Isle of Skye
28 September 2009
A few pictures from a very successfull trip all the way up to Skye...
Can you spot a monkey?
Isn 't this a bunch of happy divers or what?
Our President monster hunting...
Posted byAl at 2:53 PM 0 comments
More Scapa Flow photos....
26 June 2009
Posted byJim Bruce at 9:50 PM 0 comments
Wreck of MFV James Barrie. And a diver with a torch.
Posted byJim Bruce at 6:51 PM 0 comments
The bow of the James Barrie.
Posted byJim Bruce at 7:14 PM 0 comments
Scapa Flow Orkney Islands
19 June 2009
We had a fantastic week on-board the Valkyrie and did some excellent diving in the flow. Big sun and blue sky for the first 4 days and then some showers (well yes it is Scotland after all). We met very interesting divers and had a smashing time. Highly recommended.
http://mv-valkyrie.co.uk/
I am not a Scapa virgin any more! Yeeeeeeehaaaaaaaa
Chris and Jim peeping.
Pictures courtesy of David alias Pies
Posted byAl at 3:31 PM 0 comments
Labels: scapa flow, scotland, valkyrie
Anglesey Part II
29 May 2009
Anglesey, not really one of the usual suspects for UK diving, and therefore one that appealed as my very first trip with BSAC.
Weather-wise, it wasn’t a promising start when I joined the six club stalwarts on a chilly, grey and windy campsite on Saturday morning. It got less promising as we realised that we’d missed high water, and the sensible chance to launch the RIB.
The first day’s diving ended up being a re-visit of the Trearddur Bay shore dive that was explored during the first Anglesey trip a couple of weeks ago. Keith managed to lose a fin but still outswim Jim and Alex, Raf discovered the extraordinary buoyant properties of wearing all the clothes you’ve brought for the weekend under a drysuit, and George and Vanya spent some quality time fondling dogfish. Welcome to BSAC and Welsh diving!
Fuelled by an excellent stew made by George, and hungry for a dive that could offer more than 3 metres of ebbing seawater, we revisited the same site for a night dive.
I was pleasantly surprised by the colour and variety of life with blue lobsters, crabs, anemones, flat fish and a big compass jelly fish making appearances; there was even relatively decent visibility (perhaps I’ve done too many training dives in Wraysbury and Stoney Cove??). George didn’t hesitate to correct me on my opinion – apparently it was a sh*t dive, and it was all Keith’s fault!
A cold and noisy night later (the BSAC No1 snoring choir was accompanied by the rhythmic thud of our neighbour’s favourite club anthems), and we were ready for Day Two.
Last-minute planning with a dive guide that unhelpfully promised ‘dangerous currents’ and ‘extremely dangerous currents’ for almost every site meant that we got out to the first boat dive site, the wreck of the Angloman by Skerries lighthouse, 15 minutes too late.
With confusing surface currents, growing swell and ‘very dangerous overfalls’ (that helpful dive guide again…), Keith called off the dive and we trundled round the corner into the Skerries lagoon.
A surfacing diver on a smaller boat gave his summary of his underwater experience as ‘crap’ (obviously he and George attended the same lecture on dive site description). He wasn’t wrong. With poor visibility and nothing to see, it was a quick in-and-out. Above surface the colonies of arctic terns and puffins nesting on the rocks made the boat trip just about worthwhile.
Raf capitalised on his powerboat licence with a rollercoaster ride back to Holyhead harbour, and we regrouped for a second attempt on the Angloman at the afternoon low water slack. This time we got down. At ten metres we were fishing around for our torches. At the bottom of the shot line, 24 metres, it felt like we’d descended into a very black hell, with added silt. Alex and I didn’t find the wreck, but made our way around a course of rocks that loomed from the murk just before we swam into them.
It was the kind of dive that you’re sometimes grateful for – you’d never choose it, but it certainly makes you pay attention to your gear, your buddy and your air! And I came out feeling like I’d got some good experience of poor conditions. And, when the rock faces did loom in front of us they revealed thriving colonies of sponges, crustaceans and numerous jelly fish.
Group consensus meant we didn’t attempt a third dive, on the wreck of the Harold. It was likely that this site would suffer ‘very dangerous and strong currents that are dangerous and strong’ (the guide book) and terrible visibility that we’d experienced at the Angloman. We wrapped up for the day and headed ‘home’ to the tents.
I pretty much doubled my repertoire of knots over an evening curry, although after an hour I think Keith was just saying words and tying things up (a Turk’s Head on a Bight, anyone??).
Day Three and we were back to the south western coast of the island, in search of better vis and some easily accessible sites.
Beautiful sunshine quickly turned to a thick grey sea mist, but we headed out nonetheless to the wreck of the Missouri, in 12 metres. The visibility was good, Jim’s internal metal detector meant that navigating from one part of the wreck to the next was child’s play, and again, the marine life was pretty decent.
The core four, Keith, Jim, George and Vanya stuck around for the Tuesday, but the threat of more unsettled weather threw the chance of diving into question.
I really enjoyed the weekend – thanks for the welcome to the club! I even got to drive the boat, play at rescuing man-overboard buoys, and then real man-overboard jetskiiers! It was a real pleasure to dive with such experienced buddies – I’m hopeful that one day I too will be able to gracefully hover at three metres with an empty tank…
Two things to heed for next time – don’t dive Anglesey on a Spring Tide. And if you do, allow plenty of time to formulate plans A, B, C, and D, and then a contingency plan for when none of those are feasible. And advance knowledge of the slack times and dive times – in such a tidal area dive planning over the cornflakes is never going to work out too well. Otherwise you’ll find yourself on a beach with the RIB on the trailer, watching the sea recede into the distance…
I’m looking forward to the next trip – and a chance to use my new-found boat handling skills and knot-tying. Unless it’s a clove hitch of course, which is actually not a knot at all.
Posted byAl at 9:46 AM 0 comments
Labels: anglesey, boat, boat-handling, may
ANGLESEY Part 1
05 May 2009
Trip report by Alex Soubeyrand
Or how BSAC number one jumped in the
This first May bank holiday weekend saw a few irreductibles from our beloved
This first invasion of the island is in fact only an avant gout of things to come, as Diving Officer Jim and Chairman Keith have now gathered enough information to launch a total assault from Percy Too; Assault planned during the second May bank holiday weekend.
On a bitter-cold Friday evening we arrived one after another at Tyn Rhos camping site, having cursed the M1 the M6 and the A55 along the way. First on the crime scene was David, followed closely by Andy; Keith and I arrived a few hours later and Jim and Chris finally made it just before midnight. A few minutes of tent-wrestling later and we were all happy to have made it at all before sunrise the following day, and were talking about the weekend to come around a few cans of our favourite brew: Isn’t life wonderful?
The plan for Saturday was for Chris and Jim to reach the dive centre in Holyhead to get some training in twinset diving. The rest of us will spend our time trying to explore the many local shore diving possibilities. Unfortunately that weekend, high tide was a little bit on the early and late sides of the day. Fortunately the weather was very good (well at least on Sat and Sun) and after a lot of kelly-kettle-boiled-tea fuelled brainstorming we were all kitted up for what would be my first shore dive ever. We were to dive the site also known as the Ghost House, named in reference to the grim grey huge Mansion house looking down the beach (aren’t all houses in Wales grim and grey?). It was a nice little dive. Perfect for Andy to try is brand new dry suit and David is brand old one. David is a new addition to our platoon, having served for many years in difficult and technical diving conditions. Maybe most of you will have met him through Chris at one of our club’s social Tuesday evening. As an outsider, he fitted to our small group like a glove, and was admitted as one of us straight away. We did not see much life on that dive and spent it most doing exercises; however, when going through some deco simulation drills, I suddenly noticed dancing right in front of my mask the most fantastic little tiny creature I had yet seen: not bigger than a chestnut, almost invisible and 
absolutely extraordinary. I have now found out that it was in fact a Ctenophore and watching this tiny creature was a great way to finish the dive.
The second dive that day saw Andy and I again teamed up with Keith as a support cover. We drove just 2 minutes from the camp site and kit up along the little beach just opposite Diving Services. The idea was to dive along some rock formation that sheltered the beach. This dive was actually very good with a lot to see: crabs, lobsters, prawns, pipe fish, dog fish etc. Unfortunately on this occasion the surges were too much for us once we passed the sheltered part and we had to turn the dive. However we returned the day after with Jim and Chris with a vengeance and were luckier with the weather. We managed to complete the circuit and had a cracking dive just before supper.
By that time I had started to really enjoy the idea of short diving: just ride along the coast line, find a nice spot or beach, stop, kit up and dive. Simple! Isn’t life wonderful!
Monday, the last day, never came. It was obvious that two sunny days in a row was too much for Britannia and a rubbish one had to follow. So we packed up our tent and stuff and left. The weather was so miserable that David was very tempted not to bother with is old leaky tent at all but to leave it there as it was on the camp site. The idea was received with great enthusiasm especially from Chris who suggested running over it with a car first… And so Chris, Jim, Keith and I said goodbye to David (Andy having left the day before not willing to spend one more night in his under suit –sorry Andy ;-)-).
This is when Chris suggested spending some time at the Gwledig Padarn Parc (Padarn Country Park) in the village of Llanberis on our way back towards the civilisation, where:”… we could certainly get some breakfast and maybe also get some training done at the Vivian Diving Centre and quarries...”. I was not too thrilled about that one as I was still drenched from the earlier tent removal business, still cold from a freezing night in an inadequate sleeping bag and we still had at least 6 hours driving ahead. Oh yes, and the rain was still falling pretty heavy. I believe Jim was 
thinking exactly the same way and Keith was adamant he would not get any wetter today. However, once at the site some of Chris’s craziness must have washed off and stained on Jim and I as we decided finally to give it a go. It has to be say that the place is stunning: access is through a little arch where the small quarries is locked and surrender by high dark slate cliffs which suck the already poor daylight and transform it unto some sort of unreal atmosphere. “Being a slate quarry means clean, clear water with very little sediment.” says the web site and also kept repeating the friendly chap at the dive centre. Well we were in for a chock, as exceptionally clear the water is indeed. Everything was still and quiet. It was like to be at a secret ceremony:”… and so after a few minutes of self-underwater-harm the Golden Yoyo is at unanimity given to… –drums- …Chris and Alex! And the Silver one goes to… -again drums-Jim!...” Jim's acceptance speech went something like that:”… apart from poor techniques I like to thanks the exceptional visibility which makes neutral buoyancy impossible and also inadequate weighting adjustment from sea to fresh water, also...” Too soon it was time for me to wave good bye to the pair of them as I was then low on air.
It was again a very enjoyable weekend spent with London Number One and I had a wicked time!
Thank you Keith for organising the trip, it was well worth it!
Posted byAl at 5:04 PM 0 comments
Labels: anglesey, may, shore diving
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