with his stage so decided to abandon his dive so I carried on for a short time as I really wanted to put in some deco in readiness for a dive in a couple of weeks.
It is not surprising that back on the boat there was more chatter than during the previous couple of days, it’s surprising what a bit of sunshine can do. Although we don’t expect good diving at the Dover Easter weekend this one was up to the usual standard of fun and excellent company. Dave the skipper, Brian and Alan on Neptune were great and run a great boat.
Great write-up Fiona.
I was really good to see you again, roll on 2008!
Comment by Blanaid | April 19, 2006