Diving in Portland (UK) on the Countess of Erne
Had a great weekends diving in Portland on the Countess of Erne.
Went with a group of friends http://www.divecrew.co.uk that were doing a wreck course. I was lucky enough to be invited along, I did my wreck course in Bonaire under very different conditions, i.e. the water was crystal clear, warm and I wasn’t in a dry suit.
I’ve only done a handful of dives in the UK and I’m keen to see if UK diving’s as good as everybody say’s it is. So hopefully as well as diving aboard I’m planning on doing more UK dives this year.
Weather was fantastic, 1st dive vis wasn't so good and I was focusing on gear and equipment checks as well as navigation, air, depth and buddy awareness. 2nd dive was ten times better; vis was much better and felt much more comfortable.
1st Days diving this year and in the UK. It was great fun but doesn’t compare to warm water diving.
Second day’s diving 3rd dive, we started at 09:00 but their was already a rib out on the wreck so unfortunately the vis was pretty bad down to between 1 & 3 meters. We had a great dive though and the group doing the course gathered lots of information on the wreck under some pretty difficult conditions. 4th dive was also very demanding with respects to visibility down to between 0 & 2 meters, the guys doing their wreck course did fantastic they all managed to tie off and safely penetrate the wreck in buddy pairs. It was essentially a swim through but was ideal for using the techniques they had learnt. I decided not to as there was nothing to be gained for me. Whenever I dive I tend only to dive so see fish and photograph or enjoy the sensation of being able to move in 3D if you know what I mean.
All in all a great weekends diving with a great group of people. I learnt loads diving in bad visibility; it’s great for confidence and building on diving technique. Looking forward to my next UK dive, hopefully in better visibility.
