The weather and location provided a perfect weekend for diving off Swanage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Getting ready!<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n Saturday morning involved a high-speed drift over the Peverel Ledges<\/strong> (50 36.4N 001 56.0W) or there abouts! Exhilarating to say the least. To quote some divers: \u2018Lots of \u2018red-stuff\u2019 (red algae) whizzing by! The lee of the ledges provided quiet water where numerous fish swam up and down and appeared from the nooks and crannies. These less disturbed south facing surfaces abounded with sponges, bryozoans, algae etc. Photography was challenging as everything went past quickly!<\/p>\n\n\n\n Click here for a gallery of images.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n In the afternoon, one of two shallow dives within the bay over the almost parallel reefs made of rocks from the Lower Purbeck & Portland that run almost straight off-shore at 50\u00b0 37.044\u2019 N; 1\u00b0 56.049\u2019W (Google Earth<\/em> shows these quite clearly). Rich and diverse and with the water clarity, dominated by algae of shapes and sizes, particularly the reds. On returning from this dive the air still in the cylinders was used-up on a tour beneath Swanage Pier and surrounding seabed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Click here for a gallery of images<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Sunday morning saw a corker of a day again and a quick trip out to the wreck of the Betsy Anna<\/a><\/strong>, at 50\u00b036.979 N; 001\u00b049.964 W, only briefly interrupted by a \u2018test\u2019 of the emergency engine cut-off. Quite a few other divers were about but once submerged only two were spotted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n