Diving in Wales, UK

[Finhead_Chris]

I will be in Cardiff, Wales for the next couple weeks while working
in Barry.
Am dragin' my Michigan "recreational" coldwater gear hoping to get some diving in on the weekends. Will rent equipment if the diving is more aggressive.

Am interested in diving wrecks within a 2-3hr drive of
Cardiff. Please let me know if you have any suggestions.
Thinking of trying to get on a charter up in Pembrokeshire?

Have never dove with a drysuit in saltwater and need
some suggestions reguarding weighting.
Typically use 24lbs diving in freshwater in my drysuit
with an Alum 80cu. From there I should be able to extrapolate
my weighting if I rent large capacity steel tanks.
Sorry don't have my metric conversion equations handy at the moment.

Am SSI AOW with ~250 logged dives and am working on IANTD deep diving cert.

My goal: Get wet and have fun. And log some UK dives.

 

[Phish-phood]

Hi there, I am located in Cardiff and for sea dives west wales/pembrokshire is your best bet. ~2hrs from Cardiff. Plenty of opportuity for shore diving but also a number of shops where you can go on a rib or hard boat.

www.westwalesdivers.co.uk
www.divepembrokeshire.com

these are the two main setups in the area and all very nice people.

HTH

 

[Finhead_Chris]

Thanks for the reply....

Will be giving a call to those folks when I am in Cardiff.

 

[Phish-phood]

No Probs.
Feel free to PM me if you want to ask anything.
There is a small group of us heading down there tomorrow to dive so should be good.

 

[Finhead_Chris]

Let me know how the diving went over the weekend.

Have recovered from the flight over from the
states and am currently staying in Cardiff.
Will be checking into things when I get a break from work.

Cheers.

 

[Diversauras]

I dived with Enels Ives out of Milford Haven, is he still there? Great B&B....

 

[Phish-phood]

Hi Chris,

Diving this weekend wasn't good fun. Booked on a boat with dive into Pembrokshire and did Rye Rock. Unfortunately an accident with a fin strap and the temper tantrum that followed delayed our entry a bit so we caught the tide as it was turning and the viz was a bit churned up.
The seals are about at the moment, we saw some, only at the surface unfortunately but we had fun. You should find it good fun when you go as the weather has cooled a little and it should be more comfortable in drysuits. I know a group are planning to do a wreck called The Lucy this weekend which would be a really good dive if you can get on the boat. Not sure of exact depths but roughly ~20metres down to ~42 at the seabed.

 

[Finhead_Chris]

Sorry to hear about your trip. Equipment problems really suck.

Going with a local gentleman to where West Wales Divers are located. Hope to get in some shore diving on Saturday and
see how the conditions pan out for a boat dive on Sunday.
Never have seen seals in the wild and it would be great to
run into some.

Will let you know how things go.

 

[String]

The Lucy this weekend which would be a really good dive if you can get on the boat. Not sure of exact depths but roughly ~20metres down to ~42 at the seabed.

Im based in Wales, a new diver but finally got to do the Lucy for the first time. It lies in roughly 42m of water with 33m to the bow (which is permanently buoyed). The wreck is intact and upright, still has glass in the portholes and its possible to explore inside it without too much problem. Fairly dark down there though.

Water temperature there at the moment is a warm 17c

If anyone gets the chance to do it, i highly recommend it.

 

[Finhead_Chris]

Am finally getting caught up after being in Wales for awhile.

Managed to get 5 dives in while I was there.
4 - over Aug. 15/16 and 1 on Aug. 24th.

Didn't get a chance to dive the LUCY, but really enjoyed
being in Marloe and Western Wales! Met and talked with
alot of great folks. The boat captain's and crew were great!
Had fun swimming through the kelp,
saw alot of crab, lobster, and small sharks.
Kinda bummed that no seals came around to pick on me.
Maybe next trip??

Stayed overnite at WestWalesDivers. Really a great
facility. Am glad I managed to drive out there on my
own and get 1 more dive in before coming back to the
states.