Friday 22nd July 2022
The diving had been rescheduled due to strong winds mid-week. It turned out that we managed the shortest window possible on Friday evening which, after a dull cloudy day, turned out to be sunny, warm and wind free. Six of us met up at Porth Ysgaden at 6pm, well five actually as Andrew was, amazingly, well late. We even had to give him a call to check that his cold hadn’t reappeared, but he was on his way. So that was a first!
We had not expected much in the way of viz., but the bay looked to be crystal clear and was flat calm. Andrew went with Mary, me with Guy while Melanie got the short straw and got the camera with Jake attached. We were all in at about the same time. Apart from a slight cloudiness inshore viz. was good at up to 8 – 10 metres. Guy and I crossed to the far side and explored the reef on the way out, finding most of the usual suspects including tompots, big prawns and leopard spotted gobys but nothing of size behind them. Not really surprising as the single shore attached lobster pot that has been present all season was still there, albeit empty and upside down? The fry have hatched and were in abundance everywhere and there was lots of corkwing and ballan wrasse and pollack. Andrew got it spot on by describing it as a fish stew. There were lots of juvenile pollack, which were feeding, darting among the fry. Andrew and Mary also spotted a whiting and a large flounder. We observed the rule of thirds which obliged us to turn round after 25 minutes at 8.3 metres, taking the same time to come back, although we chose to saunter off the reef and back up the middle as there was so much life even there. Andrew and Mary’s dive was also about 50 minutes but Jake and Melanie managed over an hour. The sea temperature was 16 degrees which felt toasty even in my wetsuit which was having it’s first outing of the season. Only 3 degrees above what we had in the IOM but it seemed like a lot more.
By the time we were out and changed a breeze had got up and the bay was already choppy. By Saturday morning there was rain and a stiff south westerly. I took the dogs to Carreg y Defaid and got soaked, but I felt better when I passed a bedraggled Jake, out for his morning run, on the drive back. The sea was no longer inviting which made our Friday evening dip all the more fortuitous.
David
