Julies Journal

June/July

Pembroke Weekend

No diving this weekend far too windy! Putting up the tent was fun; nearly ending up in little haven hanging on to what could have been the world's biggest kite! Poor Bob and Lesley; they had a new tent to contend with, not an easy task in the dark with a gale force wind blowing! did feel a bit sorry for them, didn't stop me taking photos though!

It rained nearly all of Friday night and didn't stop till Saturday lunchtime, so we braved the storm and went for a lovely; if wet walk along the coastal path to little haven, where true to esac form, found a pub and got a little tiddly to say the least! This set the standard for the weekend! Not a bad one even though no diving was done!

Oh and by the way Mr Keepy…. We all know what your little game is! You think if you book Mandy into enough of these haunted houses, she will think camping MUST be better?!.....Think again sweetie it aint gonna work! xx

Lulworth cove

Packed up the van and the kids and off we went to Corfe Castle, a bit different this weekend, the ‘boys' have gone to the Isle of Man on their ‘Scotland' weekend so I am taking my brood camping; two whole days with no computers or telly; will they survive? Will I survive?!. In the absence of anybody volunteering to tow the boat, we decided (well Lesley and I made a democratic decision; the others could come if they wanted to)! to dive the pier at Swanage.

Saturday was soooo hot we spent most of the day on the beach, kids were in and out of the sea but Debbie was the only adult brave enough to swim, the water was freezing! (so I was led to believe as I didn't even go as far as to put a toe in it)! We assembled on the pier late afternoon and got kitted up in the searing heat, I don't like heights but was glad to jump off the pier into the cool water below even if I did get most of the sea up my nose! I imagine this would be a lovely dive if there had been a bit more depth ( I think I swallowed so much jumping in it looked like the tide had gone out)! We only got 3.5 metres, my torch didn't work and John's wasn't much better, must invest in a good torch and dive again on a spring tide! Getting back on to the pier was an experience in its self; trying to climb up a steel ladder with all that kit on was near impossible; thank you Bob for grabbing my cylinder and dragging me up, without you I would have undoubtedly fallen back in probably killing John on the way who was following me a little too close up the ladder.

Sunday was spent on the beach at Lulworth cove. Another enjoyable weekend which we all survived!

 

Hope Cove

This has to be the best weekend so far, we arrived at the camp site in scorching sunshine, leisurely pitched the tent and enjoyed the rest of a gorgeous afternoon to the full! After a barbie at the Birdies new caravan it was off to bed nice and early so we would awake refreshed and ready for our first dive.

Bright and earlyish on Saturday morning and we were off to the mewstone, the sea was flat calm and the sun was hot; rather uncomfortable in a dry suit with a weezle extreme plus underneath but nice once in the cool water! We found lots of pretty gullies with huge crabs and a few lobsters, there were dogfish, wrasse and beautiful anemones, the vis was really good, made even better by the sun's rays filtering through the water on us. Well done Sue Jenkins for diving all weekend in a semi dry…you're a better man than I am!! The next dive was Burgh Island, these gullies were really deep, I found them quite scary, but being the last in the line of a buddy group of 3 the vis was a bit stirred up so I couldn't see a lot!! Lots of life down there though big spider crabs and more lobsters. Arrived back to a deserted beach, ( England were playing Portugal )! Then back to the campsite for the mandatory barbie; perfect end to a perfect days diving – good food – good company - and the fire box to take the chill off the evening air! Fairplay to Tom, Phil's friend ;who after having consumed a little too much lager whilst watching the footie, decided he had no more room for lager so instead drank a bottle of Jack Daniels at the barbie and still managed to walk back to his tent unaided!

We were all quite disappointed to be awoken by torrential rain on Sunday morning, but by the time breakfast was cooked, consumed and cleared away the clouds had gone leaving another beautiful blue sky and sea like a mill pond. We had two more dives on this lovely Sunday, it is unusual for our club to stay until late afternoon on our last day; but this was an opportunity not to be missed, we saw blennies, anemones, tube worms, sponges, slug eggs all curled up like rose petals, cuckoo wrasse and more crabs than Chris could lure into his goody bag! Got home really late ; none of us wanted to leave! Fabulous weekend.