Saturday 12th and it is up at 04:00 (because the clock was set an hour fast) and off at 05:00 to Marcins and then down to Portland for a 09:00 trip to the Dredger. We met Joe, had a grumble about the weather - bloody awful, blowing a gale form the west so the dredger was our only option. The plan was to jump in, have a swim around around and practice some skills. Out of air, shutdowns, rescue stuff. A bit of fun.

We got out to the site, kitted and jumped in to some very, very murky water. At around 5m I managed to get tangled in fishing line and as soon as they guys had descended a metre beyond me they were out of site. I freed myself and then ponced about cutting the line from my fins while making sure the nasty looking hook did not put a hole in my suit. Te water was 8 degrees and that would have realy spoiled my day. Bouyancy went to pieces and I popped back to the surface where I messed around trying to re-sheath my knife, met Joe and Marcin, regrouped and had another go.

This time we made it to the bottom, although not on the wreck. Vis was so bad that even wiht the 18w HID I did not spot the bottom until I hit it. Joe - gotta love him - gave a definitive 'this way!' signal as if he knew were he was going! Very funny. We did a few fin kicks in direction X and then thought better of it and headed back to the surface.

I made a mess of shooting the bag - it is shocking how quickly you lose your skills when you do not practice - handed it off to Joe and at 6m did the unconscious diver routine. Marcin took me sloly and gently to the surface, which I broke fin tips first with michelin-man suit legs, but it was not a bad effort.

It was good to catch up with the guys, good to be back in the water and er, that's it. The weather just got worse as the day and weekend went on, ending up at a force 9 gale and hail, so that was it for the diving. We headed out to the Bill to look at the wild seas, then it was into Weymouth for lunch before going to the evenings Martin Farr presentation on the history of cave diving in the UK and around the world. On balance a decent weekend.