Trip to Looe - June 2007 
What a great weekend we had diving from Looe. On Saturday we dived a lovely reef system - Udder Rock. Lots of gullies and fish. The second dive was the Kanteong, a Cornish tin dredger. Masses of fish and some great swim throughs. The dives were so good we elected to go back and them again on Sunday. [READ CAROLE'S REPORT]
 

21 June - Day Trip to Kyarra  [May 07]
MDD has chartered a boat from Portland to the Kyarra, Swanage. The whole day trip includes lunch and a second dive on return to the "Sea Caves". Kyarra is one of the most dived wrecks in Portland but as the dive is on midweek we most likely have the site to ourselves! [READ MORE]

MDD Members Become RYA Boat Handlers  [April 2007]
Well done to James Clark and John Burge for passing there RYA Powerboat course - level 2. "What a great weekend, the sun was shining, the sea was calm, we were zipping across Portland harbour at around 25 knots in Ian Fullers 6.5m twin 60hp rib. With low vis in the water I could not think of a better place to be."  [READ MORE]

NAS "Adopt a Wreck Award 2006"

Adam Clifton and Millennium Divers Dorset were awarded a certificate of merit for their entry into last years "Adopt a Wreck" scheme. Adam believes further investigation will no doubt unveil the name of the Coaster situated in Portland Harbour. [READ MORE]

2006 NEWS

MDD Holiday Review - October 2006
Deep South Diving -Red Sea "Wow! What else can I say?" -  "Awesome"

" The glide path into the new airport at Marsa Alam afforded us some spectacular views of the desert. Arrival formalities completed, we were met in the huge, but empty car park by our hosts who took our kit, I think we all thought it would be the last time we saw our gear, as ten sets of dive gear & ten sets of luggage were loaded onto the roof of a small aging minibus.  [READ MORE] 

Dutch shipping council’s findings translation into English sheds
new light on the Binnedijk project  (08.11.2006)
MDD pieces together the last hours of the Binnedijk. Findings not only ruled out the possibility of a torpedo attack, but enable MDD to identify the actual type of mine that destroyed the Binnedijk on that fateful evening back in October 1939. [READ MORE]

2006 'Unknown Sites' on the map - [Sept 09]
Having dived some of the sites outside of the East entrance, we can now confirm that the Shellcase Drift does actually have shell cases! Most likely a 4.5 inch shell and possibly Anti Aircraft.  As well as the Shellcase Drift, we have named another new site; 'Aeroplane Drift' - this is the remains of a radial aircraft engine and possibly some other aircraft remains.
MDD/DGD members, Owen Wallis and James Clarke with their Shellcase

WreckMap Portland 2006 coming to Breakwater
Dive Dorset and Underwater Explorers are to host WreckMap Portland 2006 in conjunction with Weymouth LUNAR society and MDD, supported by the Nautical Archaeology Society (NAS). Get involved with some real underwater Archaeology. This year WreckMap will be looking at the Benny, the Unknown Coaster and the Earl of Abergavenny, running for five days from June 19th. See WreckMap 2006 POSTERS for more information.

MDD members carry out holiday reconnaissance to Kenya
MDD members David Applin and Liisa Wallace have put together a report from their trip to Kenya in January. MDD are planning a group trip in January 2007, spectacular diving and wildlife safaris.... see KENYA REPORT for more details.

 

2005 NEWS

Active Diver 2005 Awards
Congratulations to: Nigel (1st prize) Colin (2nd prize) and John B (3rd prize) for winning the MDD Active Diver Awards 2005. Vouchers for £150, £100 and £50 will be awarded to the winners to spend on dive kit at Underwater Explorers. The 2006 awards are in the pipeline!

GUE Fundamentals at Portland
Two courses were in November and December 2005. Richard Walker, Global Underwater Explorers instructor and cave diver, put MDD and DGD members through there paces over two days of lectures and in-water assessments.

Earl of Abergavenny dives
MDD has linked up with the Weymouth LUNAR society to arrange dives to this wreck currently being surveyed by the society. Not normally dived by the Weymouth and Portland boats who respect the archaeological significance of the site, this is an opportunity to dive a state of the art late 19th Century ship as featured on 'Wreck Detectives'.  David Carter from the LUNAR society gave a talk on 16th October based on 20 years of excavations and research carried out on the East Indiaman 'Earl of Abergavenny'. A very interesting two hours was spent listening to David outlining the history of the wreck and what can still be seen on the site. Unfortunately, not everyone got to dive, but we hope to get back there soon. Click picture for more info.

MDD Holiday to the Red Sea
Deep South Diving, Um Tondoba, Marsa Alam, Red Sea

In attendance; Colin and Alison Thompson, John Burge, Adam Clifton and Stephanie Parsons. MDD will be returning to Deep South Diving in October 2006 -  check out the holiday page for a full report from this years trip......

Four more MDD Rescue Divers
Congratulations (left to right) Graham, Andy B, Darin, Adrian (non-MDD member) John B and Anna (non-MDD) who completed their course on 9th October with Underwater Explorer's Nina Hukkanen. Great feed back from the students who greatly enjoyed the course whilst homing those all important rescue skills.
 

3 more to DGD trimix..
[May 13] Three more members of DGD have completed their trimix training this month joining the rank of gas divers.
Congratulations go to Adam Davies, Joe Hesketh and Marcin Kaluza who have done their whole technical training with Izzy.

See the Photo Gallery

DGD members on Porpoise Watch
[May 12] DGD's Izzy Imset and Nina Hukkanen make a rare sighting in Portland Harbour and end up watching over a separated rare baby Harbour Porpoise for two hours at sea as BDMLR goes on alert. Experts report only 6-7 sightings on the south coast a year. Read the story as it appeared in the Dorset Echo on May 12.Read the Story and See the Photo

The season is here!...
[April 17, 2005] Dorset Gas Divers get up to 10 metre visibility on three consecutive dives on the wrecks of the Salsette, Warrior II and U772 over the past week. Life is now becoming more abundant again, much to see and the visibility at 50 metres plus is simply spectacular. 3 more DGD members complete their training to trimix level. See the log and photos

MDD club trip to Tenerife
[March 2005] MDD members visit the warmer and clearer waters of Tenerife in the first annual club diving trip abroad. Organised by Adam James through Underwater Explorers, the trip witnesses some good diving and photography opportunities. A writeup and photos taken by Andy Bennett can be found at the Tenerife Trip Report Pages

Project Pages Up and Running
[Mar 11] Millennium Divers Dorset and the Dorset Gas Diving group have launched 4 NAS "Adopt a Wreck" projects. The wrecks are: Unknown Coaster, Benny, Salsette and U772... Something for everyone. The wrecks range from 16 to 54 metres in depth and the projects have varying targets from identifying the unknown to full-fledge research.
Visit the Project Pages

February NAS Course a Hit
[Feb.20] MDD and the DGD have jointly hosted an NAS Introduction to Foreshore and Underwater Archaeology course held in Portland. The course was held at Aqua Hotel while pool dives were carried out at the nearby Osprey. Over a dozen participated in this one day training event held as part of a new commitment by club members to support, promote and be involved in Nautical Archaeology Society projects in the future. The course will link in to a NAS Part 1 course to be held in April and there are spaces for club members and non-members on a new Introductory course scheduled for April 4, 2005.  Visit the Project Pages

MDD/DGD Host Martyn Farr
[Feb.12] Renown cave explorer, diver, author and photographer Martyn Farr visited Portland on Feb. 12 where he held an evening lecture to an audience of 40. Farr's talk followed a guided visit to some of Portland's spectacular dry and sea caves the same day. To read the report on this exciting event hosted by the MDD and DGD, and view some of the photos taken that day please visit our pages Martyn Farr on Portland.