Leaving work early on Friday. Always a good move! Les and I attempted to escape the weekend rush hour traffic but of course, enjoyed its full potential. We met up with Jason and Lisa en route and when we reached Lyme Regis easily found our weekend accommodation just over the county border in Devon. Les and I settled into our bunkhouse accommodation and noticed the two inch gap over the door. This was either missed snagging from its previous life as a building housing livestock or evidence of how warm the weekend would be! Time would tell!

All divers arrived safely at the farm. Enjoyed a night’s sleep and breakfasted according to their needs. The following morning proved reasonable weather wise. We made a trip to the harbour where we met our skipper for the weekend. The dive kit needed to be assembled on the adjacent quay before being handed down onto the boat.  We went along the coast to the site of the “St Dunstan” My logbook records the weather as being cold, windy, sunny and overcast. 
The depth was 29 m with a slight current and viz of 1 to 2m and quite a dark dive. No wonder I don’t remember much of it although we did stay down for 30 minutes. Back along the coast to just outside Lyme Regis harbour. This was a slow journey to allow sufficient surface time to elapse and also to enjoy a Cornish pasty and baked beans. Unfortunately, the rising wind and long surface interval meant that some divers rightly felt that they were too cold for a second dive. I was fortunate in that I did dive on the “Bayitano” and thoroughly enjoyed it. There was a slight current here also, the temperature had risen to 10 degrees and at 19m was lighter than the previous dive with better viz at 2w to 3m. And there was a lot more wreckage to see as well.

We arrived back in the harbour and unloaded the boat of all our kit. It was not safe to leave it on board overnight.  When we arrived back at the farm; the weather was sunny and calm with sunshine which enabled us to mostly dry our kit. During this quiet period, Les and I sat in the field, in the sunshine to enjoy our mugs of tea. The owner came along to chat, “what about the forecast of heavy snow overnight/” we asked, “Think nothing of it” was the response, “we are too far south”,  Believing him we enjoyed the rest of the afternoon and evening in the company of our companions with a splendid stomach stretching take-away evening meal.

It never really got over warm in the bunkhouse that night, it was that gap above the door, but it was comfortable. The following morning as we organised out kit and ate breakfast, we admired the picture postcard snowy scene out of the window. The wind had also risen and when later down on the harbour wall viewing the indeterminate horizon between sky and sea, much muttering were heard amongst us. The skipper announced diving was possible but so was a good chance of hypothermia! It was with some relief that we mutually agreed that diving would not take place that day.  

A quick trip back to our overnight lodgings to collect the remainder of our belongings
saw the start of the journey home.

Diving is our sport and we should enjoy it; there is always another day to go diving.