Trips
Lulworth 2005 by Emma Richards
It was 8am when we arrived at the pool, most of us still half asleep. I fell out of the car, got out my bags and trundled over to a group of friendly faces. Supposedly we were leaving at 8am - but where were our leaders, I thought? Not one to be seen anywhere! Although for a Saturday this was an early start I knew that I was going to have fun, because of my experiences last year.
Nick (eventually) arrived not long after us in one of the mini-buses, and Sandy started filling his van with all the bags. When all the bags were on the van Nick called everyone together to find out what we wanted for tea in the youth hostel where we were to spend the night. With the register taken and the food sorted we all ran to get good seats on the two mini-buses (the second mini-bus had just arrived).
Once the last few people had arrived, we said our goodbyes and settled into our seats as we had a long journey ahead of us. After about an hour and a half in the mini- bus we stopped for breakfast in a trucker's cafe where we could have some food, a drink or just stretch our legs. We spent about an hour there, and then we re-boarded the mini-buses to travel the rest of the way down to Lulworth.
When we arrived in Lulworth we went straight for a dive in Lulworth Cove. We got changed into our wet clothes and our wetsuits, then prepared all our kit and accessories and laid them in a line. Once everyone was ready to get into the water we headed down the path to reach Lulworth Cove.
Nick gave us a briefing of what was going to happen and who our instructors were going to be. Following this speech (yawn), we found our correct instructors and they then told us what sort of things we were going to be doing. We headed into the water only up to our knees so we could put our kit on and to adapt to the colder temperatures of the water. When everyone felt they were warm enough to venture out into the Cove we slowly went out towards some boats moored in the cove with our instructor.
Once we were with the boats our buddies dived down to see what the underneath of the boats looked like, on their return to the surface they would signal you to go down. If like me you did not want to do a duck dive you were allowed to stay on the surface of the water. The Cove was very full of seaweed so that made it hard to swim at times but it was still great fun!
From here we went over a hill (Nick knows all about being 'over the hill') to another dive site called Stair Hole. Stair Hole is a cliff with a hole in it, which looks like it has been lined with stairs. There is a cave and tunnel there, that are fun to go in and out of, and the cave ends in a sandy beach.
In Stair Hole the waves were huge it was like being in a giant wave machine. We got all our kit on and went into the cave with the sandy beach, called St Clements Cave. It was really good fun sitting there watching waves go past the entrance to the cave.
By now it was about 3 pm so we decided to do the cliff jumping. For the cliff jumping we climbed up a cliff face to about seven metres up. Following the climb we stood on a ledge next to Nick, and waited for Scott, who kept an eye on us for safety, to say go. The rush you get when you leave the ledge is amazing.
When everyone that wanted a go at jumping off the cliff had had a go we went back to the car park to get changed into some dry clothes and warm up a bit. As soon as everyone was ready and warm, all the bags were again put back into the van. We were not allowed into the hostel until 5 pm so we played a game for about 30-45 minutes. After the game many people were worn out so it was back on the mini-bus so we could make our way to the youth hostel.
All the wetsuits and swim clothes were hung to dry in the drying room at the hostel. After all the wet stuff was dealt with our dry kit was brought off the van and we were told which rooms we were in. I was in a dorm with four other girls. We all get on really well. Everybody bonded really well, a lot of new friendships blossomed. Some for more than others, Flick and Alex!!
We all had great amounts of fun just messing around with each other. At around 6 pm everyone started having showers or at least waited for showers as we had to get rid of the salt so that we did not get salt rashes. After our showers, at 7 pm we went to have dinner in the dining room.
It was good home made food, and we were all starving after our busy day. After tea we went outside to play around and have fun, some local boys were playing on a football court and they asked us if we wanted to play. We said yes and asked for the instructors' permission. They said yes but not for long because we were going for a long walk and then to the pub so we played football until we had to go.
When we went for the long walk we went up a really big hill and then we met up with the path that we had taken last year, but this year we went in totally the opposite direction. We walked for about three hours, non stop. It was good because we saw sides to people that we didn't see at snorkelling.
We arrived at the pub and had one drink each from the club and if we wanted any more we could give an instructor the money and they would get you another one. We sat in the front garden and talked until we had finished our drinks. We then had to get back to the youth hostel. When we got back we went to bed and talked for a while before we went to sleep.
In the morning we went for breakfast and got dressed, some of the instructors looked a bit worse for wear but after a strong coffee they soon became full of life again and returned to their natural state (although we hardly noticed a difference). When we were all packed and our suitcases were again packed on the van we had to tidy the youth hostel from top to bottom. YUK!!!! We all pitched in and helped each other and we had it done in no time at all. After it was done to Nick's satisfaction we all boarded the mini-buses again and we travelled to Swanage to do a dive off the pier.
We were in the buses for roughly 25 minutes before we reached Swanage Pier. When we arrived we changed into our wetsuits and walked down to the pier and, under instruction, jumped off into the sea. We swam under the new pier and, because of the wonderfully clear conditions, we could see lots of interesting sea life, crabs, fish, etc. We came across quite a few fishermen who no doubt spent a very frustrating day wondering why they weren't catching anything that day - no doubt Scott and his dive-knife will be able to explain! Eventually, all good things have to come to an end, and we made our way out of the sea and changed back into out dry clothes ready for our return to Surrey.
Swanage is a lovely town, and I shall always remember us all nearly tripping over Scott's tongue as he oggled the local sights!
The return journey was spent in a blur of laughter and joviality. The highlights for me, personally, were far too many to list in total, but commando boys, lifetime friendships, unforgettable dives, being turned upside down in the pub, jumping off the cliff (which I couldn't do last year), and cleaning Nick's toilet - these memories will stay with me forever - or at least until they are replaced with next year's experiences!
Thank you Nick, Dave, Dawn, Sandy, Alexa, Rob, Anna, Scott and Simon and the others for a truly wonderful weekend and for all your time in organising that DOESN'T go unnoticed. I can't wait for next year.
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Junior Snorkelling Club
