The recent weather and the forecast were excellent so a plan was hatched for an early morning dive in the Straits followed by a dip in one of the quarries. There was an excellent turnout, which allowed for some interesting pairings. Andrew was given the task of looking after Mike but as Mike’s torch had expired he had an attentive follower! Peter and Melanie managed not to lose each other and even came back to the right place on the right shore! Brett and Adrian kept it in the family with Steph and Me bringing up the rear. The viz. was about as good as it ever gets in the Straits with reports of massive lobsters, heaps of dogfish, generally hiding under rocks with numerous edible crabs in attendance, so there was plenty to see. Only Mike and Andrew got their navigation slightly wrong and had a long walk back from the Bangor end. Poor Steph had a calamitous day, losing a glove on the way down, having problems equalizing with a constantly flooding mask and a loose fin which turned out to be hanging off. We actually came back in to sort things out but a bad day is a bad day so she cut her losses and ducked out of the second dive. She does have a fortnight in the Red Sea before Christmas to get over it. We then split up with Wyn electing to join Peter & Melanie at NWIDC, while the rest of us, sans Steph, headed to Vivian via Pete’s Eats, only to find the quarry taken over a film crew and closed to divers. So we joined up with Peter & Co., expecting to also meet up with Irfon and Kirk, but they had called off their diving. I went with Brett and Adrian for a DL lesson with a lift bag which caused the causeway to be obliterated in a massive cloud of silt, ruining what had been very good viz. The others did the cave and beyond seeing big trout and all having good dives. It was a lovely calm, sunny, warmish day throughout which is about as good as it is likely to get until next season so it was good to take advantage of it.
David
ps. The sailor whose anchor we recovered from Bardsey in September eventually collected it a week or two back and contributed £50 to club funds. Since then we have recovered his other anchor from under his boat in the moorings in the harbour for which he has committed a further £50. If we keep in touch with him this could be a little goldmine!!
David.
