2000

My first dive in Dover (my dive 217) was on the Dover Harbour Outer West Wall next to Shakespeare Beach on 4th June with Chris Baker and Chris Dorrell. I had a hangover from the previous evenings “over indulgence”! We had to kit up some distance from the beach and the walk to the shore did not make me feel any better! Sea conditions began to deteriorate and as we dropped down onto the seabed, we discovered that the visibility was only around 0.3 metres. After 15 minutes Chris Dorrell became separated from Chris Baker and I. We all surfaced and the dive was aborted. Diving Dover Harbour West Wall could only get better! My next dive on the wall (my dive 245) was on 6th July with my regular dive buddy, Graeme “Spotty” Hastings. When diving Dover Harbour Outer West Wall, divers have to be careful not to get caught in fishermen’s lines and have to be mindful of a current into the inner harbour that grows stronger as divers get closer to the harbour entrance. Given the volume of surface traffic entering the harbour, any diver swept into the entrance from the outer west wall risks serious injury. On this dive, Spotty and I finned a long way along the outer wall and had to fight the current at our furthest point of our dive. Returning three further times in July (my dives 248, 249 and 251) with Spotty and again with Chris Dorrell (my dive 252) I filmed the resident common lobsters and other local sealife with my video camera. My final dive of the year on 27th August (my dive 260) at Dover Harbour West Wall was with Richard Preston who I had first met when diving in Grand Cayman the previous year. The visibility at 3 to 4 metres was pretty good by local standards. Highlights of our dive were a common cuttlefish, a concentrated shoal of small fry which formed a black wall in the water and also, to enliven a fisherman’s day, a careful tug on a fishing line!

2002

I did not dive Dover Harbour West Wall again until two years later, on 19th October 2002 (my dive 571) when once again Spotty was my buddy. Although the visibility was only 0.5 metres we saw ten lobsters.

2003

In August I did two consecutive dives (my dives 712 and 713) on Dover Harbour West Wall. The first of these dives was with Paul Hymers of Ashford Dive Club. In visibility of 2 to 4 metres we saw numerous lobsters. Two days later I dived the wall with Svenja Hickson of Ashford Dive Club. Paul Lyons and Dee Smith of Ashford Dive Club intended to dive with us and various members of Channel Dive Club of Hythe, Kent also arrived at the site. However the sea conditions were quite rough. Paul had left his drysuit at home and ultimately only Svenja and I ventured into the water. Predictably we were rewarded with many lobster sightings. Less of a reward for Svenja was a warning notice left on her car. Being a gentleman I have obscured Svenja’s car registration number on my website photograph of this notice! In September I enjoyed another two consecutive dives (my dives 717 and 718) on Dover Harbour West Wall. The first of these dives was with Chris Powell of Ashford Dive Club. Rather spookily, in visibility of 1 metre we came across a dead eel attached to a fishing line as bait. Two days later I enjoyed a superb night dive on the wall with Spotty, Chris Powell and Svenja Hickson. Highlights of the dive were flatfish, tompot blennies, an eel, lobsters, juvenile squid, red mullet and a pipefish.

2004

In April, Spotty, Dee Smith and I dived the wall twice (my dives 824 and 825) giving me the opportunity to use my Typhoon Icebreaker body warmer for the first time. The visibility on the second was a surprisingly good 5 metres enabling us to see much more of the dive site than usual and plenty of fishlife including a large cuttlefish. Dive 718 excepted, this was most enjoyable dive todate on Dover Harbour West Wall. In May, Spotty and I dived the wall (my dive 827) with Ashford Dive Club members Paul Hymers, Dee Smith and Tim Sheerman-Chase. We came across a 65 to 70 cm long dogfish lying on the seabed clearly in poor health. It had a hook in its mouth to which a small length of fishing line was still attached. While I held the dogfish, Spotty carefully removed the hook and the dogfish then swam off, still in distress. In June I did two consecutive dives (my dives 829 and 830) on the wall. Spotty accompanied me on my dive 829, this being the first time that I used my Olympus C5050 digital compact camera in the UK. In visibility of 3 metres, the main fish highlight were sea scorpions. Paul Hymers and Simon Powell of Ashford Dive Club joined me for my dive 830. Finning along the wall I suddenly came face to face with a large squid with immediately did a 180 degree turn and rapidly disappeared. In July I again did two consecutive dives my dives 886 and 887 on this site. Spotty and I met up early for dive 886 and were in the water by 5.51 am. As ever there were plenty of lobsters to look at, one lobster had no claws at all and another, at our turnaround point, was caught in a fishing line. I tried to release it but without a knife was unable to help it. Unfortunately Spotty had already turned back. I felt bad about abandoning it to its fate. Dive 887, my first dive with my new Olympus 5060 digital compact camera was another early morning dive on the wall, this time with Chris Baker and Dee Smith as well as Spotty. I enjoyed five dives on the wall in August. My dive 889 was with Channel Dive Club, my dive buddy being Suzanne Barnes. The main fish highlights were a juvenile and an adult squid. My dive 890 was with Nick Gittings of Ashford Dive Club in poor visibility. My Dive 891 was with Nick and Paul Hymers, again in poor visibility but we did see a cuttlefish. I was in the water at 6.45 am for dive 893 with Paul, Spotty and Dee and 6.53 am for dive 894 with Nick. Such dedication! My Ashford Dive Club buddy Chris Powell enjoys telling people how I managed to lose a dive hood on a Grand Cayman dive with him - on my fifth August Dover Harbour West Wall dive (my dive 896) I lost one of my fins! Ashford Dive Club members’ Steve Springett and Nick and Audrey Gittings met me by the wall on a day with a heavy swell. Nick and I intended to do a two hour dive and Nick had brought two 15 litre tanks, two BCDs and two sets of regulators. Our plan was leave one BCD, tank and regulators in the shallows so that after an hour, Nick could return to the shallows and switch his BCDs etc. The plan unravelled straight away. In the large swell I found it tricky to carry my camera and Nicks spare BCD into the water while of course already in my own dive kit. A wave pulled one of my fins off and despite an extensive search I could not find it. Fortunately I was able to borrow a pair to continue the dive. Nick and I came across some dead squid in the shallows which presumably had been used as bait by fishermen. In September I dived the wall three times, my dives 904, 905 and 938. After an Ashford Dive Club trip aboard Taurus Cat in search of the wreck of a Second World War Heinkel He111 aircraft was abandoned, Nick and I decided to do a shore dive at Dover Harbour West Wall instead. The guidelines that I and all the other divers that I knew, used for diving the wall was to dive it between one hour before and two hours after high tide. However we began my dive 904 three hours after high tide. Naturally Nick and I considered this far too late to begin the dive but we were so frustrated at having spend the best part of a day aboard Taurus Cat without a dive, that we went ahead anyway. We were pleasantly surprised by the visibility which in places was 4 metres. Two years later Chris Webb of Shorncliffe Dive Centre queried “the guidelines” suggesting to me 3 to 4 hours after high tide would produce better visibility. I now think he is right. Unfortunately in September 2004 I thought nothing more of it and just carried on diving the wall between one hour before and two hours after high tide. Nick Gittings was my intended buddy for dive 905. I met Tim at the site who was planning to dive with Audrey Gittings. We telephoned Nick and Audrey and agreed with them that Tim and I would begin the dive before them and then switch buddies once they joined us underwater. Nick and Audrey were then delayed and I did not see Nick until 90 minutes into the dive! This was a fabulous dive ultimately lasting 140 minutes. The undoubted highlights were two cuttlefish. Poor Tim was “hooked” by a fisherman while I photographed one of the cuttlefish oblivious to Tim’s fate! My next dive on the wall (my dive 938) was with Spotty in September. With visibility of just 0.5 to 0.75 metres and quite a strong current, it was a disappointing dive. My last dive of the year on the wall (my dive 943) was in November. Again it was with Spotty and this time with visibility of 0.15 metres the dive was not disappointing – it was dreadful! Even with a torch I could not read my dive computer.

2005

The underwater visibility on my next dive (my dive 1022) on the wall was a bit better but not much. Just 0.4 to 0.5 metres! An Ashford Dive Club Easter Bank holiday dive with Dee Smith, Chris Powell, Svenja Hickson, Dominic Bright and Spotty Hastings, the happiest divers were probably Richard and Libby Everett who had colds and stayed out of the water. The following Dover shore dive in June (my dive 1058) was on the Prince of Wales Pier; my first Dover shore dive not on Dover Harbour West Wall. Richard Everett of Ashford Dive Club had organised a 24-hour club dive inside Dover Harbour in aid of Mencap, raising the grand sum of £2694. I spent 86 minutes underwater with Dee Smith and Chris Powell in visibility of between 0.3 to 0.5 metres. My next six dives in June (my dives 1059 to 1064 inclusive) were all Dover Harbour West Wall dives. I saw numerous lobsters and tompot blennies and on my dive 1061, a sea scorpion. Three of these dives were solo dives, although on one solo dive I met many of my friends from Channel Dive Club underwater and the other three dives were with Paul Hymers. In July I did five dives on the wall (my dives 1069 to 1073 inclusive) in visibility that varied from 1.5 to 2.5 metres. Three dives were solo dives; one was with Spotty and the other with Chris Powell. Fish highlights were tompot blennies, pipefish and common lobsters. Between August 2nd and September 2nd I did 10 consecutive dives on the wall (my dives 1076 to 1085 inclusive) my enthusiasm having been generated by visibility of 5 to 8 metres on the first of these dives. Fish highlights were tompot blennies, a compass jellyfish, a butterfish, bass, an eel, and common lobsters. Of course the good visibility did not last long and in the final 6 dives, the best visibility I enjoyed was 2 metres. Nick Gittings joined me on one dive, Chris Baker and Spotty on another and the rest were solo dives although I did meet some fellow Channel Divers underwater on dive 1079. On dive 1078, a particularly inquisitive tompot blenny peered settled on the back of my hand and then started trying to bite a loose thread attached to my underwater camera. When eventually I began to move along the wall the tompot blenny followed me and even got in the way as I tried to take a photograph of another subject. On dive 1079, I came across three mackerel caught on a discarded fisherman’s line. Two were still alive and seemed to welcome me removing them from the fisherman’s hooks and then swam away. Chris and Spotty collected a substantial amount of lead during their dive with me and then struggled to carry it back, Chris running out of air as he reached the shallows. My final Dover Harbour West Wall dive of the year (my dive 1121) in November was with Chris Powell. The visibility varied from 0.3 to 1 metre and it was a disappointing dive.

2006

My first Dover Harbour West Wall dive of 2006 (my dive 1223) in April was again with Chris Powell and the underwater visibility was once more disappointing, being 0.5 to 0.75 metres. This was a great shame as in addition to the usual sealife on the wall, we saw a male lumpsucker, a sea scorpion and a dogfish. Chris and I returned a week later with Richard Everett (my dive 1225) hoping for better visibility and that the lumpsucker and dogfish would still be on the wall. The visibility was actually worse and we could not find either subject although Richard did see a cuttlefish. Chris and I tried again (my dive 1226) the next day with Svenja with a similar outcome. Another week later in early May, Chris and I searched again (my dive 1227) and this time I did locate the lumpsucker. However the visibility was only 0.5 metres at this point of the dive and the lumpsucker was facing into the wall, presenting only its tail to my camera lens. In July (my dive 1261) I returned for a solo dive with my new Nikon D200 digital SLR to find out if I could use the 105mm macro lens in an auto focus port in English waters. The answer was no, the visibility being too bad. I experimented with the night lights on my flash guns hoping that the additional light might enable the camera’s autofocus to lock on to subject but to no avail and I spent a very frustrating hour underwater. A week later (my dive 1262) I again solo dived the wall although Chris Powell and his buddy Dave Morgan were somewhere on the wall as well. In one metres visibility it was difficult to tell! In September I did five dives on Dover Harbour West Wall. With the water by now a balmy 18 degrees Celsius, the first four were all over one hundred minutes and the first of these (my dive 1317) was with Paul Hymers. As ever we stuck to the accepted practise of diving between 1 hour before High Tide and 2 hours afterwards and as usual the visibility was poor being 1.5 to 2.5 metres. But then Chris Webb of Shorncliffe Dive Centre, Folkestone suggested diving 3 to 3 ½ hours after High Tide. And when I tried this (my dive 1320) I was amazed at the results. I began this solo dive 2 hours and 7 minutes after High Tide concluding it one minute short of 4 hours after High Tide. Throughout the dive the visibility was excellent. At 8 to 10 metres it was the best visibility that I had experienced at Dover Harbour West Wall and transformed the dive site for me. I suspect that conditions were good anyway but on this dive I could see detail I had never seen before. Time and again I spotted fish that normally I am sure I would have missed. Fish highlights of this dive were tompot blennies, common lobsters, a black goby, cuttlefish, spiny squat lobsters and an injured shore rockling which disappeared before I could photograph it. The next day there was a moderate breeze from the west, the worst possible angle for Dover Harbour West Wall but diving 2 hours 29 minutes after High Tide and concluding it 4 hours 22 minutes after High Tide, the visibility on this solo dive (my dive 1321) was still an impressive 5 to 8 metres. I came across a Corkwing Wrasse hooked on a discarded fishing line and freed it. It seemed to be alright but then lay rested on a ledge as though needing to recover. Fish highlights included common lobsters, a pipefish, a leach’s spider crab, tompot blennies, dragonets, spiny squat lobsters and in the shallows a pair of common cuttlefish. The next day the wind from the west had grown stronger, there was a moderate to heavy swell and during the course of my solo dive (my dive 1322) the wind grew stronger. The swell increased in strength and I could feel it even at depth of 6 to 7 metres. But given the combination of particularly clear water and my later diving time, the visibility was still an excellent 5 to 8 metres. Fish highlights again included common lobsters, tompot blennies, dragonets, spiny squat lobsters a pair of common cuttlefish in the shallows and two pipefish. Returning to the wall a week later for another solo dive (my dive 1325) I entered the water 3 hours and 3 minutes after High Tide. The visibility was 2 to 2.5 metres from which I concluded that although the visibility was no doubt much better than if I had dived between 1 hour before High Tide and 2 hours afterwards, this had only been one of the factors contributing to the superb visibility earlier in the month. Apart from my unsuccessful dive with my 105mm macro lens in an auto focus port on the wall in July (my dive 1261) all my Nikon D200 Dover Harbour West Wall dives so far had been with my 60mm lens. Although this lens had proved ideal for subjects such as tompot blennies, other subjects such as common lobsters or common cuttlefish were simply too big. I either had to take the photograph well away from the subject, reducing the quality of the image or only take part of the subject. After seeking advice I decided to use my existing 17-55mm lens which I had purchased for land photography, in a 20mm dome port with a +4 dioptre, the idea being that this would give me good optical quality, a good close-up focus and a reasonably compact rig. And this setup worked well on this dive, the highlight of which was a brief encounter with a cuttlefish near the dive entrance. In October I dived Dover Harbour West Wall three times. Using my 17-55mm lens with a +4 dioptre, (my dive 1328) I searched without success for the common cuttlefish. The visibility at the beginning of the dive was at least 3 metres but after about 40 minutes a heavy swell developed, probably as a result of a large boat passing close by and the visibility dropped to at best 2 metres. I repeated this solo dive (my dive 1331) five days later but in 2 to 3 metres visibility could not find the cuttlefish. And I searched again another day later (my dive 1332) with Rick Stewart of Ashford Dive Club in what proved to be my last Dover Harbour West Wall dive of 2006. In visibility of 2 metres I could not find the cuttlefish and reluctantly concluded that they were no longer on the dive site.