On the dive with me was Dave Howard and Andy Kingston. Today we drove just over an hour from Tiverton to Bridport, parked up on the esplanade west of the breakwater for max three hours (£1 per hour) for a shore done a little before the 1610 high water.
We had a good space near where we parked on the promenade to kit up and not in the way of the mildly interested land lubbers. We found the harbour master (and air filling station!) at the other end of the promenade and told her of our intentions. We wanted to take a bearing off the end of the breakwater, swim 50m out, then swim West 100m where there is apparently a petrified forest, and then swim North back to shore.
We got in about 3pm, surface swam for ten minutes until we got to the end of the breakwater (whilst being encircled by a jet ski), and close to the end of the breakwater we picked up a strong current. Although we were close to HW it was still enough to pull us round. We changed the plan and decided to swim back along the breakwater towards shore. Visibility wasn't as good as JR had reported, it was about 2 or 3 m.
I struggled to get down. I was getting exhausted fighting the offshore current and finning downward, at the same time getting my upward protruding find tangled in the smb line. Dave and Andy kindly lent me 1kg each, which made a world of difference and gave me almost perfect buoyancy! We had also reached the point of the breakwater where the current was shoreward directed and worked in our favour.
There wasn't much to see unfortunately. We all saw one fish, Dave and Andy saw a crab. Out in the bay appeared to be just sand - and i had read reviews that this was the case, and that there wasn't anything to see that way.
I'm glad i planned a dive here, as i now know not to again! The same probably applies to Seatown but i think I'll still arrange a trip there to make sure. It may be worth planning ahead and getting one of the many charter boats that go out of West Bay, where we can do some deeper diving and see new places.
