Here is a practical guide to diving at Weybourne. (Note some prices and details haven't been updated from their 1997 vintage)
The 80 mile journey to Weybourne from Ipswich normally takes less than 2 hours.
Starting from Ipswich, head towards Bury St Edmunds on the A14 (formerly the A45) until you get to the junction with the A140. Turn off the A14 onto the A140 and head towards Norwich. On reaching the Norwich inner ring road (ignore the new outer ring road which is 2 miles South of the city), turn left onto the clockwise carriageway and follow the signs to Cromer which will take you back onto the A140 north of Norwich. After passing Norwich airport you have two options:
(a) Turn left on to the B1149 to Holt. On reaching the mini-roundabout at Holt, turn right onto the A148 and head towards Cromer. Turn left towards Weybourne (the turning is about 3 miles from Holt and is sign-posted).
(b) Follow the A140 to Cromer and then take the coast road through Sherringham to Weybourne.
On reaching the first junction at Weybourne village, turn right towards the church and then left onto the A149 towards Hunstanton and King's Lynn. Take the first right turn next to the Spar shop and following the road down to the Pay and Display car park. Parking here costs £4.20 for 5 hours or more - if you forget to pay and display, you may find yourself fined £25 (or £10 if you pay the fine promptly) - an attendant checks the car park every day!
Foxhills camp site tends to be most favoured by club members who intend camping. To get to it take the A149 from Weybourne towards Hunstanton for about half a mile. At the top of the hill, you will see the second of two signposts to the Muckleburgh Collection of military vehicles. Foxhills camp site is directly opposite this sign-post and you will need to make a sharp hairpin turn to drive into the entrance - watch-out for traffic coming towards you over the brow of the hill ! It is advisable to book your pitch about a week in advance, particularly in August. Give the proprietors, Mr. & Mrs. Wharton, a call on Weybourne (01263) 588253. The cost is £9 per night for two people in a tent.
You can take a caravan to the Foxhills site if you are a member of the Caravan Club, otherwise the second most favoured site is the Kelling Heath Holiday Park. This is on the road half-way between Weybourne and the A148 as detailed in the above section on how to get to Weybourne. As you head out of Weybourne towards the A148, the Holiday Park will be about one mile on the right. Book about a week in advance by calling Weybourne (01263) 588181. The cost about £20 per night - an additional awning or small ridge tent will cost £2 extra. A tent pitch is the same cost as a caravan - better go to Foxhills !
If you don't want to take your own provisions with you, there is a Spar shop in Weybourne village on the junction with the A149 and the road that leads to the Pay-and-Display car park as detailed in the above section on finding the beach. This is open from 8:00am to 8:00pm every day except Sunday when it opens at 8:30am. Here you can buy basic groceries (milk, bread, etc.), ready-made sandwiches and pasties, drinks (water, soft drinks and alcohol !) and various other bits and bobs such as maps, postcards and dressed crab (in case you don't catch one of your own !).
For an evening meal and drinks, the club tends to meet-up in the Maltings Hotel which is at the foot of the hill leading towards the Foxhills camp site (to stagger back to your tent !). A typical starter costs about £3.00 and a main course costs about £6.50. There is an a-la-carte menu but it is VERY expensive ! A pint of Wolf bitter costs £1.60. Rather than descend upon them en-masse, give them a call on Weybourne (01263) 588731 to book a table or two - a table for 10 at about 7:00pm is usually sufficient ! Booking a table in July is not usually a problem but it gets busy in August. They stop serving at 9:00pm sharp; indeed, you will have problems finding anywhere serving food at this time in the evening !
There is a public payphone in Weybourne village on the side of the A149 between the Spar shop and the church. Take a few 10p and 20p pieces in case you need to use it. There is also a private payphone in the Maltings hotel. If you've got a BT Chargecard you'll be able to use it with the public payphone but not the private one.
If you've got a mobile phone then check which network it operates on. O2 coverage in this area is very poor; indeed, you may have to drive a few miles in-land towards Cromer to get a decent signal. Vodafone, however, have kindly erected a digital base station next to the Foxhills camp site !
The Dive Marshal should ensure that the club VHF transportable is taken on the expedition to contact Yarmouth Coastguard. Before and after each day's diving they should be called on Channel 16 and they will usually ask you to change to Channel 67 where you should remind them of your details, advise them of how many are in the party that day, that you intend diving in several waves throughout the day on the Rosalie and gullies between Weybourne beach and Sherringham - give them the co-ordinates if they ask for them. This is also a useful way of checking the radio(s). It is useful to take a second VHF transportable, if possible, for communication between the boat and shore on Channel 06. Both transportables will need to be re-charged overnight so some sort of battery charger will need to be arranged. A pair of binoculars is also handy to keep a watchful eye on the boat and see when the divers have been recovered.
The Marshal should contact the Yarmouth regional Maritime Rescue Co-ordination Centre (MRCC) on Yarmouth (01493) 851338 a day or two before the expedition to advise them of the imminent arrival of around 30 divers to their shores ! They will want to know the description of the boat (Buzo is a 4 metre orange inflatable), a contact number if there is one (perhaps someone's mobile phone number - preferably with voice messaging such as O2's Callback enabled) and the precise locations of the dive sites; the Rosalie lies 52o 57'N, 1o 8.3'E and the gullies run from West of Weybourne beach (52o 57'N, 1o 9'E) to Sherringham lifeboat station (52o57'N, 1o 12'E) - about 2 miles. The Coastguard may also want to know the call sign of the VHF Transportable - it is T101191.
If the wind is Force 3 or above from North, there will probably be too much surf to launch the boat. However, it may still be possible to launch up to Force 5 if the wind is blowing from the South. Light rain is not normally a problem.
It's worth keeping an eye on television/newspaper weather reports for about a week ahead of the expedition. About 2 days before the expedition make a call to the MarineCall service on 0891 500 455 (for the area covering the Wash to North Foreland in Kent). Calls are charged at 39p per minute cheap rate and 49p per minute at all other times.
Radio 4 broadcast general forecasts at 0048, 0555, 1355 and 1750 local time (British Summer Time between 30th March 1997 and 26th March 1997 inclusive) on 198kHz and a coastal waters forecast at 0550 local time. It's a good idea to get a MetFax for the next three days the day before the first day's diving - lift the facsimile handset, dial 0336 400 472 (for the area covering North Norfolk) and press START/RECEIVE after the message or set FAX to POLL receive mode. Calls are charged at 39p per minute cheap rate and 49p per minute at all other times. Any problems, call the helpline on Bracknell (01344) 854435 or fax 01344 854018.
It is worth arranging for an advance party to get to Weybourne the night before the first day's diving to keep a watch on local conditions as they are sometimes at odds with national forecasts.
Yarmouth Coastguard broadcast local & strong wind forecasts at 0040, 0240, 0440, 0640, 0840, 1040, 1240, 1440, 1640, 1840, 2040 and 2240 local time on Channel 67. Bacton Radio broadcast storm warnings at 0303, 0733, 0903, 1503, 1933 and 2103 universal time (Greenwich Mean Time) on Channel 07.
The nearest harbour to Weybourne is Blakeney which lies 5 miles to the West. The standard port for Blakeney is Immingham. On neap tides there is likely to be about 5 minutes difference between Weybourne and Blakeney Bar.
Accordingly, during neap tides:
High Water (HW) at Weybourne is 30 minutes after HW at Immingham, and
Low Water (LW) at Weybourne is 35 minutes after LW at Immingham.
For planning purposes slack can be taken as being 3 hours before and 3 hours after HW at Immingham.
The tide sets easterly for about 6 hours after Slack water (A) and westerly for approximately 5 hours before Slack water (A).
About Neaps the tidal rates are about 50% of Springs so the Rosalie was diveable with a current of less than 0.5 knots 30 minutes before Slack water (A) and 1 hour before Slack water (B) for about 2 hours.
In order to get at least three waves of divers onto the Rosalie, dive times should limited to about 30 minutes. It took 10 minutes between loading the boat with fully kitted divers and dropping them onto the wreck site and another 10 minutes to recover the divers and unload the boat back at the launch site - an average round-trip time of 50 minutes. However, the slack window was only two hours so we were a bit pushed for time - a dive pair abandoned their dive at 1005 on the Saturday because the current was too strong for them !
In between slacks we dived the Gullies.
In order to get at least three waves of divers onto the gullies, dive times should limited to about 30 minutes. It took 30 minutes between loading the boat with fully kitted divers and dropping them onto the drift site and another 30 minutes to recover the divers and unload the boat back at the launch site - an average round-trip time of an hour and a half. However, with only 1 hour and 10 minutes between slacks windows we were, again, a bit pushed for time and, in fact, one or two drift dives were decidedly static !
The maximum current occurs at HW Immingham for 4 hours
Weybourne beach seems to get steeper every year ! It's a heavy shingle back that is constantly eroded by the sea and re-built by the fishermen. The easiest way to launch and recover is to persuade them to tow the boat up and down the bank with one of their tractors. Failing that, there are two options.
At High Water, the wreck of the Rosalie will be fully submerged. If possible, buoy the wreck at Low Water when part of the wreck is clearly visible or take bearings of the visible obstacles from the shore. Sometimes there is a lobster pot buoy on the wreck but this cannot be relied upon as this is not always the case and may, indeed, not be on the wreck at all !
Alternatively, the Rosalie lies on a transit running from the furthest of two gates from the launch site visible on shore; the first gate faces East/West whilst the second gate faces North/South. Line-up the left-hand gate post of the North/South facing gate so that is appears to touch the footpath behind it. Move along this transit until the middle of three radio masts to the West appears to be directly in the middle of the outer masts. Beware of the obstacles which will only be about 2 or 3 metres below the surface at High Water and may be just below the surface at other times.
Experience over the years suggests that there are two sets of gullies. The better gullies lie almost immediately off the shore at Sherringham, just past the lifeboat station. However, it takes Buzo with the Mariner 40 and six divers up to half an hour to get here from Weybourne beach - even with a smooth sea and no wind. It is advisable for these gullies be dived on a Westward tide so that the dive party will drift back towards Weybourne.
With up to 3 waves of divers waiting to dive the gullies, it is better to try and find the nearer set of gullies. The extreme West of these gullies lie about half a mile North of the cottages perched precariously on the edge of the Weybourne cliffs about half a mile East of the launch site. On a westward tide, it will be necessary to start the drift at least half a mile further West of this point. Its normally a good idea for the cox to drop the divers in amongst the lobster pot buoys. The fishermen may well come out to see you're not damaging/raiding their pots but a friendly wave and a chat should reassure them !
The Cox should advise the party that if they run into a sandy bed on the Gullies nearest to Weybourne they should swim out to sea for the best chance of finding the gullies (that is, swim to the left on an easterly drift or swim to the right on a westerly drift) - this advice should also ensure that the drift party doesn't disperse in all directions. Conversely, they should swim further inshore when diving the Gullies just off Sherringham.
Every diver should bring enough air for two 10 metre dives for about 30 minutes. At an average consumption rate of 25L/minute at the surface, this equates to 3000 Litres (a 15L cylinder or two 7.5L cylinders at 200 Bar) - novices should bring at least two 10L cylinders!
At the end of the first two day's diving, these cylinders will need to be re-charged. This was normally done by taking the cylinders en masse to JW Automarine but they have now sold their large compressor.
Instead, Nordive at Fakenham (about 17 miles from Weybourne) will exchange up to 20 of their full cylinders for our empties (there's no charge for their cylinders !) - we then swap them over again the following evening. Arrange this about a week in advance by calling Chris or Ian on Fakenham (01485) 528007. They close at 3:00pm and open again at 6:00pm until 8:00pm including Sunday. However, they will open anytime if needed. Cost is £3 for a 15L fill and £2 for smaller cylinder fills.
An alternative is Rowleys Dive Shop in Holt. Arrange this about a week in advance by calling them on Holt (01263) 711126. They open from 9:00am to 5:00pm but will open at other times by arrangement. Their compressor which is not actually in Holt can only charge six 10L cylinders per hour.
As a last option, the local club has a new small compressor on a trailer about 5 minutes from Holt or there is Kings Water Sports in Lowestoft (01502) 730182. Oxygen clean cylinders cannot be filled at any of these stations with the possible exception of Lowestoft.
Marshalling a typical Weybourne expedition is no easy task. With, typically, 90 dives over 3 days some serious delegation is essential if you are to get some diving in yourself!
Take at least 2 marshalling slates; one on the boat for the cox to record air (cylinder capacity and pressure), time in and time up/dive time for each diver while the information from the previous dive on the other slate is transferred to paper before being cleaned ready for the next wave of divers. A folder containing at least 30 log sheets should be taken for this purpose together with pens/pencils (tied to the folder !) and rubbers for cleaning the slates. Appoint someone to swap-over the slates as dive waves are being changed (its a good exercise for a novice !). It is important that this task is done and is done consistently, so the same person should do this throughout the whole day (different people can do it on other days). When that person is diving, they should be given leave to do this while their kit is unloaded from the boat for them by the rest of the party !
Entry and exit RG should be recorded on the paper sheets once the dive details have been entered. This task can be shared-out amongst any other novices on the shore who are not diving in the next wave (and, therefore, not worrying about getting kitted-up); its a useful exercise in using dive tables so make sure you take some BSAC tables with you !
Use a pair of binoculars to see when divers have been recovered. It will take the boat about 5 minutes to then return from the Rosalie and 10 minutes from a drift dive (20 minutes if the drift ends at Sherringham). A 5 minute call for the next wave of divers to fully kit-up can then be made so that they are ready to get straight into the boat when it returns. A second VHF transportable can also assist in this process - particularly if drift diving off Sherringham which may be too far away to see clearly. Make sure someone is ready to relieve the Cox and is fully briefed as to the next wave (see finding the Rosalie and Gullies above) !
