David, Hugh, Peter Neil and I met in Pendre at 8.30am. After making the boat ready for the day’s dive Peter hitched up the his pickup and we headed to Porth Colmon where we met Dewi and Ifron.
After launching the boat we went to Maen Mellt for the first dive on high water slack. We buddied up Dewi and Ifron, Hugh and David, Peter and I. The exercise for this dive was to try and find Llyr’s weight pod lost on a previous dive. The pod was found very quickly by peter (well done Peter) then he and I went for a bimble around the reef where we saw a couple of lobsters,conger plenty of wrasse and some common urchins.
After lunch at Porth Colmon we went out for the second dive. This was a drift(my first). We descended to around 18 meters but did not see a lot as drift was pretty rapid. After the dive we returned to Pendre on quite a high. Thanks to Neil for organising and coxing. A great day was had by all.
Brian
Another Wednesday, another unsettled week, so nowhere to go for a dive except Vivian. Also, as has been the case in recent weeks, the only interest was from Brian, Llyr & Jon, so with Peter & Hugh available & willing we met up for the second of their Sports Diver training dives, SO3, Deco dive & distance line. After a dry run in the car park we were pleased to find the viz. much improved, although for this exercise the recent murk would have been perfect. With Llyr & Jon delayed, David & Brian were actually out of the water before Hugh & Jon got in. Clearly there was a lack of foresight in the pairings! The consequential penalty was being made a meal of by the midges which have plagued Vivian just about every Wed. evening this year. The only real plus from doing these training dives in the quarry in August is that the temp. was 14 degrees C, and it’s one less dive to do when we are struggling to finish next January when it will be almost 10 degrees colder. So on that cheerful note we adjourned to the Glyn Twrog.
David
Saturday night’s weather forecast was looking pretty dismal for our planned Sunday dive to Carreg Ddu. Taking into account that David Jones, I (Llyr) and only three others had phoned in and with the bad forecast due we decided to call off the following mornings dive. Come 7.30am the following morning low and behold we actually had a nice Sunday morning. Thankfully David phoned round to gather any volunteers and we planned an afternoon dive to Maen Mellt.
We launched at a very busy Porth Colmon courtesy of Peters’ towing and made our way towards Maen Mellt. The wind had picked up somewhat but everyone was looking forward to some rare August sea diving. Micky and his friend John did the first dive off a reef some ¼ mile out from Maen Mellt. We then went on to Maen Mellt for the 4pm high tide slack. David Jones and new club member David Hirsy then did the second dive. Yes three of the seven divers were Davids! They had about a 35 minute dive, their dive being cut short by the current drifting them off the reef. Finally Peter, Anja and I went in for the third dive. We had a good 55 minute dive and saw plenty of large edible fish, lobsters, prawns, a decent conger eel and I spotted a sea urchin much to Peter’s amusement. This being my virgin boat dive something was bound to go wrong and I dutifly lost one of my integrated weights as I came back onto the boat. So next time the club is diving in Maen Mellt can you please look out for Mickey’s long lost fin and my integrated weight pouch! Llyr.
Sunday 17th August Vivian Quarry.
“Your numbers are 50 and 51”; we are told as we pay our fees. So there were 49 divers before us in Vivian Quarry at 2pm. Sort of says it all about the sea conditions. The us were Irfon and Hugh who couldn’t face another weekend dehydrating on dry land and so made for the high ground. I don’t think I can add anything which will add to the readers knowledge of a Vivian quarry dive except that the visibility was a little on the low side and the ducks looked happy. It was a very sunny afternoon and we managed to spend a very enjoyable 57 minutes underwater where the only wild life was other divers.
Hugh.
The forecast was again appalling so I was surprised that anyone phoned in on Tuesday evening. Predictably, it was Brian and, less so, Llyr on time even, calling on behalf of Jon as well, who did. Equally unsurprising, Wednesday’s weather was far calmer than the gales which were expected. Nevertheless there was no chance of getting in the sea which, inshore, was various shades of brown, depending on where you looked. But, there is always one dependable fall back, isn’t there? So, as Llyr had made the mistake of mentioning Vivian, we headed off there to start their Sports Diver training, with Robin taking on the other Instructor role at short notice.
There was a burst water main in Bontnewydd so it was already getting dark with spitting rain when we eventually got into the water at about 8.15. John had warned us that the viz. was poor at about 6 metres. In fact, it was nearer two, yes that’s 2 metres viz. – in Vivian, and it wasn’t algae, it was just plain sludgy murk. The exercise was using the SMB with Robin & Llyr winning the race to get in first. Just as well, as we had plenty of time to get used to the gloom as Jon, despite giving repeated OK signs, was having difficulty equalizing, so our descent took almost 5 minutes. Having warned them to keep well clear of lines and other obstructions with the SMB line we first bumped into the trapeze lines. Then we swam into the far rock face! We did manage to just miss the hut before entering a mucky leaf soup at the far end, which we blamed on Robin & Llyr until we turned round and found out that it had somehow got much worse. John hadn’t helped by moving the boat, so we actually got disoriented on the way back, managing to get lost twice. All in all though it was an interesting experience for all of us, with everyone handling the exercise and the conditions very well, even seemingly enjoying it!! We changed in the dark, just as the rain started, so it was a late evening in the Glyn Twrog.
David.
Club Depth Record. Broken Wreck Located. Scone Eating Record Set.
Forecast from met check ¬– W3. The North coast was cancelled; Mike (marshal) decided on Hell’s Mouth and was joined by Robin, David, Peter, and John in the club boat. The team met at Castell March and launched at the Warren courtesy of Wyn Jones.
No problem with the wind, but the sea state was SSW5.with a swell.
The best option was St. Tud’s. David, Robin and Peter dropped off the back of the West Island (lighthouse). David and Peter experimented with a new hand signal?!! Vis. 5m tops. Interesting; better than not diving.
Mike and John decided to drift off the back of the East Island, flat and sandy. John saw the remains of a wreck, steel, but was unable to stop. We’ll find it.
Robin and John were on one dive and were duly dropped on the beach.
Second “dive” Mike coxed while David and Peter decided to look at pretty things in Llanbedrog bay, max depth 1.7metres, lots of life in the club’s first dive in a rock pool !!
Wyn’s brother, Hywel, retrieved us where we retired to the tea garden at Castell March.
The Queen (Helen) then appeared with a large tray of scones and tea. Peter who stated earlier “Never mind the diving it’s worth it for the scones” proceeded to munch his way through seven of them (fighting off a wasp for the last one). Mike managed five, David two.
Back to Pendre to wash the boat. A good day was had, better than not diving.
Mike