The club hadn’t been to Pembrokeshire for a while, so a trip was
organised for the late May bank holiday weekend. 10 of us from Bermondsey went,
with Barbora and Giulia from Imperial branch filling the remaining 2 places on
the big orange dive boat Overdale. Brian (of Dive in2 Pembrokeshire) was our
skipper, with Mike, Paul and Alex helping and doing some skippering over the
weekend.
Following a relatively easy load-in on the outside of Milford Haven
marina (free parking available close to ramp) and a leisurely kitting-up as we
made our way out of the ria and out towards Skomer and Skokholm, diving began
on Saturday with visits to High Point and the Pinnacles, where depths of up to
21 metres and dive times of up to 56 minutes were achieved. Not a bad start to
the weekend – visibility was up to 4 metres, water temperatures were 10 to 13
degrees, and dogfish, nudibranchs and many spider crabs were seen on these
scenic dives. Unfortunately a weight belt was lost at High Point, but Brian
helped out with a loan of a harness.
On Sunday we dived The Lucy, an upright wreck whose deck sits at about
36 metres. Some of us went to the wreck first for a quick look and then headed
south to Rye Rocks, others spent the entire dive either on the wreck or the
shallower reef – these 2 dive sites offer something for everyone in a group
with varied interests. The second dive
at White Lady was scenic. 
Monday involved dive sites less far out, chosen so we could get back to
harbour earlier and begin our journeys home. The Dakotian is an interesting
freighter, sunk in 1940 near Dale. Some of the group entered the wreck, taking
care not to disturb the silty bottom. Plenty of wildlife in good light and
visibility meant decent photos of candy striped flatworms and other critters
were taken. A current over the top of the wreck gave us some exercise, but wasn’t
too challenging. Some of us sat out the second dive, but those who did it (The
Greek) reported the best visibility of the weekend at around 8 metres.
Brian and his crew were excellent – patient, knowledgeable, and
enthusiastic about diving. Special mention needs to be made of Mike’s excellent
boat manoeuvre which he executed when we arrived back at harbour on Saturday
afternoon. Thanks to the crew we also got some views of seals and puffins
during our surface intervals, and on Monday we moored at Dale and were able to
stretch our legs for 20 minutes between dives. Fills were easy – we loaded
cylinders onto Brian’s trailer at the end of each day, put in our requests, and
they were ready for us the next morning. Overdale has a head and a lift, and a
decent amount of space (including a cabin that could probably accommodate all
of us)
We stayed at various B&Bs including Scoveston Grove and the Ferry
House Inn (both recommended). We ate well at Halen Mor on Saturday, and most of
the group met up again at Martha’s Harbour (also good) on Sunday evening. Brian
provided packed lunches (£5/person/day) for those that requested them.
Journey times were around 7 hours outward (for those of us who took the
Friday off work and left London in the morning), and 6 hours back (leaving
Milford Haven at 3pm-ish). The weather was generally brilliant – other than
some drizzle on Saturday morning (a lot less than had been forecast), we enjoyed
sunshine all weekend.
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