2007
In August fellow Ashford Dive Club members Rick Stewart and Dave Woods travelled with me from Kent to spend a day in Dorset diving Kimmeridge Bay, Swanage Pier and Dorset’s most popular wreck The Kyarra. We dived Kimmeridge Bay first then made our way to Swnanage where we boarded Mary Jo for the short trip to The Kyarra, ¾ of a mile offshore of the Anvil Point Lighthouse for my dive 1486. Thankfully the sea was calm and with 4 to 5 metres visibility, I thoroughly enjoyed the dive. Returning to Swanage, we then dived the pier, Dave and Rick unintentionally diving the old pier as well! The highlight of this dive was a sea hare, only the second one I had seen. My wife, Eve, spent the following month in Kings College Hospital, London. Rather than return home every night from my daily visit, I sometimes spent the night in Dorset instead, logging three early morning long dives in Kimmeridge Bay and six under Swanage Pier. Graeme “Spotty” Hastings joined me for the first of these, my dive 1495. Together we saw numerous sea hares, maybe twenty. My other five September pier dives were all early morning solo dives, the last being both my 1500th dive and my 13th consecutive 100 minute plus dive.
2008
In July Eve and I celebrated her birthday in Swanage with my dive buddy Richard Preston and his wife Ann. I managed to sneak in two long solo dives under Swanage Pier, my dives 1553 and 1554. There was no sign of sea hares this time but I did see male yellow triplefin blennies.