The forecast was a breezy one. Force 3 & 4 possibly 5 from the South to South West. Could be blown out, but decided to risk it. In the event it was an excellent day. The sun shone and the wind did not get above Force 3. The tide was right for a dive on Maen Mellt at 12:20. Arwyn and Hugh went in first. The tide was still running and we got drawn to the West side of Maen Mellt where we nearly landed on the mother of all congars. There were a lot of wrasse and two more congers. Vis around 6 m. David and Lee followed us and got slack until close to the end when they were drawn to the East side of the Island. They to had an excellent dive.
Lunch in Porth Ferin. A welcome break. Then off to a point off Porth Ferin. The tide was coming in however the tide was still running South. Hugh and Alwyn went in expecting to drift North but ended up going South and then West. Unfortunately no camera was taken. There were three octopuses, a sponge crab with a very peculiar cap and several dogfish. We came across several reefs. Very eventful. David and Lee weren’t so lucky. They intended to release a lobster pot and were rewarded by a long trip over a brittlestar bed.
Another excellent day’s diving. Calm and sunny. Althought the duck boards were down at Aberdaron we felt that it would still be quicker to launch from Porth Colmon, which we did. David, Malcolm, Neil, Mick and Hugh were the divers for the day.
We made for the SE tip of Barsey. Although there was a strong stream of current passing South past the tip a few hundred yards away we never felt the smallest smidgin of current in either wave. The vis was around 4 metres. Well a bit less than that if you found yourself behind Malcolm’s power fins. The seascape was really impressive with shallow and deep gulleys. The spare outboard was tested, and worked well once it was put in gear.
Another quick visit to Glynllifon to finish off the last of the sports diver lectures and to hold the test for Alwyn and Mick. David and Hugh did the lecture between them using the College’s electronic white board. Then it was heads down for the test. It was a difficult paper. I was glad that I did my exams long ago. So they will be resiting the test.
Hugh, Neil, David, Mike, Vi and Malcolm at chez Hugh. The following was decided.
No breath of wind, no blinding mist, no clouds on high, no diver pissed; not likely. But yes it was a flat calm sea that greated us as we arrived at Porth Colmon. Us being David, Neil, Carol, Malcolm and Hugh. It was smoothly out of the putrid inlet with its fetid air and out; every cylinder sucking petrol, every diver hanging on as we turned south towards Bardsey. Thanks to Malcolm’s efforts in getting sludge and water out of the filters, the engine soon had us up to 30 mph.
Pen Cristin looked calm as we approached. So in went Carol and David to see what was what. The current didn’t know what it was trying to do. So when they came out we decided to go in. Visibility around 2-3 metres. A plankton bloom. we saw lobsters, a nudibranch, velvet crabs, edible crabs and wrasse. Camera flash didn’t work so no underwater shots. A long lunch was had on Bardsey; more due to our rib being stranded than the need for food. Very pleasant. We finally got out to have a second dive off the SE tip. Only David, Carol and Malcolm did that one. Rather a lot of sea weed it appears.
We were back in Porth Colmon in 20 minutes having had the smoothest ride for a long time.
Mick, Neil, Malcolm and Hugh off to get an emergency outboard for the Club rib. As usual when Malcolm does the shopping, we left the shop with the outboard and fuel hose and without paying!
Only the dedicated few Malcolm, Gwyn, Chris and myself. Ready to test ourselves against the elements. And in Gwyn’s case his first day as Dive marshal……………..hopefully the first of many!
Arrival of the sorry few at Pwhelli on a cloudy, dull and very unpromising day to launch the “new” refiltered boat (thanks to Malcolm) for a days diving in Hells mouth. Launching under the close scrutiny of Hugh, who was under the influence of substantial amounts of drugs (we don’t believe they were for his cold!). Off we go………………no engine problems, the radio works, the rib gets on the plane, and we even had the keys…………..surely not? Where was the drama, and suspense? We did contemplate changing the prop, but given that Malcolm has so few fingers it was decided that this could be “dodgy”. So off we go again, if a bit slowly to Hells mouth.
Both dives were on the east side, the first was meant to coincide with slack…….however, there was none……..all day! All that could be said is that it slowed down a bit, then picked up again without changing direction!
Dive one was at Trwyn y Ffosie. It was decided that Malcolm and Gwyn should “test the water”, and give a viz report back to the boat (well, it’s what we decided…..but forgot to tell them). On the boat we guessed it couldn’t be good, as the pair immediately lost each other! After a little pointing at bubbles, shouting at Malcolm and then towing behind the boat they were reunited.
The dive is a small gentle drift past a little headland, followed by an area with huge bounders, scoured gulleys and small reefs. We all encountered loads of Spider crabs (see pictures) sponges, Dogfish and hundreds of Dahlia anemones. Viz was allegedly 5m (I think Malcolm and Gwyn had there viz enhancing masks on!) However it is a very pretty if shallow dive, so maybe the daylight confused them.
Dive two…..the big one….(this was supposed to be the first dive……on slack…………but running like a train when we passed it earlier in the day). Lots of talking on the boat and sticky ears meant that there were only two divers left capable of going in. So off we go, dropped in at Trwyn Carreg y Tir on a “slack” of about 1-2 Knots…… The reef consist of bedrock with deep gullies running through it. On the outside jewel, Dahlia and Sagartia anemones, on a rock face down to 15m covered in flustra (brown grobbeley shite). The gulleys are classic surge gulleys………sorry Malc, I should have warned you! Covered in anemones of all descriptions and colours, along with a carpet of red sea squirts.
Gwyn coped admirably with both the Dive marshals role, and as boat handler all day. Well done!
Although spotting the pod of Common Dolphins whilst we were on the second dive, did seem a bit mean…..after all, if you managed to get then within 10m of the boat, couldn’t you have encouraged them to come see us underwater? All in all, a very good day, a very quite day and a very safe day.
Don’t look at the Dive Programme; your are right; it was meant to be Bardsey. In fact it was all organised to be Pen Cristin. However the weather as usual played it usual tricks and on getting down to Porth Colmon we found it misty, windy and not a a sea to launch into with 12 bottles and 6 divers. David, Carol, Don, Arwyn (first boat dive), Malcolm and Hugh.
So over to Pwllheli (lunch!!) and St Tuds it was. Well it was meant to be Hell’s Mouth but then the engine started to play up. (Back at base we found a lot of water in the fuel filter which was probably the cause). Luckily we had Paul and Chris in their boat with us. they went on to Hells Mouth and we decided to go no further than the Islands.
The first dive was off the South side of the Eastern Island drifting round into Chapel bay. A nice dive with quite a bit of life. Arwyn did very well especially getting to grips with his new self purging mask.
The second dive was over by Half Tide Rocks; well exposed with a good covering of seals, sunning themselves despite being disturbed by the world and its jet skis. However there was rather a current. This proved the undoing of Malcolm’s new really, really small, reel, when he couldn’t keep up with the revs and had to let go of it while deploying. Arwyn was at hand to grab hold of Malcolm’s legs as he made an unsheduled bid for the surface. Fast thinking that man. The moral of that story is: (1). that size does matter, and its the bigger the better. (2). make sure each of you has a DSMB.
