Gwilym's Adventure Blog

After yesterday's engine failure and not being able to fix it, all we could do today was go ashore and have some food in a cafe. I decided to leave Tim to sort his yacht as he had arranged for someone to tinker with the engine later and headed off home earlier then planned.

Durdle Door Lulworth Cove Chapman's Cove  Evening Sailing Today we left Portland and poked our nose out of the harbour to find very little wind. We managed to sail slowly to Lulworth Cove where we motored in for a look around before heading back out. We never found the wind again and had to motor out round the firing range area and back into Chapman's Pool for a late lunch. We spent a few hours here and I even jumped overboard in just a pair of shorts (it was a lot colder than expected so 30 seconds later I got out) before having a snooze. After dinner at around 7pm the tide had turned and we motored out for some night sailing but there was still no wind. Just as it started to get dark we had some engine trouble just out from Dancing Ledge and with no wind to sail by we only made it into Swanage by 9pm with the assistance of the helpful crew of Swanage Lifeboat .

 Challenger 1,2,3 and 4 at Portland Today we headed out at 7am down the river into Poole Horbour before haeding west round to Portland. A distance of 35nm and 9 hours from mooring to berth. The weather was nice today with plenty of sun between the clouds and a westerly wind keeping us moving at 4 - 5knts.

Today I was diving in Poole with Somerset Divers. We dived the Betsy Anna which is a wreck slowly rotting away in around 25m of water and then a very quick drift dive across Swanage Bay at about 18m. We saw lobsters, eels and plenty of fish on the first dive and collected a few scallops on the second. Tonight I am on my friends yacht for a early start tomorrow morning. No dive pictures today but I captured the moment a fleet of F1 Power Boats decided to buzz our dive site!

Having completed my Peak Performance Buoyancy and Navigation Dives yesterday, we headed to Vobster Quay today where I completed my Deep Dive, Wreck Dive and Search and Recovery Dives. Have sucessfully completed all this I passed the PADI Advanced Open Water Diver having transferred across from being a BSAC Sports Diver (a long time ago). Thanks to Ken and Peter and the support crew at Somerset Divers .

Yesterday I was down in Plymouth doing some preparation work for when I start as Head of Outdoor Education at Plymouth College in September. Today I was at Babbacombe doing some Scuba Diving with Somerset Divers . There are no photos today as the visibilty was so poor. At times it was less than 50cm and I could only just see my hand. Out diving tomorrow so hoping visibility is better and I can get some pictures.

Olly paddling into the Head wind Shelter in Watermouth Cove Playing in the swell Me surfing waves through rock tunnels Today Olly and I headed out from Ilracombe to Combe Martin and back. After some long trips over the last week we wanted a short trip where we could have a play. After a carefully considered tidal plan done last night we arrived to be faced with a strong Easterly wind that ruined all our hard work. Deciding to go with the tide but into the wind we had a hard paddle to Combe Martin seeking respite in Watermouth Cove on the way. Of course once we turned round the wind dropped and we we were against the tide. Nice paddle though and plenty of opportunity to play on the way back.