Castaways Sub-Aqua Club
	A Branch (Branch No 2071) of The British Sub-Aqua Club

The Darkness and Celery Soup Tour

Anglesey

18th-27th May 1996

The idea of a week away in Anglesey is not your first idea of a dive trip, so we decided to do it. Not a lot was known about the sites in the area, but the usual theory of:- sticking out island + unpredictable weather = plentiful supply of dive sites, was put into action. As we came over the border into Wales the weather changed from pouring rain and gales to sunshine and showers, not brilliant but better than what we had just left behind. We had been informed by Clare that the cottage we were staying in "looked nice" in the brochure, we were not expecting just how nice it actually was. The facilities included a sauna, solarium, golf, tennis etc. The question of whether we really needed to go diving did cross the lips of those of us who were more doubtful.

After deciding that the Sunday would be spent on land and relaxing, we went diving. A potter in the shallows of Treaddur Bay. The best viz of the week and wigglies to go with it. This was followed by the start of the weekly routine. Dive, Swim, Sauna, Swim, Sauna, Shower, Food a al Clare and lots of homebrew!

The first days diving was organised the night before with the skipper in his pub (ideal combination) . The 10am meet was very civilised and followed a healthy fry up for breakfast. We quickly came to realise on entering the water for this dive what the water was to be like for the rest of the week. Celery soup. We had managed to hit the island for one of the few weeks in the year when they are under the influence of a plankton bloom. Not being put off six divers managed twenty minutes of pitch black drift diving, only seeing the life when you hit it. The afternoon dive was on the wreck of the Royal Charter or so they told us, we had enough trouble identifying the seabed.

The second days diving was a little less soupy, relatively. Partly because we were below the layer of plankton, just, and partly because it was so dark you couldn't actually see the stuff. The morning dive was on a tug. Neal and Clare seemed to have a good time as a buddy pair as did Suzanne and Justin, once they had managed to loose Jake thanks to the Eddystone Lighthouse which Justin insisted on taking with him. The wreck was covered in plumose anaemonies, so we all found out when we got to the bottom, all that is except for Jake who had a nice potter at 35metres on a flat sandy bottom. The afternoon dive was in a bay just out of Amiwch. Two pairs had a dive in the muddy bottom or was it plankton, nobody was entirely sure.

The next day started with driving rain, high winds and a severe lack of enthusiasm from all the bedrooms. An expedition to Holyhead was decided instead. This lasted for a total of one hour before we found the pub followed by lunch. After lunch we went to South Stack Lighthouse. A good idea if there is no wind, an experience if there is. A few of the corners on the walk down were so windy it was sheer luck that we stayed on the cliff. At least we felt that we had walked off the beer enough the be able to drink some more.

Thursday was an early 8am meet and as Neal wanted to open his birthday pressies before we went, Clare had a very early morning! The diving was much better than earlier in the week. The viz was better and the wreck, The Durban had a lot more to offer. 6,000 tonnes of metal awaited us at the bottom of the shot, again covered in life including dog fish and velvet swimming crabs. The dive ended with a communal stop and shock as the buoy came to meet us at 8 metres as the current picked up. The second dive of the day was again more interesting. This time we were on the wreck of Dakota, a transatlantic liner. A good current was running and the souvenirs brought up were caught whilst hanging on for dear life. The evening entertainment consisted of a competition to see who could eat the biggest steak. Birthday boy won with 20oz. and a dessert.

The final days diving started with a return to the Durban. Justin and Jake were diving with an instructor from the local school and had a good dive, despite having a battle with the distance line. Suzanne and Neal had a good dive, assisted by nitrogen narcosis. Only finding the wreck when Neal hit his pillar valve on a lump of metal at 33 metres on the ascent from a sandy bottom at 43 metres. The second dive of the day was on another wreck, the Cambank. A lobster was conveniently positioned at the bottom of the shot line followed by a crab which came to visit for dinner, but was shortly returned after surfacing and inspection due to it's soft shell. Neal and Jake had an interesting dive with an episode of errors, the final one being Jake losing his fin at the bottom of the shot, how nobody quite knows. No dive trip would be complete without the traditional curry, we managed to fit it in. Considering the amount of life in Holyhead during the day, people must have come out of the woodwork to fill the curryhouse the night that we were in it. The centre of life in Holyhead.

All in all, it was a good weeks diving, despite the plankton. If anyone suggested going back we would probably take them up on the offer, so long as it wasn't in May. If anyone wants to know the joys of diving in celery soup just ask Clare, Neal Wendy, Justin, Jake or Suzanne after the last week we can give you a pretty accurate description.