UKDIVING
PHOTO : ANDY CLARK
PHOTO : DONOVAN LEWIS PHOTO : ANDY CLARK
Top left : Seagrass at Porth Dinilean Left : Stickleback , Porth Ysgaden Above : Purple stinger
Nevertheless , the lack of water was a great demonstration of the vibrant and healthy seagrass beds on display here .
Next , we donned the dive cylinders and headed for Porth Ysgaden , a harbour dating back to the bronze age - based on previous historic artefacts found . Our interests were more rooted in the present day ; hoping for a marine life paradise , we kitted up and headed in . The beach was littered with nursehound egg cases , evidence of more marine life than humans ! A rare but welcome sign .
As for the dive , all I can say is ... Yes ! There were plenty of spider crab , but also stickleback , wrasse , gobies , cat sharks and even a freshwater eel . The place is a photographic paradise , where you can sit still in 5m of water and just wait while a procession of marine life presents itself to your viewfinder . We all manged over an hour , were smiling ear to ear and agreed to come back for a second dive at night ! Problem was , nightfall was a long way away in June ! It was worth the wait , though , as being underwater in the UK so close to midnight is another tick in the ‘ adventurous trips ’ column for ExpeditionWET .
However , all good things come to an end , and our time with Jake in North Wales had done just that . For those unaware , as I was , all Welsh trips end with cream tea . So , whether it ’ s a scone or a ‘ sc-own ’, afternoon tea or midnight snack , I enjoyed the sugar boost of my post dive treat .
Welsh thing
Next stop , Pembrokeshire . The drive was , admittedly , not as far as the earlier one from the Scottish Highlands , but the torrential rain and absence of motorways made it challenging ; frequent Starbucks ( other coffee chains are available ) were a welcome sight along the way . Now becoming a tradition , the rain continued until just after we ’ d set up camp near Martin ’ s Haven . We ’ d reached the final leg , we ’ d earned a night away from camp and our new guide Lloyd Jones recommended a local pizza , even if we confused the staff by our frankly bizarre requests of a post-dinner coffee liquor .
A week into our expedition , we hooked up with David Kennard of NARC ( Neptune ’ s Army of Rubbish Cleaners ) who runs a volunteer-based group of divers cleaning up their local area . Today we were on hand to help at Hobbs Point .
My buddy , John Scrivener , had been with involved with the project since the beginning in 2005 . I felt in suitably safe hands , which given the prevailing zero visibility , were gratefully received . Given the conditions , a short dive was the order of the day , but in just 30 minutes the team found several oil drums , a supermarket trolley , a scooter , a significant amount of fishing line and even a loose net . It ’ s out of the water now .
Pleased with our hard work , Lloyd treated us to a dive in the Skomer marine reserve . Scallops , sea fans and photogenic blue jellyfish were the order of the evening , followed by a barbeque cut short by another rainstorm .
Ah , what a summer 2021 gave us ! I retreated to the shelter of my camper van and enjoyed a great night ’ s sleep . Apparently one of our gazebos went for a wander in the storm , but it was back where I last saw it when I woke up in a state of serenity .
I rustled up hot breakfast butties while necessary tent maintenance was managed and it dawned that our last day together was upon us . Stackpole Quay was the plan of the day and my 10th dive of the expedition . My buddy
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