1999
My first dive in my home town of Folkestone, Kent, only my second UK dive, was at The Riviera, Folkestone on 2nd August with Chris Baker, my dive 132. The sea temperature was warmer than I had expected, 18-20º but the poor visibility at 0.6 to 0.7 metres was quite a shock. Having been used to diving in the Red Sea I was also surprised when Chris happily picked up a crab and waved it at me. After only 11 minutes Chris aborted the dive and whether by intent or not concluded the dive on the local nudist beach. Chris suggested that we try The Esplanade dive site instead where the visibility might be better and was right although I had to concentrate on keeping close to him to avoid buddy separation. A few weeks later I returned to The Esplanade (my dive 134) to dive with Chris and my-soon-to-be regular UK dive buddy, Graeme “Spotty” Hastings. Fish highlights included my first UK sighting of an eel and a lobster. It was also the first time I had seen divers with a supermarket basket when Chris and Spotty carried in order to collect “dive trophies”. Spotty and I dived The Esplanade again a week later (my dive 136) and in October Chris and I returned to the dive site for my 150th dive. It was also my 100th hour underwater and at 80 minutes my longest dive to date. To celebrate and despite Chris’s hangover, we took two 50ml bottles of Absolut vodka and Absolut Citron which we drank towards the end of the dive. Unfortunately I managed to drink plenty of salt water as well!
2000
On 11th May I again dived the Esplanade in Sandgate, Folkestone, my dive 214, this time with Chris Baker and Chris Durrell. Fish highlights included two or three pairs of cuttlefish and a rubber snake attack from Chris Baker, Chris having hidden the rubber snake in his BCD. The following month I again dived the Esplanade, this time with Spotty, my dive 218. My direct-feed inflator on my BCD kept sticking, slowly inflating my BCD so I had to disconnect it altogether. On 29th June I dive the Riviera with Chris Baker, my dive 243. This 73 minute dive began as a dusk dive, ending in the dark and the main fish highlight was a small sea scorpion. On 17th July I dived the site of The Victoria Pier off Marine Promenade, Folkestone with Spotty, my dive 247. The Victoria Pier opened in 1888, in 1945 a fire destroyed the Pier Pavilion and the last significant remains of the pier were removed in 1954. Spotty and I next dived The Riviera in Folkestone, my dive 250 and then in August I dived the Esplanade seven times, my dives 253 to 259 inclusive. On the first of these dives Spotty and I saw a common cuttlefish, a metre long conger eel and a couple of lobsters. I also found a recently cut rope, which led to a chain which in turn led to a large anchor. We tried to lift the anchor but it was too heavy and we had to abandon it. The next day we returned with Chris Baker and Chris Durrell with the intention of recovering the anchor. We spotted a pair of cuttlefish but in visibility of 0.5 to 1.0 metres became separated from Chris Baker and Chris Durrell. They had found and marked the anchor with a buoy and discussing this post-dive, we agreed that the four of us would return back to the buoy even though the light was fading and the wind was picking up. We finned out to the buoy but the conditions became too difficult to recover the anchor and we were forced to return to the shore. Chris Baker, Chris Durrell and I looked for the anchor again three days later. We found another cuttlefish but there was no sign of the anchor. So a week later Chris Baker, Chris Durrell, Spotty and I took a rope with us with the intention of searching the sea bed in a grid pattern, using the rope to maintain a constant distance between the four of us. Once again all we found was a cuttlefish. I dived the Esplanade on 24th August with Chris Baker and Chris Durrell and then on 26th August with Richard Preston and Spotty Hastings. Two further dives at The Esplanade with Chris and Spotty (my dives 261 and 262) completed my local shore diving for the year.
2001
On 27th May (my dive 347) Spotty and I dived the Esplanade, Spotty being unable to resist attacking me with a crab. The next day Spotty and I had attempted the same dive but the sea conditions were rough and Spotty felt unwell so we had to abort the dive while still on the sea surface. However the following day Spotty felt better and together with Chris Baker we dived Seabrook Point (my dive 348) and were lucky enough to see a lumpsucker. Chris Baker and I dived Seabrook Point two days later and once again Chris could not resist the opportunity to attack me with a large crab. In June I did six consecutive dives at Seabrook Point, dives 350 to 355 inclusive. The first of these were with Spotty, the second of which was a night dive when we were fortunate enough to see both a lumpsucker and a conger eel. The following dive was with Chris Dorrell and we again saw a small conger eel. Chris Baker and I both got stung by jellyfish on the next dive and I again saw a small conger eel on the following night dive with Spotty. The highlight of this dive was a juvenile cuttlefish the size of a thumbnail. The last of this sequence of Seabrook Point dives was yet again with Spotty and we set ourselves the target of our first-ever 100 minute dive, planning to drift as far as Sandgate Castle from Seabrook Point. In fact we only covered about 0.5 miles but at 101 minutes it was my longest dive to date. The following day I dived (my dive 356) the site of The Victoria Pier at Marine Promenade with Anita Coward and Stefan Heathfield of Channel Divers. One week later Spotty and I returned to Seabrook Point (my dive 357). We found two lobsters, one of which was hidden under a large rock. Spotty poked away trying to get it to come out from under the rock when suddenly it came in my direction. I followed it as it went in search of a new hiding place. It meandered along the sea bed around various rocks trapped in my torch’s spotlight. I realised that Spotty had not followed me and with the poor visibility and the constant change of direction by the lobster I doubted whether I would be able to find my way back to Spotty. I carried on following the lobster which eventually gave up searching for a new home. Sure enough, I was lost! However the lobster then began making its way back to its original rock. Spotty was still there having waited patiently under the impression that the lobster had never left the rock and might come out at any moment. On 5th July Spotty, Chris Dorrell and I enjoyed a late night dive at Seabrook Point which concluded just 10 minutes before midnight. We drifted eastwards for 90 minutes, the current gradually picking up until eventually we covered a distance of 0.7 miles underwater. Highlights of this dive included three common lobsters, a snake pipefish, male lumpsuckers, long spined sea scorpions and grey mullet. Spotty picked up two of the lobsters and “attacked” Chris and I with them, their pincers snapping angrily. Not satisfied, Spotty sneaked up behind Chris and I with a large crab and dropped it on us. After the dive I lost no time in heading for home, unaware that poor Chris had lost the key to his car’s steering wheel lock! On 29th July Spotty and I again enjoyed a night dive (my dive 399) at Seabrook Point and then on 1st August returned to Seabrook Point determined to make this a special dive. It was Spotty’s birthday and it was also my 400th dive. We both took 15 litre tanks and I also had a 3 litre pony. With the extra air I started the dive alone but hung around near the entry point with a surface marker buoy watching two juvenile squid. After half an hour Spotty finned out to the marker buoy and dropped down to join me and we then began a drift eastwards to Parade Road in Sandgate. At 153 minutes it was my longest dive to date both in terms of time and distance drifted. Spotty and I saw numerous plaice, a few small topknots, small common dragonets and other fish highlights include a long spined sea scorpion, a gurnard, more juvenile squid and at the end of the dive a shoal of seven small cuttlefish. To conclude the celebrations I took with me two plastic syringes containing Amaretto, the syringes capped and sealed in plastic bags. While we completed our Safety Stops we toasted ourselves with Amaretto. On 18th August I dived (my dive 404) the site of The Victoria Pier again with Anita Coward and Stefan Heathfield and managed to get caught in a fisherman’s hook. On 26th August Chris Dorrell and Spotty and I once again dived (my dive 405) Seabrook Point and were fortunate enough to see a sea scorpion. On 5th September I once again dived Seabrook Point (my dive 409), this time with Stefan Heathfield and Steve Hill of Channel Divers. On 4th November I dived Seabrook Point for the last time in 2001 (my dive 439), this time with Chris Dorrell and Chris Baker. Chris wore his new Divator Mark II full face mask, while Chris suffering from a hangover spent much of the dive collecting lead weights as we gradually drifted eastwards.
2002
On 5th April Spotty and I dived Seabrook Point (my dive 492) in dreadful visibility - just 0.1 to 0.2 metres. After 11 minutes a thumb pointing towards the surface appeared against my mask. Spotty felt we should abort the dive and I was only too happy to agree. During June to August I did 12 consecutive dives at Seabrook Point, my dives 525 to 536 inclusive. Spotty accompanied me on all of these dives bar the last one. Chris Dorrell joined us for the second dive and Chris Baker for the ninth dive. Our dive on 1st August was Spotty’s birthday and we decided to celebrate this by making it a long dive, taking not only our 15 litre tanks but also 3 litre ponies as well. I had tried on a number of previous occasions to locate the wreck of the Bienvenue off Seabrook, a wreck that can either be dived by a long fin from the shore or by boat. Taking its grid reference from “Dive Kent” and using www.streetmap.co.uk I was able to get its rough location. Armed with a 50 metre reel we planned a systematic underwater search beginning with a long 20 minute fin out from Seabrook Point to a position directly in front of Bar Vasa, Seabrook. Graeme lined up a transit of the last house on the sea side of Sandgate High Street with Sandgate Memorial and we dropped down from the surface to the sea bed below. Unbelievably we landed directly on the remains of the wreck. Little more than an hour before a high tide of 5.7 metres, what was left of the wreck lay at a depth of around 12 to 13 metres. The silt of the sea bed disturbed easily and after a while I became rather bored looking at the remains of the Bienvenue and so to amuse myself finned up current of Spotty and then began deliberately stirring up the silt. This began to drift towards Spotty, eventually engulfing him completely. Spotty was unaware that I was the cause of the blackout and I laughed so much that my mask flooded. Apologetically I then gave Spotty his birthday card, laminated to protect it against the water. Fish highlights were a common lobster, a gurnard and a juvenile squid. During dive 253 with Chris Baker, predictably Chris picked up a crab and tried to attack me with it. I grabbed hold of Spotty’s fin to ward off the crab and in the general confusion successfully stirred up the sea bed until the visibility was almost zero. A highlight of this dive was a common cuttlefish. On the last of this sequence of 12 dives with Spotty, we were fortunate enough to see two sea scorpions. My next dive on 24th August, my dive 536, was my final Folkestone dive of 2002. I helped Chris Mearns organise an Ashford Dive Club dive at Seabrook Point in what unfortunately was disappointing visibility.
2003
As part of ongoing sea defence work the shingle beach at Seabrook Point was raised and other major alterations were carried out along the coastline eastwards towards Folkestone Harbour. Initially these had a dramatic effect on the conditions underwater and in comparing my diving records before and after the sea defence works were commenced it appears that the visibility has probably been permanently affected by the alterations. Spotty and I first dived Seabrook Point after these works on 29th March (my dive 648) and the visibility was only 0.5 to 1.0 metres, making it a very disappointing dive. We tried again on 10th April (my dive 649) and saw juvenile squid and a couple of sea mouse, the visibility being 0.5 to 1.5 metres. On 11th May we tried again, my dive 650. The start of this dive was delayed as Spotty drew my attention to a nearby gently rocking camper van. It seemed to me that the cause of the rocking was simply passing traffic. But Spotty was convinced that the cause might involve a couple! While we debated the merits of Spotty’s theory, the camper van door opened, a man climbed out, locked the door and walked off. The rocking continued. The visibility was not very good on this dive but we did at least see a sea scorpion and Spotty was able to find a large crab to attack me with. On 6th June Spotty and I returned to The Esplanade (my dive 651) and our next local dive was at Seabrook Point on 6th July (my dive 687) a dive which was delayed as Spotty had a last-minute urgent “call of nature”. With no public toilets nearby Spotty had to ask the staff of a nearby Little Chef if he might be allowed to use their facilities. As the dive turned out to last exactly two hours it was a good thing that Spotty had not been shy. My next seven dives (my dives 688 to 694 inclusive) were either directly on the site of The Victoria Pier or near it. The first five of these were all organised Channel Divers dives, four with Stefan Heathfield and one with Tony Youell as my buddy. Spotty joined me for dive 693 and Svenja Hickson of Ashford Dive Club for dive 694. This was my first dive with Svenja and in order to avoid problems caused by crowds arriving for the nearby Race for Life run we decided to dive just 10 minutes before Low Tide. No doubt as a consequence of this decision, visibility was dreadful. On 27th July Svenja and I dived Seabrook Point (my dive 695) in visibility of just 0.2 to 0.5 metres. Upon exiting we failed to see a large wave breaking over us which threw Svenja against me and also pushed my mask off my hood. There was no sign of my dive mask in the churned up waters but nearly two hours later when we returned to the dive site, Svenja found my mask on the shore. For the third year running Spotty and I dived on 1st August, his birthday. Unfortunately the visibility on this dive, my dive 696, was pretty poor. No dive with Spotty, let alone on his birthday, would have been complete without Spotty launching at least one attack on me with some sea creature. On this occasion it was a large crab. Although the dive was only 61 minutes we drifted from Seabrook Point to just west of Sandgate Castle, making it one of the longest drift dives I have done and certainly the fastest. Spotty and I returned to Seabrook Point the next day (my dive 697) and were lucky enough to see some eels. The following day I dived Seabrook Point (my dive 698) with Svenja and Rick Stewart of Ashford Dive Club and again saw an eel. Svenja and I dived Seabrook Point once more on 4th August (my dive 699) for another drift dive. The sound of pile driving from construction works on Hospital Hill, Seabrook was clearly audible underwater. The repeated “thump” was quite unpleasant and while we were still relatively near Hospital Hill, spoilt the early part of this dive. A school of mullet surrounded Svenja and I in the shallows and appeared curious. The circling school came close to us, only moving away when we exhaled noisily. It reminded me of a cowboy movie. A wagon train surrounded by Indians! On 5th August Svenja and I once again dived Seabrook Point, the fish highlights of which were a small squid, a large pipefish and a juvenile sea scorpion. As this was my 700th dive, a celebration was in order and upon reaching the shallows at the end of the dive I pulled out two plastic syringes from my BCD which contained Amaretto and we “toasted” the occasion. On 6th August Spotty and I met at 6.30 a.m. for an early morning dive and as ever Spotty tried to attack me with a crab. In all I did eleven consecutive dives at Seabrook Point in July/August, my dives 695 to 705 inclusive. I dived with Svenja, Chris Powell and Richard and Libby Everett from Ashford Dive Club on my dive 702 and was fortunate enough to see cuttlefish. On my dive 703 Spotty and I rescued a lobster caught in a fishing line, Spotty carefully removing the fishing line with his knife. The lobster was in poor condition and I doubt whether it survived. Spotty and I saw an eel on my dive 704 and on my dive 705 with Wendy Everett of Ashford Dive Club we saw three eels. My next two dives (my dives 706 and 707) were at the site of The Victoria Pier, my first with Spotty, a dive memorable for being surrounded by a shoal of mullet as soon as we began the dive. I dived with Peter Sharrad of Channel Divers later that morning at the same dive site. The next day I again dived the same site, this time with Nick Gittings of Ashford Dive Club and then the next day I dived Seabrook Point with Rick Stewart also of Ashford Dive Club. I failed to check that Rick’s dry suit zip was done up before he backed into the sea. Even though Rick’s undersuit was sodden, Rick insisted on continuing with the dive and we saw lobsters, pipefish, an eel and a cuttlefish. On 12th August I dived Seabrook Point with Svenja and we were soon joined by a shoal of mullet that followed us for most of the dive. Later that day I returned to the same dive site with Rick for a drift dive during which we saw two lobsters and two eels. On 23rd August Rick and I dived the site of The Victoria Pier, coming across two lobsters and the next day I repeated the dive but this time with Nick Gittings where we once again came across the shoal of mullet as well as a lobster. The next day I once more dived the same site, this time with Alan Maddocks and Stefan Heathfield of Channel Divers. Upon dropping down onto the sea bed the air inflation button on my BCD fell apart and I was unable to put any air into my BCD which made the remainer of this 55 minute dive with Alan and Stefan rather interesting! On 11th October I dived Seabrook Point with Spotty (my dive 752) in rather poor visibility and we repeated the dive the following month (my dive 753) where the visibility was fortunately a little better.
2004
Further sea defence works were carried out along the Folkestone shoreline in 2004 and when Spotty and I dived Seabrook Point (my dive 826) for the first time in 2004 on 14th May, the visibility was not very good. I dived the site of The Victoria Pier with Sue Coatsworth on a night dive on 30th July (my dive 888) and the visibility was a little better, 0.75 to 1.5 metres. I dived the same site again on 8th August with Suzanne Barnes of Channel Divers (my dive 892) and then on 28th December concluded my 2004 local diving with a dive at Seabrook Point with Spotty and his girlfriend Dee Smith. In anticipation of poor visibility we took a slate with us so that we could at least play hangman underwater! However as the underwater visibility was only 0.1 to 0.15 metres, it was too bad even to play hangman and after 17 minutes Dee tugged on the buddy lines connecting her to Spotty and I to indicate that she wanted to surface and we concluded the dive.
2006
Having become discouraged by the poor visibility caused through the local sea defence works, I did not bother diving in Folkestone in 2005. But in July 2006 I learnt that the visibility was finally beginning to recover and so with Stefan Heathfield and Sue Coatsworth I dived The Esplanade (my dive 1263) and the visibility was indeed an acceptable 1 to 2 metres. The main fish highlight was a sea scorpion. Suitably encouraged I returned to The Esplanade the next day (my dive 1264) for a solo dive in a visibility of 2 to 4 metres, once again seeing a sea scorpion. Paul Hymers of Ashford Dive Club joined me the following day (my dive 1265) but the visibility had deteriorated. At least I was fortunate enough to see a pipefish and briefly a Yarrells Blenny. I solo dived The Esplanade the next day and predictably without Paul the visibility was quite good! Regrettably I made the mistake of taking my Nikkor 12-24mm lens on this dive when a much more sensible choice would have been my 60mm lens. When I again solo dived The Esplanade two days later (my dive 1269) I took my 60mm lens and took numerous photographs of friendly tompot blennies in visibility of 3 to 4 metres. The next day I returned to this dive site (my dive 1270) in visibility of 2 to 4 metres, once again solo diving and photographed tompot blennies, a topknot and a pipefish. For the second day running I was so spoilt with the conditions that my dive time exceeded 100 minutes. Indeed dive 1269 lasted 124 minutes. The following day I was tempted back in to this dive site for my dive 1271. The visibility was unchanged and in addition to photographing a common hermit crab and tompot blennies I also saw a red gurnard and plaice trapped in a fishing net. Overnight a breeze built up and when I dived the site (my dive 1272) the next day the underwater visibility was just 0.1 to 0.5 metres, effectively making underwater photography impossible. On 13th September I again solo dived The Esplanade. The visibility was only 0.75 metres to 1.5 metres and despite searching for 100 minutes in this poor visibility all I could find were a variety of crabs and the occasional glimpse of a small school of mullet. The best part of this dive was entering the water past a topless female sunbather! And she was pretty old! My final Folkestone dive of the year took place on 10th November. My Ashford Dive Club buddy Chris Powell and I were desperate for a dive. In the previous three weeks I had had to abort three potential dives at Dover Harbour West Wall as the sea conditions had proved too rough. Folkestone Sands is a dive site which is sheltered from the predominantly westerly winds but potentially is unlikely to offer good visibility due to it being a sandy shallow dive site. However no other sea dives were at all possible and so Chris and I took a chance. The visibility proved to be between 0.25 and 1.0 metres, generally the former and I was unable to take a single photograph. Not a dive to be repeated and a disappointing dive to conclude my 2006 Folkestone diving.