Vivian Night Dive - ghosties, ghoulies and long legged beasties!

It was a fine day when we left Winsford at about 1.30pm but as soon as we crossed the border into that little micro climate that is Wales, the heavens opened! Poor Sue Dewhirst who had come as shore cover and looking forward to a nice clear night would now experience a wetter evening than her rowing duties that morning!

Whilst it was still light we did an orientation dive and I was pleasantly surprised with the vis. Considering the time of day and the amount of rain (and I mean serious rain!) I thought it would be pretty poor but no, the quarry was very clear, maybe 10m vis?

We started by honing our buoyancy by going along the 6m wire, then we descended to the bottom and had a little reccie. Chester SAC had already started laying a route – chemiluminesence sticks adorned the bottom providing a colourful pathway, almost like Hansel and Gretel’s bread trail, but there was no gingerbread house at the end. Once we were happy and got our money’s worth, we curtailed the dive in anticipation of the main event.

The rain was so heavy that inbetween dives we sat in our cars, frantically trying to stop shivering as we ate our sandwiches! Plenty of other divers were about and they all dressed the part – skeleton bone costumes, witches hats, devil horns and then there was Ernie, Alan and me!

The dive proper – at just past 7.30 the gang of three entered the water. A large spotlight had been erected at the waters edge, without which it was pitch black. I always find Vivian a bit gloomy at the best of times as it surrounded by high slate walls. Our descent was illuminated by a LED rope light, which had a mystical quality to it, provided by Chester SAC - when Chester do a night dive, they do it in style!

We followed what we’d done on the orientation dive. Along the 6m wire, then descending to the bottom. There was a very peaceful and calming atmosphere in the gloom which our torches brightly lit up and provided a warm glow. I imagined this was very like cave diving must be like. I found the orientation dive very helpful even though I had dived Vivian a gazillion times before as it served as a reminder and also gave an indication of what the conditions would be like.

Alan was first to spot an eel – he was lucky enough to see it full length. I only glimpsed its head as it shot into the leaf mould. Still counts nonetheless! We headed back to our point of entry, past the mystical rope light then to the far end where we could hear the generator going – surges in the power as the more sensible amongst us were in the warmth watching Strictly! All too soon, we reached 50bar and thus we started to ascend. Hold on a moment, why’s it gone dark – the mystical rope light had mysteriously vanished! On surfacing, the only light visible was the glow of Sue’s iphone! Chester had taken all their lights! Luckily we had our torches to guide us back to the car park where Chester were tucking into a well earned barbeque. As I said, they do night dives in style! A lovely couple of dives were had providing something a little different from the norm which I would highly recommend for expanding experience. Any takers for next year?

Wendy Northway

Loch Long - Line Dancing in Wellington Boots!

The van left Winsford on a rainy Friday afternoon heading north for a late visit to Loch Long. VRSAC usually go up early in the year when the air is crisp and the mountain peaks white. October was no different – the rain was wet and the glens snowy! We seemed to go through a time warp as we arrived at our accommodation to find the1970s were alive and kicking with line dancing as the bar entertainment. Goldilocks Northway explored the chambers to find a suitable bed for the night as the boys tapped their feet to the C&W.

Saturday morning we rose early and set off for the caves. I had never done this dive before but heard about the entry. There have been outlandish tales as to the severity of access to this site which I would love to share but I took the blood brothers pact to never, on pain of death, divulge the nature of Steve’s Assault Course SDC. Suffice to say with a hop, skip and a jump, we all made it down the fairy glen. Mark provided shore cover as he felt a sniffle coming on. The dive was stunning. Not so much caves but large boulders plastered with delicate sea loch anemones, topped with plumose anemones on the ridges. Squat lobsters hid in fissures flanked by leopard spotted gobies. As it can be imagined, this was a popular spot with fishermen and there was plenty of monofilament present. Ariel had to free an edible crab which was tied up. As he freed the poor creature, it tried to take a swipe at his saviour – so much for gratitude! Getting cold – water temperature around about the 10ºC so a quick scramble out and back to the warmth of the Pit Stop Diner for a hot chocolate and a plate of chips.

The afternoon dive was a choice of Conger Alley, an old favourite, which despite its name, there are no congers (do you see a pattern emerging here?) or a reccie on a different spot. Ernie had a few thoughts and we opted for a new site – let’s just call it Ammo Alley in order to protect the individuals involved! A very easy entry was afforded and the terrain much the same as this morning, shallow mussel beds giving way to a gentle gravel slope reaching down to larger boulders with a thin covering of pink encrusting algae and keel worms. Common starfish and dog whelks grazed the turf whilst gold sinney and ballan wrasse swam around –again this was a popular fishing spot, evident by the discarded fishing line and the tinnies. Once more the cold curtailed the dive and this is where we put into practice the second half of Steve’s Assault Course SDC as we scrambled back up the bank. Loading the van which was parked next to a puddle, the lads weren’t laughing at my ’choice’ of footwear now – wellies which were the only comfy footwear I could don after a minor procedure on my toe.

A very pleasant evening was had at the Village Inn for some warming comestibles and refreshing beer then retiring back to the Hotel for some more diddly-eye music before hitting the hay.

Sunday morning and a lie in (breakfast served at 9am!). Eventually DaveG got his fayre and after scraping the windscreen we were off to the A frames. Our party had expanded to 10 as we were joined by the Farnworth clan who had the delights of their first UK open water dive. The site was busy with many divers but we were able to get in without any problems. Lesley expertly navigated out over a gravelly seabed. Tiny gobies darted beneath us and small spider crabs hopped over the sugar kelp. Finally we found the A frames, or a selection of them at least. More dog whelks, oaten pipe hydroids and squirts adorned the section. Massive hermit crabs inhabited old whelk shells as 2 spot gobies flitted here and there. We also spied a magnificent feather star reclining over an empty shell. Again cold got to us and Lesley once again followed the lodestone bearing back to base.

Dave and Ernie finished the 3 dive expo with a fourth dive then we all piled in the van and headed off to Helensburgh for a well deserved hot chocolate and cheese toastie before heading back to Winsford. Lovely company and some good diving was had. Music choices by some of the drivers left a bit to be desired but I think I’ll put my name down for next year! Wendy

Capernwray Oct 2010 - Harold and Hilda go diving!

An extra expedition was squeezed into the dive calendar as Ariel wanted to test his brand spanking new suit, a suit that I was very lucky to win earlier this year. Why didn’t I get the suit you may ask, because I had won one the year before! So in matching suits Wendy and Ariel AKA Harold and Hilda took to the waters.

First dive, Team Compass, Wendy and Dave Humphries circumnavigated the quarry with only a compass to guide them, successfully finding most of the set points, and finding the remainder with pilotage (allowed in my books!). A very successful exercise was carried out, which included air checks and contingency routes if air consumption was greater than anticipated. However with Dave’s increasing confidence now as a qualified Sports Diver, these weren’t needed but it always good to go through these calculations!

The other pair, Team Visibility, Paul and Ariel had a novel objective – to estimate visibility in the quarry. Taking a leaded line, this was attached to an object – say the helicopter container and then unwound as the pair swam away from the object. They would then turn when it was out of sight and reel in until just in view. The pair estimated what they thought the vis to be then proceeded to reel in whilst measuring the line with length of string that had been marked at 0.5, 1 and 2 metre increments. This was done at 2 different locations and the results were quite amazing. Both divers had under estimated the vis – first estimate Ariel reckoned 12m, Paul reckoned only 10m. When the distance was measured they were both stunned by an incredible 16m! Second site having the experience of the first they were less conservative. Ariel guessed 8-9m whereas Paul surmised 12m. Actual distance 12.5m! Top marks to newly qualified Ocean Diver Paul!

However the question on everyone’s lips was – did Ariel enjoy a dry dive? Answer was a resounding YES! Well apart from the dry gloves bit, just need to RTFM to get to grips with the proper attachment. Oh and I have to add, because the suit is a neoprene as oppose to his old membrane, he needed to do a weight check. An amazing extra 6kg was required. No more lifting that weight belt with 1 hand!

After a quick bite to eat and keeping the same pairings, we then swapped objectives. Dave and Wendy did the visibility check with very similar results as Ariel and Paul, although we were more conservative with our estimates. Both of us were astounded with the actual readings. Ariel and Paul went on a compass mission. Both teams returned, remarking how the objects under water seemed to move around!



Diving over for the day, we headed up to the café for a coffee and a bowl of chips. The weather was unusually warm for the time of year and the water a pleasant 16ºC. The quarry was a bit like diver soup at times, seems a large number of trainees were undergoing open water drills. Home for a DVD, pizza and bottle of wine – perfect ending for a perfect day. Thanks to all who made it so.

Wendy Northway

Plymouth Red Card District - August Bank Holiday 2010

Friday morning with the boats been launched the night before we set off for the the first dive of the day. I believe the choice was either the Scylla or the James Egan Layne. No one opted for the JEL thus we went off looking for the Scylla. We really must remember next year that this wreck is situated on the cardinal buoys. I dived this with Alice and when I first went down, I thought we might have been on the JEL as the life on it was now getting quite profuse. The vis wasn’t the best I’d seen, the has been a lot of complaints about dredging and dumping in Cawsand Beach. It is easy to see why and I felt the delicate life here was being suffocated. A swift return to base, off load the cylinders and run them round in a DaveG trolley (I’m sure he made bogey carts as nipper!) we then headed off to the Mewstones. This dive sure made up for the morning. I again dived with Alice and we had a spectacular dive. It was one of those dives where you start out thinking – just where has the cox’n dropped me! 26m and a sandy bottom but as we progressed, we saw chimney sponges poking their heads out of the sediment as sand eels danced above, glistening in our torch light. Heading north we happened upon the reef which mimicked the Mewstone itself. As someone once said, look at the topography above the water and thus it will be reproduced below. A low lying reef with shallow gulleys was home to cuckoo wrasse sea fans, cup corals, and large yellow sponges, cliona celata.

Saturday we traipsed over to Hisea Point. This is probably my favourite spot and I opted to extend my dive by using nitrox. Plenty of seafans which gently bent in the current. Finger sponges pointed to the surface, I found a charming bunch of yellow cluster anemones which I managed to film before my camera packed up then just as we rested a while taking in the splendour, a fine cuttle fish came into view. He hung around for a while before doing that weird colour changing thing that only decapods know how to do and scooted off. A sight to behold! Rock cook shoaled mingling with the cuckoo wrasse producing a vibrant curtain of electric blue and jaffa orange. Even on nitrox, no stop time looms quickly and thus it was time to re-board the boat. Afternoon dive was a return visit to Mewstones. I dived with Nick who did his ‘hide from the dive leader’ trick that has us DLs in stitches everytime. A quick 360 and we were reunited. The spot we’d chosen was rather different from yesterday, a little less prolific and we were carried out away from the reef towards France. We continued to drift over pebbles and cobbles. The odd cerianthus anemone and cat shark held our interest until we spied the largest red gurnard ever! Must have been all of 12 – 15” long. Again we were foiled by no stop time. The vis here is marvelous but to get below the kelp line, we had to venture to depths in excess of 20m thus limiting our dives.

Sunday was the big day for the rufty-tufty divers amongst us. The Drop Off! This had been sited the day before after an initial recce by Ernie and Lesley, but today was the day the majority of us we going to dive it. A plateau at 28m, densely populated with pink sea fans preceded an intensely covered wall. Several pairs swam through a massive shoal of bib and the light was fantastic even at 30+m. Colours, shapes and textures were beyond he wildest dreams but once again no stop time hastened the dives. The afternoon saw us head off the other side of the breakwater to Penlee Point. This was a dive I was not looking forward to. I’d done it several times and had experienced poor vis with little to see. However, a dive’s a dive and DaveG and I kitted up. As it turns out, the dive was lovely. We found ourselves in the nursery ground for spotted gobies. A host of small fry clouded the waters, sand mason worms branched out of the gravel, fine bispira voluptacornis posed like flowers in a vase and I saw vivid colours I’d never seen before in the sunstar squirt, botrylus schlosseri . I also found, what I believed to be a lead fishing weight, neatly fashioned into a sort of, well as I come to describe it, torpedo shape. Ariel would like that for his lead collection, I thought as I loaded it into the cargo pocket on my leg. First thing DG said to me on surfacing was ‘collecting live ammunition eh?’ A couple of conversations with ex swabbies Ernie and Steve convinced me that the thing was going to blow my leg off along with the RIB and thus, much to their chagrin, I chucked it back to sea. Well it would have gone into JohnM’s melting pot and as they have just changed their carpets, I don’t think I would want that on my conscious!

Monday, our last day on the RIB we ventured further along the coast to Stoke Point where we all experienced a gentle surge. All found this rather pleasant as the current rocked us first backwards then forwards to recap on what we missed! After a brief trip ashore for lunch and the vain attempt to find somewhere private for, well nature calls! The afternoon dive was somewhat challenging! East Rutts, a pinnacle back towards Hilsea Point which we didn’t quite get on slack water! Steve did his utmost to control the SMB but it pulled us one direction then another, neither of which we wanted to go! After 24 minutes we decided to call it a day – we’d had a lovely dive in the morning and still had the hard boat tomorrow – why ruin it? Made our way back to shore via Bovisand to get cylinders filled – did I say that Discovery Divers compressor went down yesterday – probably the busiest day of the year!

Final day – hard boat diving with Glynn on the Maid Maggie 2. The weather looked good so we it was ideal to do Eddistone Lighthouse. A gentle crossing in bright sunlight brought us to our site. I dived with Lesley who expertly navigated us to the wall. We had worked hard this weekend and this was our reward. Vis was in excess of 15m – clear waters and light down to at least 30m. Jewel anemones covered the walls, seafans adorned various pockets and as always, cuckoo wrasse followed us everywhere with the odd pollack darting in and out! Once again, no stop time limited our dives and we found ourselves on the lift getting back into the boat. Did I mention that the boat had a lift rather than a ladder – this is hard boat diving in style! Quick lunch then we headed off towards Hands Deep. Steve had been waiting several years to get here but had so far been thwarted by the weather. Hands Deep is a kelp covered pinnacle with fingers jutting out forming a magnificent structure around which to gently meander. I dived with Paul and it was good to see his confidence growing as he looked at home in the sea. Once again we ran out of no stop time and it was time to surface, finishing good and early in time to get ready for the last night out.

A thoroughly enjoyable trip with excellent diving and the best buddies! Banter was light hearted as our welfare officer took it in good humour to issue us with red and yellow cards when the conversation got a tad risqué! Same again next year?

Wendy Northway

Capernwray Aug 14 - Old Trout and Limp Balloons

Force 4+ winds saw a last minute change from the Llyn Peninsula to our favourite standby of Capernwray quarry. Although we arrived in good time, our prefered spot to the left of the entrance had already been taken – no matter, we got the last laugh as the concrete blocks closer to the shore were available – result!

First lesson of the day – regular servicing of equipment is recommended! Nick’s octopus was making noises very much like a cow giving birth. Steve tried various combinations to fix the problem but to no avail, Nick headed off to the shop to hire a set whilst Wendy went through surface compass work with Dave. Comments of a Northway teaching navigation were quickly dismissed as Dave expertly found his way from the bin to the old oak tree, and back again!

2 x threes were the first dive – Wendy, Dave and Nick who were on a navigational mission to plot the quarry – well the helicopter and the horses. Dave undeterred by the rising terrain, carried on til he found his object. Some more successfully than others! The second 3, Steve Paul and Ron started their dive with a weight check for Ron who was now sporting a pony. Weights sorted, this intrepid 3 headed off towards the latest attraction of the plane. Paul, after locating the nearest exit illuminated by floor lighting (no, sorry, I made that bit up) made his way to the galley and started to serve 400 lunches for irate business class passengers (no sorry, made that one up aswell!)

2 teams had very enjoyable and successful dives. The compass team managed to find their way back to the shore and the fly-divers enjoyed their in-dive entertainment. After a quick bite to eat, Wendy and Dave learnt how to find their way around the car park using a distance line and plastic cones. This was then taken under water and he successfully managed to negotiate the paddock where the horses were. On a roll Wendy demo-ed how not to deploy a DSMB. Perfect student that he was, Dave imitated Wendy’s deployment to the letter. Both divers need to go back to school for this one – sorry Dave!  Paul dived again with Steve and had a good crack at navigation whilst the lads Ron and Nick just enjoyed a dive for the sake of it! Water temperature was a balmy 17°C with barmy Nick and Ron opting to go in without hoods.

A very successful day was had – several drills accomplished, a couple of divers who had not been in the water for a while managed to find their dive legs again, all divers continued to gain experience. The weather was lovely – sunny skies but not too hot and the day was rounded off back in the café with something chocolately – perfect end to a perfect day! Thanks for all attending without whom it would never have happened!

Wendy

Rhoscolyn dive weekend ~ Sat 31st July & Sun 1st August

This weekend saw us diving one of our old favourite dive sites, Borth Wen (aka Rhoscolyn) in Anglesey! This is a lovely bay and the Rhoscolyn Beacons make for some beautiful (and sometimes thunderous drift) diving! It’s a site we’ve been diving pretty much since the branch started over 25 years ago!

We managed to dive both Saturday and Sunday with around 12 divers in attendance despite a heavy swell between the beacons and Rhoscolyn on the Saturday. The weather improved as the weekend went on. Underwater viz at around 4 metres and 15’c temperatures under the waves.

Primarily conducting training dives this weekend but still managed to catch glimpses of Dog fish, bull huss, spider crabs and lots of lobsters! Dave H even managed to catch one (but let it loose again… Honest!).


Congratulations to Zoe who completed her Ocean Diver qualification (Zoe has been coming here with her parents since being a toddler and finally managed to tick off one of her ‘must dive’ sites).


Thanks to everyone who helped with the training on both days (Clive also got some rescue drills out of the way) and to Dave G for organising a fab weekend!

DH

24 July 2010 – PorthYsgaden – Travelling at the speed of light!

Got up early Saturday morning to glorious sunshine in Winsford – just perfect for diving Ysgaden. When it’s sunny it’s a glorious place. When it rains it’s miserable. As we drove over the hills in thick mist, I had to put the lights on – this doesn’t bode well I thought. To coin a phrase, when it rains at Ysgaden, it’s miserable,!

Still the RIB was prep’d and off we went. The sea was rolling and rain pelting down. The sooner we get there, the better I thought. The cox’n dropped us directly on the reef and we enjoyed delights of lobster strolling along on the sea bed, octopus, potato crisp bryozoans and oodles of cat shark! The vis was superb – at least 6-7m, water warm at about 15 degrees C and just a mild and gentle drift, no greater than 1 knot. 55 minutes later we got back into the boat

Lunch time I ventured down to the beach to take up the beach art challenge, but it was too wet and miserable so I went back to the car for a snooze.

After a brief kip, the rain hadn’t subsided so there was only one thing for it – to go out diving again! Once more, the cox’n dropped us square upon the reef and the usual suspects greeted us. By this arvo, the tide had picked up and there was no stopping! More cat sharks, common spider crabs, tiny macropodia crabs and an explosion of sea hares! Steve even spotted a bull huss – fantastic!

All too soon, the day was over and the sun finally came out. A wonderful day’s diving and hey, what’s a bit of rain when you can have the delights of the Llyn peninsula’s finest reef!

Wendy

Abersoch - the dive! 12-13 June 2010

Last minute reprieve as Andrew kindly agreed to tow meant this weekend was on! Dave Humphreys and myself arrived at the Harbourmaster’s side of the marina in good time – only to find there had been a last minute change of plan and we were due to meet Blue Water Marina side. No problem, we were early and drove round. We were, as the crow flies, about 100m away from where we should have met, but a stretch of that pesky water stood in our way, and instead, it was a 1.5 mile car journey to meet up with the rest of the gang.

We quickly set about prep-ing the RIB and called for a tractor launch. After what seemed like an eternity, we were off towards St Tudwall’s. This journey was quite colourful as Hursty major negotiated the wind and waves. Good job we were wearing drysuits otherwise we would have been soaked through! First dive, I dived with Hursty minor (Zoe) at a lovely spot called Pistyll Cim. It was a sandy bottom flanked by a rich kelp forest. Common spider crabs lived up to their name in that they were armies of them. They traipsed across the sands as if the owned the sea. Who knows, perhaps they did – I wasn’t going to argue with biceps like theirs! Zoe glimpsed a masked crab which has been on my tick list for some years now so I was rather excited at that. Also noted was a stickleback – only the second one I’ve ever seen, the other coincidently was at Abersoch. A shoal of bream seemed to follow us on our way, before we decided to take off with the current and have a little drift dive to finish on.

Paul dived with Hursty major and spied cat sharks, pipe fish, sand eels, snakelocks anemones. At a last minute change of plan, (seems to be a bit of a theme running here) Andrew and Dave Humphreys also went in here. Which left Dave G and John A who trekked over to St Tudwell’s when we all surfaced. As we battled the crossing, hoping we would be in the lee of wind, dolphins were spotted. At St Tud’s seals sunned themselves on the rocks, a couple dived in, whetting the appetite for the last pair. Lobster, conger and edibles were seen.

It was late by the time we got back to base. Couldn’t decide what to do first – I was hungry, dying for a wee and I wanted to get out of my drysuit! After some lunch (by which time it was approaching 4pm) most of the crew didn’t want to dive again, as it was a lovely day, despite the wind, wanted to spend time with family on the beach. However, both Hursty major and myself were up for another dive. Hursty had fancied diving Gimblet Rock, the entrance to the harbour. We quickly relocated ourselves to the other side of the Marina and donned kit. Avoiding the fishermen we submerged ourselves into a lovely little dive. Sandy bottom again with mermaid tresses waving gently in the current. Pipefish once more were spied, along with scallops (too small for the pot, pls Hursty), dragonet, common spider crabs. As we turned back we found a superb low lying reef in about 1.8m of water. Flat fish, mussel beds, shoaling fish were all seen, amongst the varied seaweeds. I was also impressed that for a site which was so close to the shore, there was very little litter. It was remarkably clean. Sadly we had to surface – my lift wanted to get back for the footie!

Sunday morning the crew again dived Gimblet Rock but this time from the RIB. The dives recorded were seriously approaching safety stop depths! I believe 5.7m was recorded!

A lovely weekend was had by all. The weather was kind to us and the wind just about allowed us to dive and get wet. Many thanks to the collective Hurstys for organising and for Andrew for towing and paperwork

Wendy Northway

Isle of Man 22-23 May - two legs good, three legs better!

The weekend started early on Friday morning – some had earlier starts than others VRSAC had two different passages across to the island – the early starters aboard the good ship Bryher, captained by Admiral Dewhurst, others took the more leisurely Seacat from Liverpool. The motley crew aboard Blackbeard’s yacht had the last laugh as they had a good run beating their expected travel time down from 12 to 8 hours allowing them time for a curry then down the local for a couple of pints. All this and Clive was able to keep facebookers updated as he mapped the progress downloading from his blackberry (giving up the ciggies, I guess he had to do something with his hands!)

The high energy dive sites of the Isle of Man are richly fed by the currents that race around the Island. These tides can be very fast and thus it is important to dive them on slack water otherwise divers can find themselves in either Scotland or Ireland! Time and tide wait for no man and thus Ariel was pained to realise that he couldn’t have a lie in – Saturday morning started with a 7.30 pick up! We loaded to the boat Endeavour and headed off towards the Calf of Man to our first site – Bay Fine. This was a site I hadn’t dived before, a magnificent wall covered in deadmens fingers. Alice and I caught sight of the full length of a ling in a long fissure. Steve found an octopus, others had splendid first dives as wrasse and pollock swam around us. We reboarded the diveboat very easily on a lift system – no climbing ladders for us and hot teas and coffees were very quickly made available for us

The next dive was at the highly charged Buroo. This was probably my favourite dive of the weekend. This is right on the tip of the Calf of Man were the currents sweep nutrient rich seas. John Sweetman and I descended through comb jellies to a carpet of oatenpipe hydroids in full bloom. Gulleys were pasted with deadmens fingers, jewel anemones, Devonshire cup corals and other cnidarians. A stunning sight to behold! Unfortunately I had a problem with my suit inflate and had to abort the dive early and only managed 23 minutes, but what a 23 minutes! Getting back on the boat one of the locals who joined us had actually seen a basking shark underwater. We weren’t sure whether to believe him or not – his buddy hadn’t seen it (how can you miss a fish the size of a whale?) and although he had a camera with him, he didn’t take a photo (ok he had a macro lens on, but he could have snapped its eye)

Saturday evening, we went our separate ways, I met up with my Uncle who now lives on the island and the boys went for a curry. When we met up Sunday morning it appeared that the curry was lying heavy. Dave George had tripled his antacid dosage and it wasn’t yet 8 o’clock! We loaded the Endeavour again and headed out for the Fairy Caves. I had a rare chance to dive with Ariel and we enjoyed going in and out of the caves. Large boulders flanked the outside of the caves as Pollock and wrasse weaved their way in and out of the kelp forests. Inside, we were treated to vertical walls covered in hydroids, anemones, red seaweeds, urchins, red and yellow sponges. The whole scheme was a 1970’s wallpaper at its most garish!

All to quickly the last dive approached – The Clan McMaster in the Sound of Calf. I dived with Alice again and we caught a brief glimpse of the wreck before we were taken by the express train that was a drift, taking us over carpets of bryozaon, anemones and hydroids. We were swept into kelp at 5m and thus ended the dive all too early. As we surface, a horde of seals dived straight into the waters around us, thus giving us the perfect ending to a most enjoyable dive!

The weekend was going to end at the Indian, the only eating establishment open on the Island on a Sunday evening, but the lads had curried themselves out – instead, we gathered a Chinese takeaway and some beers and it was back to Captain Dewhurst’s boat, via the magnificent rowing skills of first mate Alice. A pleasurable evening was had as we watched the sun setting over Port St Mary

A marvelous weekend of diving was had by all. Good weather and pleasant company was enjoyed by all and I hope that it isn’t too long before we return to this my favourite dive location

Porth Ysgaden ~ 3rd May 2010

The planned Bank holiday weekend trip to Largs in Scotland was rearranged due to lack of numbers to become a very well attended one day trip to Porth Ysgaden on the Llyn Penninsular in North Wales. Diving just on the Saturday which lived up to far better weather than had been predicted by the weathermen!

Under cloudy skies but on a slight sea surface we motored out on both Ribs to Maen Melt, about a 40 minute trip from Porth Ysgaden, to dive the rocks and gulley’s there. Arrived just on slack water which is an essential to dive this location and were rewarded with 2 to 3 meter visibility and bright waters down to the 21 meter deep sea bed. Lots of spider crabs, sponges, dead men’s fingers and an unusually large number of Nudi Branches! Andy and Dave H even found an ivory chip, a remnant of the wreck of the Lucy!

Returning from Maen Melt the skies cleared somewhat to give some good sunshine. Ernie and Paul dropped into the bay at Porth Ysgaden and during lunch Dave G & John dropped on to the reef for a drift dive which was 'nothing to write home about' by all accounts.

A second full team dive on the reef towards the back end of the afternoon however gave much better results. Three pairs of divers dropped fairly shallow (15 meters) and closer in to the shore and covered by one of the RIBs didn’t move a great deal. Ernie and Alice covered by the other RIB dropped in to deeper water in a couple of knots of drifting water back towards Maen melt and had an excellent dive, again in only a couple of meters visibility, covering over half a mile in 30 minutes or so but encountering dog fish, Red Gurnard, Crabs of many varieties, etc. It has to be said that there was excited chat all round on both boats as to how good the dive had been on the return to shore.

A beautiful sunset wrapped up another great day’s diving!

Many thanks to Dave G for organising :-)

DH

Rhoscolyn dive weekend ~ 17th April 2010

A one day dive trip to one of our favourite haunts of Rhoscolyn on the North West of Anglesey. A nice sunny day even if there was a bit of a chill wind! With two dives conducted…

Dive 1 the Beacons, poor vis, John A landed on an octopus. As we dived, Ernie and Andrew went through deploying a shot which they would later dive.
Dive 2 under the observation point on Anglesey between Rhoscolyn and Treaddur bay. Wendy and James had a really lovely dive, vis a bit better than earlier and saw an octopus, lobster and cat shark!

DH

Loch Fyne Easter Bank Holiday Dive Weekend ~ 2nd to 5th April 2010

Our first long weekend boat diving of the year took place this weekend at our usual Easter haunt of Loch Fyne, basing ourselves at Argyll caravan park a couple of miles South of the Royal Burgh of Inveraray.

Following a heavy early Spring snowfall which threatened to call off the weekends diving, twelve divers plus families and two of our RIBS made the six hour journey up from Cheshire to start diving on Good Friday and well worth the journey it was!

First dive of a sunny Friday morning was at Pennymore Point. Steeply shelving under water cliffs where you can pretty much pick your own dive depth down to 100mtr plus! The waters whilst a chilly 7'c were quite clear (circa 10 metre viz) and bright even down to 25 mtrs or so.

Marine life here is abundant with various star fish (sun star, spiney, cushion star, etc.), squat lobsters, urchins, anemones and dead mens fingers.

The cold waters meant for fairly short dive times (circa 30 mins max) and fairly long thawing out times!

Second dive of Friday after lunch was to Kenmore Point (the opposite end of the same cliff system as Pennymore Point) much the same marine life but just as rewarding a dive if ever so slightly spoiled by rubbish dumped off the cliffs into the depths! This dive is mostly a cliff wall dive down to around 27mtrs before hitting a steeply shelving mud bank down to the depths of the Loch.

Easter Saturday and after some initial drizzle another sunny day. Saturday's first dive was to one of the most spectacular dive sites the Loch has to offer... Stallion Rock! A rock pinnacle along the Kenmore to Pennymore cliffs that rises from 35 mtrs to just break the surface at low water. Another sheer cliff dive with a small cavern at the base, the roof of which is smothered in blue sponge and adorned with feather worms. Urchins, squat lobsters, etc along the drop off.

Saturday afternoon post lunch and another dive along the cliffs for those warm enough!

Easter Sunday morning after Easter Eggs we took the 45 minute trip down the Loch in the RIBS to find and dive Creggan Dubh on the opposite side of the Loch. Another stunning dive site of boulders and reef down to 25 mtrs+ with wrasse, conga eels, urchins and the ever present squat lobster!

Sunday afternoon and a split of opinion! One RIB heads for Loch Shira a 'marmite' kind of dive site (you either love it or hate it!) and home to the very rare pachycerianthis or 'fireworks' anemonae which for some reason is profuse here in depths from around 18 mtrs. One of our divers, Phoebe, has produced a video on previous dives to this site which can be seen here ~ http://www.youtube.com/user/PhoebeSparke#p/u/4/QsAYdNmu0cY

The other RIB (the marmite haters ;-) heads back to Stallion Rock for a more traditional Loch fyne dive!

All divers meet up Sunday evening however for the traditional get together in 'The George' pub in Inverarary for drinks, eats and swapping of dive stories!

Bank Holiday Monday unfortunately brought torrential rain :-(
So much so that those who hadn't already set off home for Cheshire decided to shelter in the warmth of the caravans and camper vans rather than dive again, which was a dampner in more ways than one to end an otherwise excellent weekend!

So... All in all another fantastic dive weekend at one of our much loved dive sites... Can't wait to dive there again! Many thanks to Stella for taking on the unenviable task of organising the trip!

DH