Another blowy day, this one with rain until the afternoon, but the interested few, i.e. Dewi, Irfon and myself, were not to be deterred and made it to The Straits for 6pm, where it didn’t look too bad at all. Viz. turned out to be 2-3 metres and there were some remarkable changes from 4 weeks ago. The largely bare rock faces were now covered completely with sponges and the usual masses of anemones had returned. There were large numbers of all varieties of crabs but no lobsters and almost no fish. We swam under the bridge and towards the Swellies for about 20 minutes, by which time it was starting to run so we soon drifted back. Next time we plan to dive a new site over at the Normal College which has been highly recommended by the Gwynedd Club, although there are reports that the seasonal algae bloom has started and is very thick up the Anglesey coast.
David J.
There were just four of us at Porthdinllaen for a dive on the wreck of the Gwynfaen. The four being Mickey, Jon, Carl and I. We kitted up and made our way down to the beach to launch the good old Sparrowhawk. With the sea conditions flat and only a slight swell, it was straight out to the wreck at very good pace. We arrived at the GPS position and quickly found the wreck. Mickey and Jon deployed the shot; which as we found later, had hit its target, not just on the stern but in the middle of the stern. It couldn’t get any better!
Carl and I were first in, in what, as far as we could tell, was the beginning of a long period of slack water. We slowly followed the shot-line to the bottom. On the wreck there was plenty of life; spider crabs, lobsters, pouting, sunstar starfish, big wrasse, plus lots of small anemones. The viz was about 3 to 4 meters. Having completed a full circle of the wreck and being close to deco, we decided to end the dive. During our ascent we could feel an ‘unexpected’ current starting to get stronger. Unexpected? Mickey realised that he had forgotten to allow for the clocks going forward one hour.
Then it was Mickey and Jon’s turn. They had to pull themselves down to the wreck and were only able to stay on it for a short time before they had to leave for a drift. They too saw a lot of marine life. While they were under, Carl and I saw two pods each of 10 dolphins playing on the surface. A fantastic sight and right over our divers; but naturally they didn’t see them!
On our return, as you do, we stopped for a pint at the pub, which made a change, before successfully recovering the rib and heading home. In all a good day.
Craig T. (pics – Craig T)
After a spell of settled weather it blew up on Tuesday from the south diverting us from the south coast to Trefor Pier, which was not too much of a hardship as the life under the pier is usually at it’s best early in the season. As it turned out this might just be a bit too early, as only one lobster was seen. Initially there were going to be about 6 divers but Simon is still suffering the after effects of Scottish food and Dewi managed to break a strap on his BC while setting up his gear. Both turned out though so there was no shortage of shore cover.
David & Craig were first in with Craig testing out a new neoprene dry suit, followed by Irfon & Carl, who was testing a long out of test cylinder. Both pairs saw a number of big greater & snake pipefish, big tompots and numbers of all types of crabs. The Council have now erected a serious barrier to keep fishermen off the pier but the presence of several recently dead dogfish suggests that they are still finding a way past the fence. Viz. was about 3-4 metres with a bit of a swell under the pier itself but both pairs managed an interesting 45 minutes or so. By that time Mickey and Vi had arrived so the shore cover to diver ratio was actually one to one! With the wind picking up it wasn’t long before we decamped to the Vic, the one in the hills that is, where the log fire of last year has been replaced by an electric one, but cosy enough nevertheless.
David J.
First boat dive of the year and not a hitch. The engine started first time. A flat tyre on the trailer being the only problem. Peter did the boat towing and gave us a lifeboat start off the trailer, with a speedy reverse and heavy on the brakes, which worked a treat.
Because everything went so smoothly we ended up on Maen Mellt 2 hours before slack water! So at this point with the tide still running, we had an explore of a local cove to see if it was accessible for a shore dive. Nice cove but quite a steap sandy cliff. Some food and drink was consumed and then back to Maen Mellt. Irfon and Wyn went first, followed by David J and Richard. Peter & Dave H doing boat duty first.
Irfon and Wyn came back with smiles due to reasonable vis and plenty to see. David J and Richard also had a good dive. Peter & Dave H then went for a dip, Peter in his wet suit! Did not get cold after 45 mins at 9 degs. The more unusual sightings were some Squat lobsters, a Nudibranch, some small unidentified crabs , and the egg cases of the Sea Lemon, these looking like small, white, soft, inch high swirls stuck to the rocks. The trip ended up, as expected, to be one dive. But well worth it.
Dave H
The day started with the disappointment of not having a boat dive. The sea was very murky on the Saturday & although there were light winds forecast the size of tide would have kept stirring up the silt. Never mind it was going to be a Quarry day! Excellent weather and a small but perfectly formed crew of hardened divers gave the promise of an excellent day. There were three teams David J and Richard, Carl and Anja, Hugh and Dave H.
All started well (i.e. we all got there on time). Everyone got down the slope without falling over. Hugh & Dave H went down the wall below the crane. No major points of interest but lovely wall dive with good vis below 10m. David J & Richard followed same route but Richard found that the quarry is nothing like diving in the clear waters of the Red Sea.
Carl & Anja had a lovely dive, apart form the map drawing exercise in silt at 30m which was obvious to Carl if not Anja. Then came came the Cylinder at 40 or was it 50M. Hovering at 32m Carl says he could see a cylinder possibly with diver attached, lying on the floor beneath them. He wanted to go see and do the ‘hero’ bit. Anja showing perfect BSAC training said, NO WAY, that is too deep, or gestures to that effect. This point being discussed at length after the dive. Donations to Carl if you are interested in the map of the lost treasure of a cylinder, maybe!
Dave H.
Strong winds and scattered showers at the beginning of the week meant that last year’s most visited Wednesday night dive site would be the only place to be on what turned out to be quite a pleasant evening. Not surprisingly only five were up for a kit rinse, those being David J, Jon and Llyr for some Sports Diver training and Carl and Irfon who came just for the hell of it.
Carl and Irfon left the triad at the car park, still mid-briefing, and made their way to the quarry. About five minutes into the dive Carl pointed out a gigantic trout, probably the same one that he spotted last Sunday although according to Carl, “it had shed some weight since last Sunday”. Towards the end of their dive, they spotted the others just starting their dive and by now it was getting darker by the minute.
The reduction in lumens meant that the task didn’t go to plan for the trio and possibly the rescue skills needs further practice at a later date.
As usual the de-brief and moisturising was conducted in an orderly manner at the Glyn Twrog at Llanrug.
Irfon.
It was the first Sunday dive of the 2009 season and, as the organiser I had to keep reassuring myself that it was nothing personal and that the majority of keen divers must have had really pressing engagements elsewhere that day. Otherwise I would have not been able to cope with such a high level of rejection. With 3 of the divers (Carl, Dave H. and myself) not having any previous coxing experience and Wyn (the Manager) being the only one qualified to do the job, our options were somewhat limited. A shore dive was also ruled out due to afternoon work commitments on our part, so we decided on an old-time favourite: Vivian.
We met bright and early (9.30am) at the car park, where it was evident that Vivian was flavour of the day. By the way, I would like to encourage all of you to purchase lots of raffle tickets from John; the main prize is a handsome and very colourful 3 foot knitted diver with full dive kit including Vivian merchandise tank, mask, BC with 2 air dumps, fins the lot! Brilliant!
Dave H. and Wyn braved the cold waters first, followed by Carl and myself. In the light of our forthcoming trip to Scotland Dave and Wyn practiced the perfection of their buoyancy control while Carl and I concentrated on tank switch off manoeuvre practice in case of a free flow. It also seemed like an awful long time since we last deployed our SMBs, so we had a go at that. All but one were rewarded for their hard training by seeing a really large trout. But hey, am I bothered???
Despite the lack of company the 4 of us enjoyed our cold training dive and we were even back home in time for Sunday lunch.
Anja
