Pembrokeshire May 10th & 11th 2003

This was the first UKRS trip that I had organised, and the first UKRS trip to Pembrokeshire in West Wales since I started diving so most of the people on the trip were diving this area for the first time. 

Those on the trip were, Steve Jones, Louise Thompson, Digs, Rob Hampton, Jason Poynting, Noel Coward, Shaun Barrs, Adam Evans and Rich Meese. Danny Burchett was also booked onto the trip but had to pull out due to illness. This reduced the number of yellow boxes on the boat to only 5, with the remaining 4 diehards on twins. 

We were staying at the Clock House in Marloes, owned by Pam and Tony. This place was chosen because it was close to Dale, our proposed setting off point. Unfortunately the powers that be had pulled up the pontoons and not replaced them in time for our visit, this meant that we had to drive to Milford Haven each morning. Not too onerous a task and plenty of free parking alongside the slipway 

I had made the booking with Dive in 2 Pembrokeshire and they had chartered a boat called Overdale (skippered by Bob and with Alan as crew). This was a nice boat with a reasonable size deck area and big cabin, but was primarily set up for fishing and nowhere to store our kit so we managed to cover every spare inch of deck space with dive gear. 

During Friday night a force 7 had been blowing, so it was surprising to find everything was flat calm on Saturday morning. We set off from Milford at 10am heading out of The Haven and towards Skomer for the first dive of the day. 

Dive 1: Lucy, Max depth 37 metres, Run time 61 minutes, Viz 5 metres

This wreck has a reputation for being very dark with bad viz, so it was quite pleasing to have such good conditions. The wreck has a permanent shot line which is quite thick and is attached at the very front of the wreck making navigation very easy, even for me, and a return to the shot at the end of the dive almost impossible to miss.

We went along the port side, then around the superstructure and back along the starboard side. Along the way seeing a conger, several bib and wrasse and finally a large lobster close to the shot line. We left the bottom at 35 minutes and by the time we reached our ceiling we had 20 minutes of stops to do. It was interesting to see some divers both descending at the start of their dive and heading back to the surface while we were still on the shot line doing our stops. 

Dive 2: Behar, Max depth 14.6 metres, Run time 49 minutes, Viz 3 to 4 metres

When we got to the bottom of the shot it was to find that it wasn’t on the wreck, but has pulled off. Looked for a while following the marks in the sandy bottom. However we gave up and explored the reef. There were many gullies to explore with a considerable amount of life there. Then after 25 minutes we finally found the wreck, definitely more by luck than judgement and this occupied us for the rest of the dive. The wreck although considerably broken up has quite a few areas to explore and could easily have occupied us for the whole of the dive. 

At the end of the first day those of us who needed nitrox fills went off to West Wales Divers in Hasguard Cross. As the next day was proposed to be a similar depth to the first day I had my twin 12’s filled with 28% and was amazed to be charged £15. Louise also paid the same for her twin 10’s. This was more than twice the amount that I would pay at my local dive shop, and in fact the most that I have ever paid. So my advice to anyone diving in this area would be to either take all your gas with you or, where this is not possible, dive on 21%. 

On the Sunday morning the wind had definitely picked up and as the boat came to the edge of The Haven it was obvious that we were not going to get across to Skomer Island without considerable discomfort. So with this in mind we changed the schedule. 

Dive 3: Dakotian, Max Depth 16.2 metres, Run time 44 minutes, Viz 3 metres

This was originally planned to be our fourth dive but needed to be moved up the schedule due to the conditions mentioned above. Because the conditions were somewhat “lumpy” we went into Castle Bay to kit up then out into the Haven to the wreck site. There were a couple of RIB’s already there doing some training and so we had to get around them as they were congregated around the buoy. On the wreck itself the viz was not as good as the previous day but still quite enjoyable. The Dakotian is quite a large wreck and there are plenty of holes to explore. We saw dogfish, bib, pollack and the usual assortment of anemonies and dead men's fingers. While down there we all heard some powerful engines passing above. When we surfaced we were told by Brian Dilly that a trawler had passed over the dive site ignoring 4 RIBs, and our boat that were all flying “Divers Down” flags. The trawler even failed to respond to radio messages telling them to stay clear of the site, and that they were putting divers in danger. Needless to say the trawler skipper has now been reported to the coastguard and port authorities. 

Dive 4: Landing Craft, Max Depth 16.2 metres, Run time 43 minutes, Viz 2 metres

Last dive of the weekend and again within the confines of the Haven. The wreck is upside down and covered with Plumose and many other types of anemones. I even managed to spot a couple of nudibranchs. Having done a full circuit of this upside down landing craft we decided to drift off the site across some old scallop beds. On arriving back at the boat Brian had been busy collecting scallops and had his goodie bag full of them. 

It was reassuring at the end of the weekend to be the person with the shortest drive home, definitely a welcome change.