Wendy Northway
Dave sent out a request late last month for someone to run this weekend as it was a spare owing to 2 w/es chosen for the 30th anniversary celebrations. Newly qualified Sport’s Diver Paul D-L took up the challenge and proposed a return visit to what was such a successful w/e. Well that’s not quite the story, after a stab at Ysgaden but no one to launch, he opted for an old favourite and thus we found ourselves back at Rhoscolyn.
A hectic schedule was planned as we had 12 divers but only 1 boat thus broken fan belts were not an option. Broken fan belts? Oh yes, the first casualty of the day – the fan belt on Hursty’s 4x4 broke on route which left Hursty Major and Minor languishing in MacDonald’s car park for 2 hours. Could have been worse – they could have been vegetarians!
Chief purser Paul donned the Captains hat as he split team VRSAC into 2 groups – kit assembly subdivision and launch faction. The 2 teams worked remarkably quickly only allowing Steve’s car to rest on the beach for just under ½ a nanosecond and first boat was out heading for the Beacons in record quick time as the first pair logged a heads down at 9.34am. Carefully deciding which side was slack we opted for the nearside. I went in with Ron and found that for slack water, the stillness was fairly dynamic! The vis was not as good as we had experienced several weeks ago. I think we were in the middle of a plankton bloom brought on by the hazy sunshine we all enjoying. Poor the vis may have been, it did mean a wealth of nutrients for all the marine critters on which to thrive – and that they did! We were treated to a reef brimming with velvet swimming – and common spider – crabs all vying for their place amongst hornwrack, Indian feather hydroids and club sea squirts. Tiny sponge crabs lifted their fists in defiance as we swept over them. The sea bed changed to cobbles which hosted the starfish gathering! They were everywhere doing that lazy starfish thing that only 5 legged animals do! All 3 buddy pairs were swept over the far end of the beacons onto sand thus concluding the first wave of dives.
Arriving back at the beach, the second wave were ready to roll, but still no sign of the Hursties thus boat 2 enjoyed less cramped conditions than cattle class on boat 1! Was this Paul’s influence I wonder? Boat 2 returned to the Beacons but dived the farside, in the lee of the current. Ariel dived with Sarah who were also treated to echinoderm city and dahlia anemones in a spectacular range of colours. Back on land, StevenF discovered that drysuits aren’t necessarily always dry. Good job it was so sunny and his undersuit was able to air over the break.
Back to base for a short lunch break before the whole scene was repeated. 3rd boat was again the Beacons farside where I went in with Zoë and we were treated to the best dive ever at the Rhoscolyn (sorry Andy S – I know I said that about our dive last time but it has been superseded, I am fickle diver after all!) The current picked up on an ordinary dive which took us over the reef below the lookout. Nothing major stood out but he sheer energy was fantastic – we were swept over carpets of shredded carrot sponge, deadmens fingers and fried egg anemones. Pollack came and went and Zoë managed to point out a couple of cat shark! We only surfaced as we approached 20m, reaching the limits of Zoë’s qualification. DaveG dived with JohnA who managed a record 62 minutes under water spying 5 congers, 4 lobsters, 3 edibles, 2 octopod and a partridge in a pear tree. OK maybe not the last 2 but quite a spectacular dive!
Final boat out was launched at 3.15 and headed back to the Beacons (East Cheshire SAC were also at Rhoscolyn but not on our dive sites – are you telling me that there are other places to dive in the vicinity?) Ariel and Sarah dived together again and she successfully completed her 1st o/w sea drill before taking in the delights of the reef. Sarah also discovered that dry suits don’t always do what they say on the tin! To complete the Farnworth hat trick, Alan ripped his neck seal.
4 tidy launches with comfortable dives for all and the boat was back at the beach before 5pm – surely this isn’t VRSAC? The boat was out of the water and stripped down and we were away for 6. Team VRSAC done good!
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