Diving from Divetime, Weymouth, Devon

by Jamie Bassett

Six members of the inaugural"wet bottom club" arrived in Weymouth on a sunny summer's evening, hungry for the four days of diving that lay ahead of us, and for some chips. We boarded our chosen"live aboard", Divetime, and loaded our wet bits, dry bits, and any other bits we had brought along, before hiking the 10 yards over to the pub and back for a carryout.

The following morning dawned warm and sunny. There was enough time for a beer and Jaffa cake stop at the local Asda and a hasty breakfast before we set off across Lyme Bay.

Two hours later, we entered the water for the first dive, the"Salsette". This celebrated P&O liner was torpedoed in WW1 and is lying intact in about 48 metres. Vis was 1 metre (sorry, that should be 10 metres, I just get so used to writing 1 metre!). As always, the"Salsette" was an excellent dive, and a great one to start the trip with.

Once back on board, we settled down for the remaining five hour trip to Salcombe, and let me tell you it was fabulous! A lovely calm sea, beating sun, and buckets of space on the deck of the boat to stretch out and catch some rays (of the solar kind, there are no mantas in Lyme Bay of course).

We arrived in Salcombe around 7pm, leaving enough time for a swift shower and change of clothes before hitting the town for some food. A very enjoyable meal was had by all, and by this point we had been joined by the two remaining members of the wet bottom club, Mike Smith and Steve Barnes who had driven straight down to Salcombe rather than braving the tropical conditions we selflessly endured on Divetime.

It was then that we commenced the initiations into the wet bottom club. Let us just say that the inflatable trip back to Divetime moored in the reaches of Salcombe harbour was normally a soggy affair, and Marie seemed to catch more wet bottoms than the rest of us put together!

Diving out of Salcombe gave us good vis, and some good wrecks to explore. We sampled the delights of the"Maine", one of Devon's most intact and enjoyable dives. Swimming along inside the hull reminded me of an aquarium, it was so quiet, so peaceful, and from one side of the ship you could still see the other side. According to the Diver Guide, her beam is 48ft, so you can gauge how good the vis was!

At various stages of the week we dived the"Riversdale", a nice wreck which is somewhat deeper than listed in the book, very interesting for those on Nitrox! Sometimes diving on good old air has its advantages!

The"Soudan" which was rather broken except for the stern, but a very pretty dive. The"Herzogin Cecilie", an old clipper lying in just 10 metres of water near the entrance to Salcombe Harbour. Very broken, and not a lot left of her.

On the final day we dived the"Persier" in Bigbury Bay, which was again fairly flat, but interesting. At one stage we were joined by a ninth member of the wet bottom club, a small Mackerel which had clearly got bored by the bottom of Salcombe Harbour and so tried to escape by biting the hook Marie had dangled in front of it over the side of the boat. He was quickly released as clearly fish do not have bottoms, and if they did they would be wet all the time anyway, so no point him joining the wet bottom club.

The five of us who stayed on the boat for the long cruise back to Weymouth had another enjoyable day. It was even warmer on the way back than the trip out, and even though we had a fresh following sea, it did not make things uncomfortable on the boat.

A big thanks to Peter Harvey for organising the trip. When you've had such a good four days, it is sometimes foolish to try and repeat it, because you certainly won't better it. However, Divetime is an ideal"live aboard" vessel for short trips and small groups.

Photos by Peter & Marie Loizides

Billericay Sub Aqua Club


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