As Sunday was forecast to be foul weather and it most certainly was!!! We opted for the alternate day… Bank Holiday Monday with a leisurely start we arranged to meet at the car park next to the police station in Nefyn at 11:00 am with Mike who was waiting for us on Nefyn Beach with his boat.
Andrew, Peter James & David met at the car park, we then loaded Peter’s car with all the kit then hitched a lift, thanks Pete!…. so glad he said yes. We then drove to the beach to meet Mike at his chalet we then loaded and launched the boat.
After going out just past Nefyn point David & Andrew went for their drift dive shortly in to the dive David had a small problem with a hose rubbing against a switch on his BCD and inflating it for him after re-routing the hose David & Andrew resumed their drift.
46 Minutes later and an average depth of 18 meters they surfaced in the vicinity of the Gwynfaen which was a bit of a surprise, but Andrew finding a golf ball on the drift was a bit of a hint where they were.
It was now Mike & Peter James’s turn, so headed further out to get a depth of about 25 meters, they both had a good drift dive avoiding the sand dunes and of course Mike came out with you guest it….. Scallops!! We then headed back to Nefyn Beach for lunch and to change cylinders.
The 2nd dive was at the slate wreck on arriving at the site we dropped the shot line only to see Mike’s buoy disappear due to a small hiccup in the slack water calculations in other words I messed-up but after kiting up it resurfaced, so for next time Mike is going to put a bigger buoy and a heavier shot to compensate for any more hiccups, as it was still running quite fast Mike decided to stay on board and the remaining three would go together.
On entry we found out how strong the flow really was Peter) got to the buoy but Andrew & David needed a tow. Once we got to the bottom which was at 18 meters and found the shot we saw a small furrow in the sea bed we followed it straight to the anchor and shortly after the wreck well I say wreck I mean a very large pile of slates which was full of life Fish and Lobster’s galore and one large Conga & Octopus.
We had a total dive time of 36 minutes and it was a very interesting and an enjoyable dive. We then returned to Nefyn Beach and retrieved the boat with out any more hiccups.
Andrew.
Although the weather at the end of last week had been hideous, the forecast was for sunny spells and light winds. Unfortunately the Club rib was out of action undergoing repairs to the hull so we opted for a shore dive in Porth Ysgadarn. Kirk, the organiser, & Julie were planning to travel up but not surprisingly decided that a single shore dive wasn’t worth the effort. So, only four turned out, with Ian Hughes taking the opportunity to resume his Ocean Diver training after more than a year out of the water. Gwyn & Andrew went off for a longish bimble in cloudy viz. of about 3 metres, but the sea was millpond, and so very pleasant. We coordinated our exits so that Andrew could do the final part of his Sports Diver training by dekiting and landing a casualty, a rather chilled Gwyn, who is diving already in a wet suit. So, it’s congratulations to Andrew, who’ll no doubt be treating everyone to a beer on Wednesday evening. (No editing permitted!)
David
The recent good weather was forecast to last only until late on Wednesday, so with the boat and trailer having been under repair in Brett’s shed for the past 2 weeks, we decided to take advantage of the longer boards and firm sand on Aberdaron beach to go out from there, thinking also that it would be quiet in the village and therefore easy to get onto the beach. Not so when a couple of cars had blocked off the slipway and a fleet of huge tractors were moving silage. The good news was that the carpark no longer locks it’s gates at 7pm since being taken over by the NT. There were four for the afternoon so, after belatedly screwing in the bung, we headed out on a very calm sea with Nia at the helm to Carreg Ddu. Nia and I were first in for a lovely dive on the lee side of the island, while Andrew and Mike tried to do the same but got swept off and drifted west to 34.8 metres depth, just right for a newly qualified Sports diver! Both thoroughly enjoyed the dive although Andrew complained that for some reason he had to water ski behind the smb line when caught in a sudden strong current. We eventually had to admit that must have been when the buoy got caught up on the engine!! The impending storm was already showing itself on the horizon and the breeze was picking up, so a nice, gentle drift along the west side of the bay was chosen for the evening dive. Mike coxed, dropping Irfon & Dewi in first just to the south of Porth Meudwy, with the threesome from the afternoon dropping in at the same spot a few minutes later. The first half of the dive was exactly as planned, a fastish drift over a very interesting cobble bed at about 14 metres, but it then radidly speeded up and gradually got deeper. At 20 metres plus, with Mike revving the engine as a warning we aborted the dive and started to ascend. We soon lost Andrew, who wasn’t on the smb line, and after an interesting few minutes surfaced just short of Carreg Ddu, having passed through the washing machine that is Pen y Cil on a rising spring tide. Irfon had a wide grin on his face when picked up well to the west of the island. Dewi just looked knackered after having had to fin hard to keep up. Andrew was last to be picked up closer to Pen y Cil, still wondering why he had needed more bouyancy, not realizing that he had just experienced a serious down current for the first time, but both he and Nia handled the situation very well. I think that it would have taken a shark attack to prise Nia off the smb line. Back in at the shore the beach had the last laugh as the high tide turned the firm beach into slushy porridge, causing us yet again to rue the decision to give Aberdaron another chance. Mike recovered us with the aid of a long rope to the trailer but then had the misfortune to lose his clutch on the drive back to Pendre. He joined us in the Pen y Bont for a much needed pint after loading his car onto a recovery vehicle. The only other mishap of note was to the front RHS step infront of the trailer mudguard. This had been taken off during the repair work to be straightened after having been bent some time ago. Well, Mike managed to restore it back to it’s previous condition and some on the bridge in Aberdaron. Only later, when Brett joined us in Pendre, did we learn that he had done the same thing exactly that morning when moving the trailer from his yard to the road, and had had the step off and restraightened it only a few hours before!!! All in all a very eventful day, but still a lot of fun.
David
The original plan had been for a dive in the Straits but as some of the trainee ocean and sports divers were available David opted for some training at Vivien with the option of a dive in the Straits later on.
Six of us turned out, David and Irfon to carry out some instructing, Brett and Nia to do some SD training, Ian continue his OD training and Andrew who had half an excuse to get wet.
Irfon accompanied by Andrew got Ian through his drills and led him on his first dive in the quarry. Visibility wasn’t great at about 2m but he thoroughly enjoyed his dive.
David intended to take Brett and Nia through some of the SD drills but as Brett had some equalising problems and Nia’s mask kept filling up with water it wasn’t their best day out!
By the time we got out of the quarry it was a bit late to head for the Straits so the evening was finished of pleasantly with a meal and a drink at the Glyntwrog.
Ian
