Anglesey.. you gotta luv it.

[Muddweller]

Who says you can't boat dive in force 6

I had arranged with the lads for a weekender diving around Anglesey some 3 weeks before hand so off we went with a forecast of 5-6 north north westerlies changeing to northerlies later.. and some snow flurries

Sat morning we drove up to Rosneigr hoping to find a bit of shelter in the bay and maybe dive on the inside of the reef, however since the waves appeared to be bigger than our boat we use plan B. Plan B was to launch at Beumaris and dive a little sheltered bay on the way to Penmom.. and so to Plan C, back to Menai Bridge and in the pub.. only joking launched at menai and proceeded at speed toward the bridge propelled by the current when our engine died. For those who don't know the menai straights mid tide on spring imagine the rageing river rapids at alton towers but bigger . A few buttock clenching moments later as we were closing in on Pig rock we managed to restart the engine just as I was about to chuck in the anchor.. few

So we made it through the swellies and anchored just west of the satue of Admiral Nelson, had a brew then kitted up and went in. The main current in the channel was ebbing west but we where very close inshore and so expected a back eddy, this was confirmed as we dropped over the side.

The first 3m the seabed was silty with the odd bit of gravel and this was what I was expecting throughout the dive, however I was pleasently surprised as we went deeper to find this gave way to course gravel and rocks. Now things began to get more interesting, vis was about 1m but we could still see loads of life, velvet swimming crabs, a couple of small edibles, starfish, plumose anenamies and some funny fan coraly stuff I dont know the name of but they were orange.

The deeper we went the more boulder strewn and rocky it became with rocky overhangs and gullies to route about in but I was ever mind full of rageing current in the main channel so when I felt the current change slightly I knew we should head back.

Even despite the vis this was a very enjoyable first sea dive of the season. Dive time 35mins max 10m. Apparently when we got back on the boat we were told we were only feet away from the main channel

Sunday.. Dived at Dotty in the snow and bumped in to Nick whom I met on Elfyns boat a couple of years ago when we dived the resurgam. Good to see you again Nick.

Regards
Karl