Criccieth had looked good on Tuesday, so with the wind forecast to move from the north to the northwest the dive site was moved from the planned Porth Ysgadarn. On arrival at Criccieth we found conditions calm but somewat murky. Carl reported white water to 50 metres offshore in the morning. so we decided it wasn’t worth getting wet.
But the suggestion was made to try the north coast so, as all were in favour, off we went, to be rewarded by a calmish, murkyish bay which was about as inviting as Criccieth had been. But there was no deterring this group of diehards. As the conditions were clearly was not suited to a threesome, and as Carol couldn’t be persuaded to get nearer than 50 metres to the water, I had to reluctantly drop out. So Irfon & Carl and Tim & Simon trudged off and were rewarded with a pretty good dive with viz of about 3 metres. In fact the viz. was so good that I could see Tim’s bright green fins in 5-6 metres while tracking their progress around the bay from the far reef. They were in for about 45 minutes and Carl came out with 80 bar, showing a distinct improvement in air usage.
David.
The weather outlook for a Sunday dive was not looking good though it was decided to meet at Porthysgaden at 10.30am and take it from there. Reports of visibility being only a couple of metres on Saturday could not dampen the enthusiasm of Wyn, Irfon, Mike (The Marshall) and Tim (Organiser) who were the only divers. Carl had really wanted to come along but as his guests like a lie in on a Sunday he was committed to having to tend and feed them. After a brief consultation it was decided to to dive the Gwynfaen rather than Segontium as the forecast for later in the day was not that good. Given that none of the divers had forgotten their weights, undersuit or dry suit we all kitted up and headed out to the dive site.
Irfon and Wyn went in first following a shot line and were kind enough to attach an line from this to the Gwynfaen. Forty five minutes later they surfaced from their dive to report of 8.5 metres visibility………….at least! After Irfon put down some ground bait in went Tim & Mike down the shot line for another forty five minute dive. On their return to the surface Tim also put down some ground bait whilst a discussion of the dive was taking place. Both sets of divers reported a large variety of marine life on and around the wreck in an abundance so rarely seen. Congers, Lobsters, Scallops, Crabs,Tom Pot Blennies, Pollock, Wrasse, and even a shoal of Mackerel were spotted.
Such was the euphoria of such an unexpectedly good dive that one was heard to say ” That was the best dive I have done this year” another was heard to say ” That was the best dive I have ever had” following on with it was even better than the Red Sea! It truly was a fantastic dive in excellent visibility. The weather did the opposite to what was forecast and only improved as the day went on. Given that we were diving in 20 metres this would have been good experience for the newly qualified Ocean Divers. Let us hope that we have more days like this.
Tim.
Trefor Pier again in the rain, and did it ever rain, but thankfully not until all the divers were kitted up and in the water. Poor Carol, doing shore patrol and handing down weights, was forced to take shelter. Anja & Carl, and Simon & Ben, with Hugh & David respectively, successfully completed the final exercise of the Ocean Diver Course and are now qualified, albeit perhaps not quite ready, bouyancy wise, for that first fast drift, or so Irfon says!! Nothing that a few more dives won’t put right. Mickey took Gemma & Tim for a swim around and promptly lost the pier, even though the viz. was quite good, but they did report a pleasant dive along the sea wall. He is in good company as Carol had done the same thing a couple of nights earlier, when Gemma had successfully tried out her altered dry suit and resumed training at long last. Interestingly, although the conditions were similar, there was a lot more sealife on Wednesday.
A very enjoyable meeting was held at the Glyn Garth which resulted in a full programme for the second half of the season. Three Club members gave their apologies for their absence. Lee, Irfon, Robin. Malcolm was also unable to be present. It was found that there is greater flexibility in drawing up the programme when some members are absent! Plans for a RIB sub-committee and the following week’s diving were drawn up as a consequence of the Skye trip. Neil took on the task of acting DO while the DO was away.
Fantastic conditions for diving.
At long last the sea conditions had settled down and it was possible to get four of the trainees into (and out of) the boat. With the wind from the north and the need for a sheltered site, the South side of the East island seemed as good as any. Mickey provided his boat and with Irfon handling the Club rib all was set to rendezvous with low water slack at 7pm. But we very nearly missed it, being let down by the D team, with Ben being late and Hugh forgetting most of his dive gear, again. Fortunately, for once, the tide did wait for us, and all enjoyed a cave inspection followed by a ramble down thgrough the kelp to 10 – 11 metres, or 17 – 18 metres for the more adventurous, such as Anja and Ben. Viz. was good at 8 – 10 metres. Peter and Tim managed 72 minutes, interupted by a trip to the surface, as their boatman unaccountably failed to recover the anchor that Peter had found and attached to his SMB! The incoming tide did pick towards the end of the dive, so for most of the trainees it also turned out to be their first drift dive. Simon, with Lee, and Ben, with Hugh, both managed dives of an hour or so, wheras the Portmadoc (diving) gas guzzlers were limited, by Robin & David, to just over half an hour! Oh, and to top it all, after threatening briefly to blow up, the good weather persisted and it was a lovely evening.
David.
Despite the gloomy forecast of rain and wind veering to the north, there were 8 divers with their names down for a full days’ diving, and 1 down for his customary pm dive.
Sea Wasp and Sparrowhawk were launched at 10 am. The dive site was a reef just out of Porthysgaden. First in were David and Wyn who had a gently drift dive along the reef, visibility was 4 –5 metres and there was plenty of life to be seen and most noticeably was the sighting of several very large crabs and lobsters. Robin and Lee dived together followed by Irfon, Dewi and Mike Duke. Hugh, despite meticulous forward planning and reputedly laying out all his kit before each dive had forgotten his weights, and therefore remained at the helm. Dewi confused the surface cover by deploying his smb and then letting go of his reel. Irfon’s smb was found to be negatively buoyant when it was reeled in due it leaking air – some excuse! So the senior member of the threesome had to show them how it was done.
For the afternoon dive, we were joined by Peter and took a westerly passage from Porthysgaden to the second reef of the day. This was very similar to the morning dive with some divers seeing plenty of life which included a dogfish orgy whilst unexplainably other saw very little. Robin proved that buoyancy is a question of mind over matter or should that be lead and as a result has 5kg of weight for sale. We returned to shore at about 4pm after a successful days’ diving.
Wyn