Up until the early 1960’s it was mainly the Royal Navy and commercial divers who undertook diving, in the Weymouth & Portland area. It was during the sixties that sports diving, using Self-Contained Underwater Breathing Apparatus (SCUBA), became popular. Many of the first diving clubs set up by the British Sub Aqua Club (BSAC) started life in London and, Weymouth because of it relative close proximity, its clear water and interesting dive sites, became a popular area.  Ron Parry* organised dives from his shop in Walpole Street and there were several boat owners /local fishermen, like Clem Pitman, willing to take divers to the local wrecks and sites like Portland Bill and the Lulworth Banks.  If the wind was from the East or South-east then it was possible to dive inside the harbour wall and/or from the shore at places like the Chesil Beach. If all failed, there were plenty of pubs in which to drown ones sorrows.

In those early days the boat skippers relied mainly on their local knowledge to find the limited sites that were available and, after a few years, many of the more experienced wreck divers began to find other sites both in the UK and abroad. Weymouth remained very popular for training and for divers more interested in the scenic sites.

In the 1970’s, however, many of the larger trawler skippers started taking the more experience divers to wrecks located by the use of the DECCA® Navigation System. Weymouth’s first effective charter service, was started by the late Andy Smith using his boat ‘Hunters Moon’. This opened up a vast number of new diving sites and, Weymouth’s popularity for experienced divers, returned. Throughout the 80’s and 90’s technical developments in diving equipment and the introduction of affordable Global Positioning Satellite (GPS) navigators has allowed divers to locate sites further from shore and dive deeper wrecks. Trawlers skippers taking divers out at the weekend is now no longer the norm, most have been replaced by purpose built dive boats run by professional dive boat skippers on a commercial basis. The introduction of inflatable boats followed by the development of the Rigid Inflatable Boat (RIB) has also increased the numbers of self contained diver groups using the area.

* Ron Parry learnt to dive in the Royal Navy.  In 1959 he embarked on his diving enterprises in Weymouth calling on his Naval experience to provide training for divers with equipment made from fire extinguishers, jubilee clips and pieces of pipes and a very important part of the equation was his ingenuity and ability to adapt, helping him to explore the barriers of a sport still in its infancy.  He and his wife, Joy, refitted an old boat which they named Divers Means and ran trips to Weymouth Bay for adventurous would be divers, along with the rich and famous including the Goodies with whom they appeared in an episode of the popular TV program.  

In 1963 Ron & Joy moved to Walpole Street, Weymouth where the shop, Sub Aquatics, came into being.  During the 60's they gave diving displays and 'try dives' at Pontin's Holiday Camps.  Ron went on to form the Weymouth Underwater Club which evolved into the Dorset Sub-Aqua Club.  (Some members of the Abergavenny team had dived with Ron in 1968 and he is particularly remembered for the kettle of warm water pored into the wetsuit having returned from dives in the early season.)  

In 1972 he sold the Walpole Street shop to Brian** & Sally King and set up a new shop/dive centre in Portland.  Ron retired in 1986 leaving his sons Kevin & Ian to carry on the diving business.  Ron died in July 2000.

** Brian King died in 2002

Ed Cumming - January 2007

Useful references for addition information:-

1 Divers Guide to Weymouth & Portland - 5^th Edition.

2 Discover Dorset - SHIPWRECKS - Maureen Attwooll (Dovecote Press)

3 Dive Dorset-John & Vicky Hinchcliff, ISBN 0946020264

4 Shipwreck Guide to Dorset and Lyme Bay - For Divers & Skippers by Nigel Clarke, ISBN 0 907683 81 9.