First dive of the year! Hooray! Not too cold out and water was 8°C. Dry and bright. There was a little breeze, not really felt at Babbacombe however, with much stronger SW winds forecast.
On the bottom - not very nice, it being a bit murky (lot of rain lately), our torches and any few pieces of bright equipment were just about perceptible at 1.5-2 metres; but concentrating on the macro there was plenty to see. There were hermit crabs (above in a netted whelk) including a few largish ones; and also very many squat lobsters (new to me) around the rocky reef we pottered about after our short swim 040° or so from end of slipway. Also one or two small edible crab and usual abundant velvet swimmer crab. There were very few fish. I saw a dragonet and a juvenille wrasse. Geoff said he saw some blennies.
Great to be back in the water and exploring and taking a few pictures. My Canon G9 case buttons still sticking despite careful use and recently some hotter water. Will try some silicone spray next. It's done about 27 dives, and despite reading that some regard them semi-disposable, this just too few.
We located bit of an engine (?) I hadn't seen before and a large wheel. I found a silt covered cloth that was a jumper or fleece, but didn't retrieve it. Think it was a bit small for me. We had nearly an hour (getting cold at 50 minutes) and max depth 10 metres. Newly serviced- and DIN converted- regs were perfect.
