Dive Pembrokeshire UK
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Captains Log 2007

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Remember there is only one Dive Pembrokeshire UK, featured on BBC, HTV, Radio Wales, Channel 4, Spanish Radio and BBC Wales......... run by Len Bateman

May Bank Holiday.

Diving good, with settled weather for the Saturday diving around Skomer with the vis reaching up to 8 metres. Water temp around 12 degrees. Not many seals about, with a few coming up to the divers at Rye Rocks. Plenty of Dog Fish about and plenty of fish life too.
Diving some of the wrecks in the Haven on the Sunday with vis better there than around the Island, getting up to 10 metres in places. Winds started to pick up later with Monday due to blow up to force 6, typical Bank Holiday!

May 16th / 17th

Winds blowing up to force 6 at times, but vis still good. On the Behar we had up to 6 metres and with the large tides at the moment that is good. The second dive was on the Dakotion which was running but tucking in on one side you are out of any drift. Vis was 2 metres and increased later on the flood tide to 4 metres.

Second day winds we forecast at force 6 or 7, so we headed towards Dale and waited for a gap in the winds and tides before diving Watic Reef. A really good dive where there are three Anchors to be found as well as some wreckage that we discovered last week. Seem to be around six dead eyes in one location which we are keeping to ourselves for our divers only. Must be still a bit to be discovered so will keep you informed.
The picture here is Len feeding his pet seagull called Johnathan. After five years he is still in the same place at North Haven and comes down from the bank to eat out of Lens hand. This time she is followed by her four young, who now que up to eat!

May 26th / 28th / 28th Diving.

The first day we dived around Skomer Island, the vis being good at 6 metes on the Lucy. Not many seals about at the moment, but plenty of Puffins. Winds in the north for most of the week, which has brought very little sea swell to the area.. In the Haven the vis on the wrecks was slightly better, at around 6 metres, with plenty of life still on the Behar to be seen A bit of a blow on the Sunday and lots of rain did not reduce the vis down for the Monday. The winds were still around force 6 but there was plenty of sunshine to go with it.

June 2nd / 3rd Diving.

Around to the Islands where there were a few seals around but not playing at the moment. Once the divers were on the boat one of the seals came up to the side of the boat looking for them! Typical. Winds were strong southerlies and the journey around was a bit snotty, but once round to the North side of the Island the seas were quite flat. Good diving with vis mixed, ranging from zero vis on High Point to 5 metres on Rye Rocks. Sheep Island was another good dive where they all enjoyed the dive with plenty of life to be seen.

June 8th / 9th / 10th Diving. The Smalls......

Weather this weekend was fab, with variable winds and flat seas, we headed towards the Smalls. On the way we encountered a large pod of dolphins that were very playful and swam with the boat for a short time. On the Smalls the divers had many seal encounters! As soon as the divers hit the water the seals were heading towards them. When below they must have had three or four seals around each of the divers. Vis was 8 metres. On the way back we did a bit of fishing on the Hats and Barrells, a group of rocks with rough water over the top, today however was different! Absolutely flat, would be been to time to dive across the reefs. Another time perhaps, some very interesting drops offs. We caught enough fish for the BBQ before heading off.
Passing Grassholmn was interesting with Gannets everywhere! The second dive was the North Wall on Skomer, again the vis was around 6 metres. The next day we dived the Lucy, with vis around 7 metres this is a fantastic wreck to dive, so much to see and swim into. Weather again was fantastic with calm winds and flat seas to could not have been better.

June 22nd / 23rd / 24th Diving.

Around to the Islands to dive the North Wall, Lucy and, Rye Rocks, with vis around 5 metres. Plenty to see with lots of fish around. The North Wall always makes a great dive, with depths down to 40 metres. Plenty of Dog Fish along the wall and some lovely sea fans. A large pod of dolphins were seen on the west side of Skomer not far from the Island. The group this weekend were all down from Liverpool and its the first time for them here.
Stopped in North Haven for lunch and fed the seagulls. Now ere have around five seagulls coming down to eat out of your hand, one now lands next to me and I hand feed him!
The Lucy had really good vis at around 8 metres and the wreck was visible from a distance. Junkos Rock for the second dive, which is always a good dive, with plenty of life to be seen on the wall that faces north.
Two good wrecks on the final day, with a quick turn around for the lads to head back. Weather held nicely for them, with calm winds and plenty of sunshine.

June 30th / July 1st Diving

This weekend was a bit of a wash out, with diving on the first day limited to the Haven, we managed to dive the Dakotion with Southerly force 6 winds and building seas. The rain did not let up for most of the day.
The second day the diving was called off as winds reached force 7 and sea swell 4 metres. Typical UK weather! We did our best to get the divers out, they wanted to dive and had been planning this weekend for some time, so we did not want to let them down. We could have got out the second day but gave them the option to cancel if they wanted. Vis by the way was 2 metres in the Haven but reducing as the day and sea swells increased.

July 7th / 8th Diving.

A good weekend of weather, diving around the Island of Skomer. There were some small seals about on the Island which came up close to the boat. There were also some dolphins quite close to North Haven, which passed by close to us. A nice relaxing few days with divers that have been diving with us for the past eight years. It was Heathers bunch down from Manchester again, they come down on Heathers birthday each year, with a BBQ on the Saturday night.
On the Dakotion there was a three foot lobster walking out in the open, we left heim there for all to see, so leave him alone!
A nice three pound pollach was caught for the BBQ out at the Heads, very nice too. We look forward to next year.

July 14th / 15th Diving.

Around to the Islands today to dive the Lucy, vis was not bad after all the rain we had on Friday. Plenty of fish on the wreck, and in parts she is starting to break up. Nice easy start for Sunday after a good night on Saturday! Sunday we dived a few more wrecks as the winds dropped becoming variable.

July 17th Winge my cat died today.

For all of you who have been to the Dive Lodge, you will know of "Winge", my friend. He was a lovely cat and use to follow divers down to the pub and tried to hide in their car while they were driving away! One diver got as far as Caermarthen only to find the winge in the back! He was the boss of the house and kept everyone in line, including me!

He was sunbathing in the car park by the cars, which he loved doing and was run over. I buried him by the Cherry tree in the garden.

He will be sadly missed and was certainly special and loved by everyone, goodby winge.

July 21st / 22nd Diving.

Diving some wrecks over the weekend, with vis up to 10 metres on some of them. Plenty of fish life and one hell of a lobster! Weather was great with some sunshine on Sunday, with the rest of the country having rain.

July 25th / 26th Diving

Over to Skokholmn Island for the day, diving with the seals. Amazing! Most of the divers had three seals playing with them for the whole of the dive! Also diving the wreck thats there. The second dive was dived with the seals again, and this time was even better. Weather was good with light winds and flat seas. Got back to Neyland just as the rain started. Vis was 8 metres.

Aug 25th / 26th / 27th Diving

At last a good weekend of diving, with the weather kind to us giving light winds and flat seas. Skomer Island and the North Wall was a great start to the diving this weekend, with vis at 8 metres. Skokholmn Island and the seals was another good dive, with seals coming up to the divers. Then the south wall was dived as a second dive, with the group finding three very old anchors as they drifted along the wall.
Plenty of life found on the wrecks too, with some nice sized lobbys and dogfish. The weather looks set to stay settled for most of this week too, so roll on next weekend.

Sept 1st / 2nd. Diving

Diving the Lucy on the Saturday, but with big tides this weekend there was not much of a slack. As the guys got to 20 metres the lights went out! Quite a dark wreck at the best of times, but vis was down to a metre at the most. The second dive we headed towards Skokholmn where the vis was much better and the seals were very playful!
On the Sunday we dived the Dakotion at high water, which was ten in the morning. Vis was good at around 4 metres and some good penetration was possible.

Sept 4th / 5th RYA Powerboat Course Level 2

Conditions too good really but the course went well.

Sept 7th

Fishing trip, really good conditions and cathcing many fish.

Sept 8th / 9th Diving

Two very good days diving, with the weather being near perfect. The first day we dived Stack Rocks, with lobsters everywhere! Second dive was the Hen & Chicks with around 12 trigger fish found on the reef. Always a good spot to see them this time of year. Vis was about 6 metres.

There was a mayday call around 14.30 with two divers lost off Grassholmn. We went to help with the search six miles south of the Island, as the tides would have been 3 kts. We spent around two hours searching but with no luck. There were two helicopters, the Irish Ferry, a fishing vessel and three life boats out. They were found later at ten at night, as they were taken north by the returning tide, and found six miles to the north of Grassholmn! They were cold but OK.

The second day we did a drift dive on Crow Rock, with plenty of gullies to explore and unexploded shells! The next dive was the Nicola Virginia, with lots of life to be found. This wreck lies in around 12 metres, with three large boilers coming up to 4 metres from the surface. There were also a few seals around in the caves. Vis was good at 8 metres.

Sept 15th / 16th RYA Level 2

Conditions were better for the course on the second day, with seas reaching over 2 metres. At one time the boat was full with water, having swamped the boat to show the effect of water in the boat and how to cope with the situation.

Sept 21st / 22nd / 23rd Diving

Weather for the Friday was poor, so we arranged shore diving at Martins Haven, which was sheltered. Vis was not that good at around 3 metres. Second day there was a break in the weather and we managed to get the boat out. Vis was not too good, with a ground swell coming in from a brewing storm out to sea.Watic Reef was a good dive with plenty to see, and vis 3 metres.
Sunday winds picked up to force 7, there was an option to dive up the river, where it would have been flat. The group decided to call the diving off for the day and head for the pub! We have not had many days that have been blown out this year, unlike the south coast where many dives have been called off.
We are lucky to have plenty of sheltered coasts around Pembrokeshire and the Milford haven Waterway being one of them. Here we have eight wrecks that are possible to dive at any sort of weather conditions.

October 6th / 7th RYA Powerboat Course Level 2

A two day course at sea on Dragonhawk, our RYA training rib. An introduction into Powerboating with plenty of hands on experience. Looking at weather, navigation, tides, rules of the road, radio, safety at sea, and slow water manouvers.

October 23rd / 24th RYA Powerboat Course Level 2

Another two day course, weather was terrible, calm seas and no wind!

October 27th / 28th RYA Powerboat Course Level 2