Landlocked Mermaid

September 21st-22nd, my partner and I joined Shrewsbury Sub Aqua Club for a dive trip to Porth Ysgaden. Most folk went up on the Friday night and enjoyed an early Saturday dive. Between general exhaustion, work commitments, and life we chose to join them later. If we'd have traveled down on the Friday night we'd have got there gone midnight. Add in the 6am start, it was just a recipe for a bad dive. I have enough of those and feel like I have ruined plenty dives by crying. So we decided to join them for the Saturday afternoon dive and stay for one on Sunday. As per usual, best laid plans and whatnot, but more on that later. Saturday was beautiful for diving. The sea was calm, the sun was shining, and thanks to the autumnal breeze it was not too hot. Perfect conditions. The dive in the morning had been great by all accounts, there were even sightings of an octopus! Despite our sensible decision, I was a little jealous we missed it! Bay view at Porth Ysgaden The ...

This bank holiday weekend I ventured to Deep Wales for a dive weekend with Shrewsbury Sub Aqua Club . We stayed at Tyn Ros again, using it as our base camp for dives at Abersoch and Porth Ysgaden. The plan was two dives on Saturday and Sunday, and one on Monday. Thanks to real life and work, Monday was never on the cards for me and my partner. But Saturday and Sunday were fair game for us! The club boats @ Porth Ysgaden The plan for Saturday was two dives from Porth Ysgaden: one over Big Rock and the other on the other side of the bay. Unfortunately, the sea had a different plan for me. On the first dive, we were supposed to descend the shot line on Big Rock. Being in a semi-dry (read, two wetsuits functioning as), I was slated to go in the water last, so I spent the least amount of time cold and wet on the boat. By the time I went in the water, the current was really running fast. It wasn't slow for the other divers, particularly, either. After rolling off the boa...

This weekend saw my first sea dive, in the Porth Ysgaden bay. No, I don't know if I've been saying it right, so I can't tell you how it's said. I normally just resort to "somewhere very Welsh". Naturally, before hitting the water, I needed to get some gear. Over the last couple weeks, my partner and I have paid our local dive shop, ScubaTeks, a number of visits. You may have seen on my instagram me testing some of this in Lake Dearnford. BCD, regs, fins, gloves, mask and weight pouches. We now have 90% of the stuff we need to dive, with many thanks to ScubaTeks and their very helpful staff. We were well looked after and got the gear best suited for our skill and needs. Once we were all kitted up, we were ready! (Aside from a few things the club so kindly let us borrow.) Porth Ysgaden is deep into Wales. We stayed at campsite near Abersoch the night before. The gentlemen who owned the campsite has been diving for a long time. There were picture...