PORTLAND HUNTING!

At the end of October we had one of the best UK dive weekends so far in Portland. The great part of diving in Portland, for those who haven’t been there before, is that everything, the boat, accommodation and air station are all really close together. Also because it’s so isolated the pubs stay open as long as you want a drink so no potentially catastrophic ‘foot down’ journeys from London on a Friday evening to try to beat last orders. Mike Green will understand what that means….
 
We dived with Scimitar who have an excellent set up that includes friendly skippers who talk in more than just 4 letter words, lunchtime pasties and onboard help to get you off the boat and into the water with minimum fuss.
 
The first day’s diving saw us on the bow of the Black Hawk, a broken up but very picturesque dive with plenty of life and good viz to enjoy. The second dive was an exciting rollercoaster ride of a drift for those who went down in the right place and a chance for Derk and I to catch up with the local fishermen about the quality of their catch when we drifted much further out than was strictly necessary.
 
In the evening we (I) consumed the mandatory 3 course pub dinner before retiring to bed for the early start the next day. And what an early start, we left the jetty at 7 am whilst it was still dark. The picture below should sum up the general feeling:
 
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=883782&op=1&o=all&view=all&subj=2430355718&aid=-1&oid=2430355718&id=513118280
 
This resulted in our dive on the quite excellent wreck of the Alex Van Opstal being conducted in the dark. Fortunately those who had picked up a Tusa Intova LED torch, priced very reasonably at £44.95 and available now at Diving Leisure London, were able to see just fine in the dark. Those of us using a Green Force dimmable LED Tristar with F2 battery pack and umbilical, priced very reasonably at £449 and available now at Diving Leisure London, were able to make a good job of x raying the fish underwater.
 
The last dive was all about food, we came up with scallops, crabs and lobsters which had to be forcibly removed from a visibly distraught Antonio upon the discovery of eggs. His ploy to eat them alive on the deck whilst no one was looking was fortunately rumbled.
 
The trip was finished off in style when on the way back we picked up a large line caught sea bass from a fisherman by the side of the road and took the whole lot back to the Eagle pub who very kindly allowed us to cook everything on their BBQ out the back.
 
I took the crabs home the next day and made a quite remarkable soup and crab cakes. Oh, as well as a Victoria Sponge.
 
We’re planning one more trip this year probably on the 22 and 23 of November. Keep your eyes peeled for more info!