It's been some months since our trip to Queensland, but to keep our skills current we're planning to ensure that we dive every six months. This dive was intended as a simple, shallow dive to get us back into form. We headed out to Portsea for a day trip, hired some gear, and jumped off the pier.

Our lack of recent diving experience showed, as upon entry to the water Jacinta lost both her weight-belt and one fin. Getting back the fin was pretty easy, but the weightbelt was another matter. Since we were diving in cool, Melbourne waters, we had nice thick wetsuits, and without her belt Jacinta could barely get under the water, let alone down far enough to retrieve the weights. That was my job.

Lifting 13.5kg (30lbs) of lead off the sea floor isn't an easy task, especially with itty-bitty hired fins. After a few attempts I succeeded in getting the weight belt up to near the surface. However when Jacinta grabbed the belt (with no air in her BCD so she could duck down), she simply ended hanging upside-down, her feet in the air, and her arms and torso well underwater. That wasn't a position that's conductive to donning a belt.

Eventually we agreed that since we were just off the pier, I would drag the belt up the shore until shallower waters. This was a bit of work, but we got it there eventually. In hindsight, we both had safety sausages (inflatable signalling devices) in our pockets, and these could have been used to generate extra lift to allow me to more easily carry the belt to the surface.

Once the belt was back on, we were ready to start our dive proper. The fauna under the pier is quite impressive, we saw a great many pufferfish (they look so goofy), and a few weedy seadragons were about, but unfortunately we lacked a camera.

After the dive I felt a little sea-sick, not at all uncommon after a long break in diving, although a condition that's easily avoided through powdered ginger tablets beforehand.

Possibly the best part of the experience was having the staff from Dive Victoria meet us on the pier after the dive with a trolly, meaning that we didn't have to carry our weights, tank, and other cumbersome equipment back to the shop. Providing assistance to divers who have just left the water is a great way to make friends, and we remain grateful to the Dive Vic staff for their continuing and cheerful assistance after our Portsea dives.

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