Lyme Regis. This was a joint two day trip between the three clubs and was initiated by Cardiff Underwater. Cunningly our divers managed to book the only two good days in an otherwise horrible period of weather...

Dive 1: Rob (CU), Tim (CU) and Martin (CD) dived the wreck of the submarine M2. We descended the shot line to touch down near the aircraft hangar and from here we dived along the hull. Plenty of life including conger eels. Also clear visibility of 5-6 metres. Depth 29 metres approx.

Dive 2: Martin (CD) and Dan (?) dived the Baygitanio, descending the shot line near the funnels. Loads of fish here including bib and pouting... So many fish it actually impaired the visibility!!

Dive times for both dives were approx 30 mins. Report by Martin D, also present Nick H. Boat Blue Turtle.

Milford Haven 'Dive Event'.

This was a 'getting to know you' evening, put together by a selection of local Pembrokeshire QUANGOS who have an interest in (monitoring / controlling / balancing / restricting / exploiting) our activities as divers. Although Helen and I were the only representatives of our three clubs lots of other South Wales and Valleys diving clubs were represented; strong turn out from Llantrisant SAC and lots of soldiers from NARC, probably 60+ all told. The event was held at the Lord Nelson hotel and no doubt the beer and extensive free buffet helped swell the crowd.

There were several talks. I didn't make perfect notes but sound bites include the following. Sue Burton, SAC Officer, spoke about the Pembrokeshire Marine Special Area of Conservation. Phil Newman, who is the Skomer Marine Nature Reserve Officer (and who is the guy who comes round in the orange rib when you're diving at Skomer and wants to know clubs and numbers of divers) spoke about the Skomer Reserve. Of interest was the total lack of control they have over commercial potting around the island (the volume of which has increased substantially through the last few years) and the fact that they have a weather bouy in the Jack Sound area, data from which is apparantly available on-line. There are also a couple of weekends during the year when volunteer divers can get involved with surveys on the reserve.

Tom Luddington, Activities Liasion Officer for Pembrokeshire Outdoor Charter Group, presented on behalf of a fisheries representative who wasn't available. Although much of this relates to shore based angling divers need to be aware of the shellfish catch limit (8, but it's not that simple), which works per boat, not per diver. [I will put up a new web page about this. M] It is also illegal to be found in possession of a v-notched lobster, so remember to check tails when you grab candidates for the BBQ!

There was not enough discussion in my opinion of access, parking and slipways. These have been assessed as part of the 'South West Wales Recreational Audit' ( link ), responsibility for which lies with Charles Mathieson, Head of Recreation & Tourism at PCNPA. There was a short 'open floor' session but this concentrated on dredging, both of scallops and silt, rather than access.

Mark Gosling of Cardiff BSAC finally gave a very interesting presentation on the wrecks around Pembrokeshire, which they explored as a club project using Side-scan sonor. This turned up fascinating views of some of the well known wrecks and even one new one; the Kerloch, a recently sunk potting boat out by Crow Rock. They also showed scans for several wrecks close in the Haven which I have never dived, including the Thor, Highland Holm and the collier.

Other organisations represented by stands and displays included the Marine Conservation Society and Sea Search.

Hopefully the event will be repeated next year. Report by Malcolm.

NDAC. Today was meant to be an offshore trip towards Grassholm and / or Skomer but the Great British Weather scuppered our plans, with rain, strong winds and high seas. A couple of members did though go to see the recently sunk attractions at Chepstow...

We had two good dives. However there were a lot of training courses on which churned things up so visibility wasn't perfect.

For the first dive we went to the double decker bus located at bottom of buoy 14. Then navigated up to the two planes and the new tank. In light of some poor visibiltiy it was good navigation. Total dive time 35 mins max depth 23m. It is different seeing a double decker bus underwater!!

Second dive we went down to the single decker bus which is located south of the gnome garden on the opposite side of the quarry to the double decker. Again good navigation was deployed. Saw loads of fish but not as many as we could have with better visibilty. Total dive time 32 mins. Max depth 16m.

Overall thoroughly enjoyed it - not as good as the sea- but diving is diving wherever it may be !!!.

Present: Martin & John (both CD)

Pembrokeshire. Boat launched from Gelliswick for diving off Skokholm. Neither diving nor fishing very successful; big tides, strong currents and very average vis. Afternoon enlivened by a small yacht calling 'Pan pan' from near Skokholm. Present: Helen (CD), Kim (CD), Trevor (CD), Peter (CD), Martin (CD).

Pembrokeshire. Forecast mid-week was for a pleasant weekend with sunshine, slight seas and gentle winds. In light of the neap tides we set up a trip to take the club's yellow rhib out of Gelliswick to get out round the islands. The hope was to go across to Grassholm and we took enough fuel for this...

Launch went smoothly with the tide coming up the slipway (HW ~ 1.00pm) and we were quickly away. Boat went well with only four on board (where is everybody?!) bumping over tiny waves. But, on rounding St Anne's we found the grey sky seemed to be blotting out the Skokholm lighthouse and further off Skomer was veiled in a shroud of grey. As we approached Skokholm we ran into a wall of drizzle, painful on the eyes when travelling at speed. Clearly a re-think was needed, as we didn't fancy being offshore around Grassholm in grey-out. The overcast was disappointingly total, with no little patches of blue which might have heralded the arrival of the forecast sunny weather.

Rounded the western tip of Skokholm and headed a couple of hundred metres NE towards Jack Sound where the echo sounder showed an interesting looking bottom at about 18m, some 100m off the island's coast. Helen and Malcolm went in first and descended in clear green water (vis 5 - 10m) to hit a rocky slope at 18m. Descending this took us round to the foot of a spectacular cliff at about 23m, soaring up to pinnacles, waving kelp and fish above. We went generally eastwards around several big outcrops and boulder fieldswith loads of life about; cuckoo wrasse, lobsters, loads of big edible crabs, tom pots with eggs and a couple of big blue conger eels. Also of interest were piles of cut roofing slates in the gullies, clearly some ancient ship had foundered here and her cargo was lying in every hole and across the bottom. Did not locate any brass, timber or iron, suggesting the vessel had long since disintegrated. The safety stop was brightened by numberous jellyfish, compass and moon.

Having looked after the boat for 45 minutes Trevor and Martin dived in the same place. With no tide running and such an interesting bottom all divers were picked up within 50m of their original entry point. This site is easily as good as anything Skomer has to offer.

Second dive was on the south side of Skokholm, well east along the cliffs to avoid a boat with anglers, and we all dived by a huge square shaped crack running up the cliff. Depths right by the rocks were >5m and within 10m of the cliff the bottom had plunged to 25 - 30m. Underwater the visibility was not quite as good as on the first dive however this is an interesting dive with caves and pinnacles, ledges and diver-sized clefts in the rock. Some wreckage was also evident - it looked like an 8' long 5" square shaft running through the centre of an oil drum sized cylinder. Odd, possibly this has been dumped down the cliff, rather than having come from a wreck.

Weather improved as we came back into Milford Haven and after a short stop at Dale moorings to see friends we headed back to Gelliswick, where the tide was just right on the slipway and an easy recovery was made (after some excitement caused by a throttle which wouldn't go back into neutral). Peter also turned up and helped returning the boat to the yard and then carried on to do some engine and trailer servicing.

Another fine day out.

NDAC, Chepstow. Yet another joint club trip to the NDAC to practice underwater wrestling and ascents and descents with the submersible mannequin. Present: Helen (CD), Rob (CU) and Paul from Llantrisant SAC. Warm sunshine some compensation for leaky drysuits.

Key: CD Cardiff Dolphin member, CU Cardiff Underwater member, SG South Glamorgan BSAC member.