It was supposed to be a great days diving but most of July has been wiped out by the bad weather. ……….What has become the annual trip to Portsmouth for the YD Pompey Gig turned out to be a bit of a washout this year. Originally I was meant to be diving on the Friday 20th and Monday 23rd of this weekend extravaganza but had to pull out as I wasn’t certain I would be available. Due to a couple of last minute spaces on the Monday though I went out to do the Highland Brigade.

Arriving at Gosport marina half an hour before the agreed meet time I slowly got my kit out from the car and into the trolleys to take down to the boat Trojan, now skippered by Lee. It was at this point that I realised I had left my torch switched on and drained the battery down, not a good start but I had a back up HID torch so I was going to be fine.

After meeting up with everyone else and completing some major on the fly blending for Steve after a bit of a mix up on the calculations we were off, with the warning from Lee, “it might be a bit choppy on the way out”…….

After an hour of bouncing up and down and ploughing through the waves, we paused a couple of miles out to assess the situation, it was very borderline as to whether or not it would be safe to get back on the boat. Perhaps with a lift and a bit of protection leeward of the waves it would have been possible, but Trojan was being kicked high at the stern and then crashing down. The sensible decision was taken, it was a little too borderline and erring on the side of safety we turned and headed back to the marina. So no dive today but the wreck will be there another day. To top things off I even managed to suffer the mal de mer on the way back, after we had past all the big swell.

Back to the marina, got in the car, phoned work to come back in so as to save a bit of leave, and the place is threatened by the River Thames. Perhaps the lesson to learn is don’t go trying to go diving when the rest of south is being threatened with flood warnings from the excessive weather!!!

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Dive 2 Mohegan and Raglans Reef. Depth 25m, Run time 35 minutes.

After the stunning visibility of the City of Ghent, the vis was maybe a little disappointing on the second dive of the day which was back on the Mohegan and Raglans Reef. Lisa decided to sit this one out as her suit had leaked again and although she was still nice and warm she didn’t want to chill going in on the second dive. So I was buddied with Tim Ingmire of digigreen.net fame and Mark Milburn . Both photographers, so I imagined that I would end up losing one of both of them, as they stopped to take pictures on what I knew was going to be a very colourful reef. I was half right, on reaching the sea bed after a free ascent over the Mohegan, Tim and I had lost Mark already, however Tim and I managed to stay together for the rest of the dive. We stayed for a few minutes over the Mohegan but were soon onto Raglans. As Tim had his camera with him, I took on the SMB duty, and duly deployed my bag as we drifted off the wreck. This time I stayed purposely to the left of the reef, so as to keep out of the kelp and on the more exposed element of the reef which would show off the jewel anemones as they filtered the passing current. After drifting over the exposed faces for 15 minutes or so, I was surprised that we hadn’t stopped more, I had only seen Tim set up once for a shot and had expected to see the strobes going off a little more, as the reef was in excellent colour and splendor. After a few minutes more it became apparent to me why Tim wasn’t taking any shots. I had stopped for him to catch me up, the vis was a good 8-10m so wasn’t difficult to see him, as he got closer I noticed his camera upturned and Tim holding it very steady. It was only then that I saw the dome port full of water. I am sure I gave out a little yelp, as I realised his camera setup was flooded. I signalled to abort the dive and ascend, to which he agreed and we ascended slowly back to the awaiting Celtic Cat.

And that was that, the last remaining task for us as a family was to pack up and head home. The rest of the group who were staying on for Sunday started the BBQ, by the time the tent was down and the car and trailer packed, it was well and truly underway. Although all of the scallops had gone!!!! So we bid farewell to everyone and headed off home. Four or so hours later a weary family pulled up at the house, well probably I was just weary, everyone else had slept the entire journey!

I love diving Porthkerris, especially when the sea conditions are as they were this past weekend. This season Mike Anselmo, skipper and owner of the Celtic Cat has invested (and a superb investment it is too) in a purpose built two diver lift which nestles in between the two water level dive platforms at the rear of the Catamaran. I really cannot over emphasize just how good this lift is. It comes deep in the water allowing exceptionally easy access and is smooth and jerkfree in it’s operation. Chatting with Mike on Saturday he explained how already this year, he has been able to go out in heavier swells than he would previously because of the ease of operation of this lift. I can see how.

In addition Mike has also fitted 3 kitting up benches, that make life so much easier on board particularly with twinsets and stages. This was previously a very good dive boat, mainly because of it’s skipper and the space on board. But since the introduction of the lift and the benches, it is now an excellent dive boat.

To book Celtic Cat, or any of the rib dives or camping and shore dives visit http://www.porthkerris.com/

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