Three lessons were planned but in the event there was only time for two. The first taken by David was called Sports Diving was an introduction for the rest of the course and dealt with the conditions which affect diving. Hugh’s lesson was on Diver Rescue which included watching your buddy for signs of heavy breathing and wide staring eyes and what to do when they showed those signs. Gripping stuff. We were delighted to welcome two new members. Richard Spencer (front left) and Nick Young (alcove left) who will be doing the Sports Diver course, following their crossover from PADI. The next two lessons ST3 & 4 will be given on Sunday 4th November 2007.
What dedication. A mid-week training session. Carl, Anja, and Gemma were the trainees with Mike as “the body” and Hugh and David as instructors. Vi was in attendance to keep an eye on that “body”. Gemma completed her open water ocean diver training in style by going straight into the complete mask removal, replacement and clearing. Not the once required, but twice. Dismissing the half flooding and full flooding steps as too easy. Gutsy stuff.
Carl & Anja did lesson SO4, compass navigation and deployment of DSMB. After a dry run or two navigation around the car park it was into the pond for a bit of the wet stuff. The underwater navigation went well with nobody getting lost and we all managed a bearing on Pussy Galore. The deployment went exceptionally well and we were well chuffed when three very firm buoys greeted us on the surface. A short discussion on the surface (see photograph) ended with the decision that all three DSMB’s were the same size and equally firm. Photographs by Vi Duke.
Hugh.
Only 6 divers for what may have been the last time the rib went out this year: Tim,Hugh,Irfon,Dewi,Carl & Anja. Today’s dive was also my Marshalling exercise under the watchful eye of Hugh. From the start it appeared that it was going to be a testing day as we on checking the rib at Pendre that it had a minimal amount of oil in it and on checking the oxygen kit found that it was free flowing. Anyhow we gathered at Porth Colmon at 10.00am and the conditions were such that there was no obstacle to diving, apart from the radio not working, though we got around that with a phone call to the coastguard. The only incident on our way out to Maen Mellt was Carl’s hat that decided it wanted to join the lifeboat exercise and abandoned ship. With a careful assessment of the situation spotters were put out and a rescue was put into operation to safely retrieve the cap that was found to have suffered no more than a wash.
Slack water was 11.39 so in first went Irfon & Carl (11.16) followed shortly after by Dewi & Anja (11.31). On the surface there did not appear to be much current though on their return to the surface both couples reported strong currents and poor visibility – around 2.0mtrs. So last in was myself and Hugh fully expecting to find ourselves on a drift. What we found was nice slack water though the vis was no better. Another very enjoyable days cold water diving…..roll on January!
Tim.
The plan had been to team up with Neil and his boat to dive in the Menai Straits. But, with the sea state being so good we decided to stick with the sea out of Trefor, not least since the boat had been left overnight at Lee’s, and we rarely take the opportunity to dive the cobble beds out from The Rivals.
Neil took Peter and Simon, while Irfon, Anja, Carol & David were on the Club rib. There was a typical neapish slow current running, reasonably good viz. and depths of only 12 – 14 metres, so long gentle drifts were the order of the morning. Unfortunately all divers reported only limited life, although there was plenty beneath the cobbles, squat lobsters and the like. Two of the groups did run into unflappable Red Gurnards, which do seem to be a feature of this site.
For the afternoon, Hugh replaced Irfon and Carl teamed up with David and a reluctant Carol! Neil had done a recce and determined that the base of the mountain looked interesting, a vertical wall over a flat bed at only 6 metres. So, as it would be slack water, and we needed a change of scenery, that was it, and it did prove to be worthwhile, at least for those who followed the mountain face to the East. There was a myriad of life on the wall. Indicating that the current did rip along there, and a sandy bed soon gave way to boulders, where lobsters, rare fish and even shoals of chameleon prawns were to be found. For the kleptomaniac in our midst there was also, towards the end, a huge kelp covered rock, with its attendant pollack and large wrasse. For the pair who ventured west there was the risk of being the first divers ever washed up on Nant Gwrtheyrn beach, and the consequences of thinking of putting up an SMB from 2 metres.
So it did turn out to be a bit different although, as someone pointed out, the afternoon dive was a bit like the perfect training dive, which did nothing to ease my conscience at having put Gemma off, on the grounds that we would be diving unknown, possibly difficult and hazardous sites!!
David.
The Dive Programme had run out but the forecast was for a virtually wind free weekend on neap tides. So, as there was considerable interest for the Sunday from the Ocean Divers, the wreckies decided to head for the Segontium which had not been dived by the Club this season. There were four takers, with a lot of hand-wringing from those who could not make it. The organizer, Carol, dropped out as she’s not into threesomes!
The day provided a millpond sea with a gentle swell and a clear blue sky. We found a friendly fishing boat over the wreck and, as it was already slack, dropped the shot. Hugh and Peter kitted up and dropped in just as we noticed that the fishing boat was now about 100 metres away and the buoy was rather low in the water. A check of our position found that we had indeed drifted off the wreck. So we hauled them back aboard and pulled up the shot line which was found to be badly tangled. So we now need a course in dropping a shot!! The second drop was fine except that we managed to wrap the buoy around the fishing boat! The pair did eventually get down, reporting a good dive in rather dark conditions.
It was now David and Wyn’s turn, and they were soon in only to find that it was indeed very dark with viz. of maybe 2 metres. Not much better than on the Gwenfaen a week earlier. It had been decided to send up the shot on a lift bag. David positioned the shot on the side of the wreck and Wyn did a staged fill, just as he had been taught. This was fine until he missed the side of the boat as he dropped the shot after testing the buoyancy. Both Wyn and the lift bag disappeared completely down the side of the wreck, and he did very well to haul the shot back up. With the shot eventually away we proceeded round the wreck. David felt a tug and found a large empty fish hook in his wet suit, which luckily came out easily. As he held the hook and line away from him there was a sudden tug and the hook was pulled out of his hand, very fortunately without any of his fingers. So, BEWARE of ALL HOOKS, even those without bait, when there is a fishing boat around.
The side of the wreck was covered in large pieces of net and the poor viz. and darkness made it a real obstacle course. We resisted the temptation to cut the fishing boat’s anchor line as we crossed over to the other side which, although clearer of debris, was equally devoid of the usual fish life. So although Peter and Hugh enjoyed their dive, even meeting up with a couple of conger, we concluded that it was not a dive that we would want to do again in poor viz.
David.
