August trip to West Wales
Although we have been diving in small groups around West Wales and N.D.C at Chepstow, this was
to be the first ‘’Organised ‘’ club trip this year.
The date was confirmed as to Aug. 3rd-5th, a camping / diving trip
to West Wales.
We would be camping near Broadhaven at the Redlands
site with the objective of getting a few dives in and having a good time !
Unfortunately the Weekend weather forecast was not too good and this had an effect on
the number of divers that arrived at the site on Friday afternoon / evening .
The number of divers were 8 in total, with 5 camping (Myself, Darren, Andrew, Les and
Mark ), 2 in a camper van (Ian and Maria) and Glyn in a B+B. Mark forgot his tent!---but no worries, he crashed in with Darren!
The Friday evening turned out to be a dull, drizzly, cold affair and we were all grateful
to Ian and Maria who cooked up a cracking meal for us to eat in the van, before we hit the Clubhouse bar !
Saturday morning was breezy and we decide to launch the boat from Broadhaven and dive
Stack Rocks. It was whilst kitting up I discovered that I had left my weight harness in the car at home !---Derrr!. Thankfully,
Glyn came to the rescue and said I could borrow his and he would cox the rib.------Thanks Glyn!
The trip out was choppy and Maria jarred her back and was unable to dive, the rest of
us paired up and dived. Ian was with Darren, but was soon in a cloud of ‘’Coloured Stuff’’ emitting
from Darrens reg!----yes, swallowing sea water is not good for you!
After the dive the wind picked up causing the sea conditions to worsen, it was whilst
nearing the shore that we noticed a boat in distress, their engine had failed. We ended up towing it back to the shore, which
had its moments of excitement !
Due to the ever worsening sea conditions we decided against carrying out a second dive,
so it was back to the campsite for a Barby and a few beers!----Thanks again Maria and Ian !
In the evening it was time to hit the pubs in Broadhaven with Andrew driving and Darren
pretending to be a dog in the boot ! A few beers were sunk before hunger pains
started to commence, Ian then volunteered to drive his motorbike (Sober of course) to Haverfordwest to get a Chinese takeaway
, excellent idea says us !!
This was duly consumed back at the camper van and washed down with with more beer.
Sunday morning arrived, Mark had to return home and Ian and Maria decided to chill for
the day, this left 5 of us to dive at ‘’Abercastle.’’
This was to be an excellent dive, good weather and sea conditions, loads of life on the
dive with various crabs, Lobster, sponges, jewel anemones etc and lots of fish. We did not want it to end, with Andrew and
myself doing a 52minute dive.
Unfortunately Darren did not dive due to a very sore throat from his’’Underwater
vomiting’’ trick the day before!-----never mind Darren, thanks for the lend of your weight belt mate!
It was decided not to do a second dive as a few of us had to be home by early evening.
All in all a good weekend !--------pity about the lack of sunshine !
Paul Meredith
