Dive Report for Sunday 14th July 2024
Only Mike and Dewi were able and willing for the day’s diving even though the weather forecast was excellent as was the tide, it being a small neap. Normally with only three up for it we would have hit it on the head but instead we decided, given the expected good conditions, that we would go ahead with two of us doing only a single dive. We also decided to stick with the Club rib rather than Mike’s boat in case anyone came out of the ether, which is what happened as in response to a posting by Dewi, Mari joined us for what would be her first boat dive. We were indebted.
We met up very early at Pendre in order to catch slack at Maen Mellt, the rock outcrop off Porth Iago, and despite a few setbacks during the launch and a partial flooding of the boat due to an inexplicable amount of water in the bilge together with a blocked intake to the pump in the sump we manged to get Dewi and Mari into the water shortly after 9am. The sea state was flat calm with virtually no wind. They had a shortish dive as Mari had a poor fill in a 10 litre cylinder but they reported an excellent dive in good viz. with loads of fish, having navigated around the rock from the south east corner to the north west side. Mari was equiped with a camera set up very like that of Jake so the photographic evidence, combined with that of Dewi’s go-pro, should tell the tale. Mike and I dropped in at the same SE corner of the island with the objective of doing the circuit, which was a bit ambitious given that the tide was on the turn. After a bit of a hard swim into the current along the south side we found the channel through the reef and entered the sheltered aquarium on the west side. The viz. was about as good as it gets, at least 10-12 metres by my estimation, and we were surrounded by numerous shoals of large pollack with a myriad of assorted wrasse and other fish keeping us company, all of which were not in the slightest bit concerned by our presence. The vertical rock faces were adorned with jewel anenomes and dead man’s fingers while being able to see all of the dramatic topography was a bonus. The current was strange, easing us along for a while then occasionally being in our faces until we made it over the next ridge. We happened on a single clawless crustacean, not sure if it was Reggie or Ronnie, and rescued a large lobster from an abandoned pot where it had resorted to cannibalism! Mike V-notched both. After about 40 minutes we were just about the whole way round when the current got serious so we put up the SMB and were promptly whisked away from the rock. An excellent dive, as it usually is, which even Mike claimed to have throughly enjoyed. He had taken his metal detector down, ever hopeful, and did find a few bits of scrap.
We had a break at Porth Oer before heading over to Irfon’s reef, which is off Porth Colmon, in the hope that the neap tide would allow us to hunker down in the gullies. That proved to be a forlorn hope as both pairs got swept off fairly promptly, enjoying instead an interesting drift at about 20-25 metres over a mixed cobble and gravel bed which was home to many scallops, most of which are still down there, as the usual suspect couldn’t face having to clean them! This turned out to be Mari 50th dive and her first drift. Very well done. The boat recovery went well, although the winch is ever more temperamental and just a bit dodgy. We were back at Pendre shortly after 3pm and with the boat washed and the donkey engine given a run were away by 4pm, allowing plenty of time for a certain someone to get settled in front of the box for the footie!
David
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Dive Report for Wednesday 17th July 2024.
We had noticed on Sunday that Porth Colmon was largely clear of rotting kelp and even smelt reasonably fresh, so had pencilled it in then as a possibility for the mid-week dive, especially as the neap tides extended through to then. Melanie and I had dived it a few years ago with Keiran and had a nice dive, round to the west, until forced back by a strong current but it was unknown territory to most of the rest of the Club.
We met up at 6pm to catch high water with 5 having expressed interest, but when Dewi and Lowri hadn’t appeared by 6.15 we kitted up and headed in. Mike, doing shore cover, had meanwhile phoned Dewi only to locate them at Porth Ysgagen?? The water was crystal and as we headed out the seaweeds were very different to what we are used to, quite beautiful in fact, until we hit the kelp which was abundant. Didn’t matter as with the excellent viz. we were kept company by shoals of pollack and lots of wrasse. Shortly after clearing the kelp time forced us to turn round which was just as well as the ebb current was already clearly evident and in our faces. Having headed mostly to north and then the west we followed an easterly and southerly track back but somehow missed and overshot the channel and ended up in shallow water to the east of the bay. It was a quite different and relaxing dive but one to be reserved for good neap tides on high water only with entry time set well before scheduled high as being caught out there on a strong ebb tide could be just a wee bit embarrassing.
Dewi and Lowri reported an excellent dive at Porth Ysgaden where the viz. was also brilliant.
David
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Dive Report Sunday 21st July 2024
With the weather being a bit hit and miss of late, Enlli was taking the calls on Friday with Dewi assuming the role of Dive Manager. It was forecasting rain all day Saturday and good weather for Sunday so a decision on dive sites would be a late one with everyone who phoned being informed on Saturday.
A total of 4 persons made theirs interests known , they being Mike, John, Andrew and Melanie, with Jake being a late add on following a call Saturday lunch time ⏰🙈. A quick call to Mike confirmed that his boat was available as the dive sites of Mynydd Mawr and Trwyn Penrhyn had been decided upon given the timings of the spring tide.
Melanie, Enlli and Dewi picked up the club boat and arrived at Port Colmon for 8am, with Mike arriving shortly afterwards. His new tow bar at the front was put into immediate use, launching his boat effortlessly, and joined shortly after by Sea Wasp. The crews of the boats were as follows, Mike , John & Jake on Sparrow Hawk with Andrew 2 Stroke breathing a sigh of relief that he was on Sea Wasp along with Melanie, Enlli and Dewi.
As we arrived at Mynydd Mawr we were faced with a cauldron of white water and fairly large swells, we had doubts if this usually slack at all states of the tide site was going to be just that. On persevering through the water we found our dive site to be in calm and slack water, with numerous bouys in the vicinity to check.
First in were the pairings of Melanie & Enlli followed the threesome of Mike, John & Jake with Dewi assuming command of Sparrow Hawk. Tracking the divers was simple given the calm water we were in and amazingly the threesome remained together throughout the dive. Both pair / threesome found wreckage of vehicles on the site with good viz and good life including Crawfish. Unfortunately Enlli lost her fin on getting back onto Sea Wasp which immediately sank to the bottom.
Andrew & Dewi were next in hopefully in where Enlli had lost her fin in an effort to recovery but without luck. They headed more to the North of the others and were rewarded with huge gullies and cathedral like walls, with viz of between 6-8m.
Lunch was taken at Whistling Sands with the majority using the toilets before going onwards to Trwyn Penrhyn for another slack dive. Enlli was like Cinderella going to the ball trying everybody’s fins before settling on Dewi’s as the best fit. Again a good abundance of life with reasonable viz of about 6m. Last in were Andrew and Dewi who explored the gullies and encountered some really wierd current which seemed to push them in all sorts of directions. Plently of life, most of the lobsters spotted were small and one reasonably sized Crawfish.
We arrived at Porth Colmon for just after 3pm only to find the car park very busy with some of the parking failing to take into consideration launching and recovery of boats. As we recovered one VW Transporter got stuck on the slip burning up a lot of rubber. Fortunately Mike took control and with some extra muscle from members of the public the owner was able free himself.
Sea Wasp was put to bed, tank filled and ready for the next outting.
Dewi
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Dive Report Sunday 28th July 2024.
With Dewi unavailable Mike offered to launch us from Pwllheli. The plan was to get out early to enable us to get back in before the seasonal afternoon rush. So we had the rib at the slip by 08.15 where only one other boat was launching so we were away in good time. Anna and John had come to the rescue on this occasion to make up the needed foursome. A London club were departing the harbour at the same time so Mike had a chat with them while we radioed in. They were off to Bardsey, 9 divers in a big rib. We met them later as they had given up on Bardsey because of poor viz. and had come looking for better in Hell’s Mouth. They did notice that our other pair were using two SMB’s and were good enough to have chuckle about it.
I will limit the detail of the day’s diving, as the viz. was surprisingly poor, the sea life not so surprisingly sparse, and as we went over to Hell’s Mouth, mainly to avoid the melee of boats off Cilan, it turned into a long day out and there were 5 boats ahead of us at the slip and chaos in the parking area on our return. We weren’t helped by a dodgy winch on which the ratchet has broken so Mike undertook to convene a virtual committee meeting to rubber stamp our decision to replace it. The end result was that I got home about 6.30 pm after a 7.00 am departure feeling somewhat the worse for wear!
David
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Dive Report Wednesday 31st July 2024.
Working on the adage that the best remedy is a repeat prescription, having agreed on Sunday to take on the Wednesday organising, I accepted Dewi’s suggestion to take the rib out. Anna, clearly of a like mind, and Lowri were the only other takers. This time we had a late 10.00 am start at Pendre, mainly to catch slack water, launched without incident at Porth Colmon, and after consideration of all the alternative dive sites, were drawn back to Maen Mellt. As the tide was still falling Anna and I dived the south side of the reef, something I had not done for years, and had a brilliant dive, albeit in slightly cloudy viz., among the huge boullders and rock outcrops before a current, just as we reached 20 metres, caused us to turn round. We followed the edge of the reef back finding a couple of conger, but the fish life was as good as it always is, just very few crustaceans. Anna handled the reel to deploy the SMB and went on to complete the SD lesson on operating an SMB which we had started on Sunday. It was slacker for Dewi and Lowri so they were able to cross the reef to the best wall going! In addition to locating a stash of abandoned lobster pots they managed to complete a DL lesson. Lunch was a leisurely affair at a busy Porth Oer before we dived off Trwyn Penrhyn. The water was even cloudier here, but we had a relaxing dive among the gullies and rock outcrops and located the swim through. Anna completed a few more bits of her SD training, which involved my first mask removal for a long time! Dewi and Lowri did much the same dive and included the AS ascents for DL. We were back at Porth Colmon just after the 17.00 deadline we had given the coastguard, and apart from issues with the dodgy winch and a tourist who watched us park the rib before asking us to move it to allow her to get her car out, we had the rib tucked away about the same time as on Sunday, but I for one have much better memories of the day!
David
