We had pre-booked places for two boat dives on the Saturday with Dive Beyond who were based in Castletown, Portland. The first trip was at 9am so we parked in the pay & display car park next to the Aqua Hotel and checked into the Dive Beyond office just before 8:30.

The wreck site was only a short journey from where we boarded the RIBs so we were told to put all of our kit on ready to dive rather than kitting up when we arrived.

Dive Beyond had two RIBs. A Black one and a yellow one, named Sceptre and Sabre. We had booked a private booking but there was another diver on with us. In less than ten minutes we arrived a Balaclava Bay and were given a dive brief by the skipper.

The wreck of this unknown vessel, once apparently used to dredge the sea bed, has no significant importance other than being easily accessible as an underwater landmark (outside of the harbour).

The Dredger lies about a third of the way along the stretch of the outer harbour wall towards the edge of Balaclava Bay. As a dive site it can only be accessed by boats due to Portland Harbour restrictions. It’s position is clearly marked by a massive winch and various sizes of anchors on top of the breakwater. It is often buoyed though surface markers are known to disappear. The wreck lies in two parts at about 8-10m of a sandy sea bed. The sand here is heavier than the ‘silt’ in the harbour and settles faster.

The first part of the wreck is the closest to shore and the breakwater, a significantly smaller piece of wreckage compared to the second part which is about 15m away. In between the two structures divers can come across some scraps of further wreckage. Some parts of the wreckage rise to give arches and tunnels that provide protection for various fish with tighter holes throughout the wreck giving shelter to crabs and lobsters.

• Divers: Simon, Jane, Jason
• Max Depth: 11.5 metres
• Dive Time: 54 minutes
• Water temperature: 16 degrees C
• Viz: 5 metres
• Dive Details: After rolling off the RIB, the three of us met up at the buoy and descended the shot line together. The wreck lies in two halves alongside the big boulders making up the harbour wall. The first part of the wreck was at the bottom of the shot line. There was a sandy seabed and the much of the wreck was buried in it. The parts of the wreck that were above the sand were covered in sea weed gently swaying with the movement of the water. There were several fish on the wreck. One fish, which was probably the most photographed fish on the wreck was the little black faced blenny. There was a rope on the seabed in the direction of the second part of the wreck so we followed that and eventually came to it. We then continued along the rock wall until we reached a depth of eleven metres where we told to turn around. We passed both parts of the wreck again and continued to follow the rocks finding tompot blennies and spider crabs. We turned around again and headed back to the shot line and the RIB just before our maximum time of one hour

• Divers: James, Nigel
• Max Depth: 11.7 metres
• Dive Time: 57 minutes
• Water temperature: 16 degrees C
• Viz: 5 metres
• Dive Details: Nice dive with approximately 5 meters vis. Similar fish seen as previous dive, with black faced gobies. Wreckage was broken up over a large area, headed along the sea defence approximately 8 meters, we saw Sea squirts and orange encrusting sponge. Ascended to approximately 2 and a half meters to kelp beds and various sea weeds. Large shoals of small fish and a jelly fish.

• Divers: Paul, Jack, Elaine
• Max Depth: 11.1 metres
• Dive Time: 49 minutes
• Water temperature: 16 degrees C
• Viz: metres
• Dive Details: