Chesil Beach, Portland - 13th Aug 2000

After spending the previous evening at Mark P's dinner party and Bar Humbug by the waterfront, it was time for the 08:30 rendezvous on a sunny Sunday morning at the transport cafe down in the Cumberland Basin. We got a phone call from Mark at 08:35 saying that him and his gang were not coming as they were all still comatose (silly sods !).

Anyway, Matt and his family, along with Ali and I made our way down the A37 to Weymouth. the choice was either Weymouth, Portland Harbour or Chesil Beach. As the weather was now a torrential downpour with a moderate wind, we settled for the beach.

The rain laid off while we were suiting up which was just as well as it was a long haul to the water over a huge bank of pebbles. We were trying to reach the 'Royal Adelaide' and had taken the bearing as suggested in the 'Dive Dorset' book that I had bought from Parry's scuba centre down the beach.

After a rather precarious backwards walk into the surf, we eventually managed to get out far enough so the waves didn't crash us straight back onto the pebbles. It was then dive to save energy as it was hard work on the surface. Visibility was fairly good and the bottom was a nice gradient down to 15m or so.....

There was not much wildlife at first, just an increasing amount of debris which meant we were nearing some wreck or other. Found a huge lobster which was taunting Matt from his hidey-hole as well as a plaice that was just lying there, perfectly camouflaged, until Matt discarded a shell that dropped right onto it causing it to move slightly. It took of at a hell of a rate when Matt put his hand near it.

Something loomed up at us. It was not the Adelaide but one of the old steam boilers from the 'Nor'. We were 120 yards adrift of the 'Adelaide'. However, this 5m-diameter cylindrical boiler was a haven for all sorts of wildlife. I would recommend visiting this but take a torch !! Everything looks a bit dull but there are huge fish as well as the smaller ones, scavenging along the rusted metal.

We surfaced to check our bearings, said 'hello' to the coastguard helicopter as it flew overhead and went down again. We knew as we approaching the beach as the swell did its best to dash us into the pebbles again. The landing was the most undignified yet ! With the SMB line coiled around every bit of my kit, the only way I could land was wait for a wave to fling me up the pebbles and then make a fast hands-and-knees crawl. It took a good five minutes.

.....And it was chucking it down. Ali, who had stayed on shore (just in case) was soaked and frozen.

We filled up with air but decided to call it a day as it was getting on for 3o'clock and we still had over an hour of surface interval to complete.

We will return, the Adelaide will be found !!!