Mid April Swanage Weekend

April saw the first MHD UK offshore diving trip, to Swanage in this case.  Unfortunately we managed to thread the needle and find a 2 day spell of strong winds between spells of settled condtions, which blew out the Saturday and required a hasty rethink on Sunday.  Illness also took its toll of one of our number so in the end it was just Marty, Howard and Richard who went.

All par for the course for early season diving!

Regardless, Swanage Boat charters were able to offer a couple of dives on the Fleur and Peveril Ledges.  Surface conditions were OK although underwater the visibility was very poor (1-2m) with little ambient light.  Water temperature was about 12 degC.  Life was sparse although we did see crabs, lobster, a conger eel, the odd fish, king scallop and a dogfish on the ledges.

With the weather impact our dive schedule went from the most hurried ever (planned) to the most relaxed ever! This included a very agreeable evening in Swanage before the dives the next day.  All three of us wanted to get dived up for UK sea conditions and I'm pleased to say the diving went without a hitch.  So overall it was an enjoyable trip!  Many thanks to Marty G for organizing.