19th April 2026 – Collaborative dive with Polden

This weekend, three of our club members joined forces with Polden Divers for a trip out of West Bay.

A nice leisurely start to the day with a meet time of 09:15. After loading the boat with kit, we departed West Bay Harbour and headed in the direction of Lyme Regis to find the wreck of the Baygitano.

The sea was flat calm, apart from one sudden wave that appeared from nowhere. On arrival at the site, the shot was readied for deployment. It is always good to work with other clubs and see their different ways of operating. Polden use an anchor and chain with rope on a drum, as opposed to our set rope lengths and very heavy weight.

Our three divers went in first. The water was a little murky on the descent as the May bloom is starting to arrive, but once we reached the bottom of the shot line, we found the wreck around 6-8m away and proceeded to explore.

Visibility was a surprising 4-5m, far better than expected, although there were still a few particles in the water. As normal on this wreck, it was inundated with fish-shaped objects. Species identified included eel, lobster, crayfish and, as was pointed out afterwards, a male cuckoo wrasse.

Fifty minutes were spent on the dive, with a water temperature of around 11 degrees.

The two Polden divers entered the water after we had recovered to the boat. Unfortunately, one of them experienced problems with their mask, and, after two attempts, they aborted the dive.

The plan had been to complete the first dive, return to West Bay for lunch and cylinder changes, and then head back out for a second dive.

However, on entering the mouth of West Bay Harbour, we discovered that someone had apparently removed all the water and replaced it with a beach. With insufficient depth to get the boat into the harbour, we had to get out and walk the boat around the sandbanks before walking ourselves across until we could be picked up again in deeper water.

With the boat back on the pontoon and the tide unfortunately still falling, we were unable to relaunch for the second dive. Instead, we gently packed up before consuming coffee and chips and heading home.

A great collaborative day with a local club, enabling both clubs to get out diving.