A reconnaissance dive weekend to the Lleyn Peninsula had been planned since early in 2004. The objective was to familiarise club members with this part of Wales by undertaking shore dives. Apart from one day’s diving at Trefor, no club diving had taken place there since the mid 90’s.
Travel on the Friday night from Rugby to Tudweiliog took about 4.5 hours, helped by use of the M6 toll road and light traffic. Tudweiliog is on the west side of Lleyn about 20 miles from Port Madoc. It is a very small village with several caravan sites and is about two miles from a very sheltered cove called Porth Ysgaden. Accommodation at the Lion Hotel was very hospitable with all rooms en-suite and the rate reasonable.
Due to an upcoming trip to Portland the final diver count was three; Rosemary and Martin Gibbs and myself.
Our first dive on Saturday morning was timed two hours before high water. This is the safest time and gave easiest access to the water. Porth Ysgaden is very popular. We arrived at 9 am to a flat calm sea and cloudless sky. We started our dive at 10 am. The cove is shallow and the maximum depth was in the region of 6 metres. The strong sunlight gave about 3 metres visibility. The highlight of diving shallow water such as this is the sea life lurking in the seaweed and kelp. Closer examination of the bottom was rewarded with observation of well-camouflaged fish. Our dive lasted 50 minutes.
By 11 o’clock the immediate car parking space was full. In conversation with other divers it turns out that the main diving in this area is on a reef running parallel to the shore about half a mile off shore. Porth Ysgaden has a suitable slipway for launching RIBs albeit there is a need to traverse sand at any time other than high water.
The evening meal in the hotel was good and reasonably priced. The hotel is the only local restaurant and caters for the local population and caravan clientele.
The following morning (Sunday) we travelled about 10 miles to the North and dived Trefor Pier. A sandy beach, good fishing and a sheltered anchorage along with a launching slip makes the pier and surroundings popular. The pier has a car park and toilet close by helping to cater for this popularity.
Again this dive site is very shallow and should be dived just before high water to give maximum depth and avoid currents. Trefor is popular with divers and we were the first wave of about ten divers diving. We timed our entry for one and half-hours before high water and registered 6 metres. There is an abundance of sea life under the pier. It shelters among the piles that support the pier and the large stones that have been purposely placed there to protect the inner structure. Outside of the pier there is only sand and a constant threat from anglers’ fishing tackle. Our dive lasted 40 minutes, not counting about 10 minutes on the surface finning out from and returning to the entry steps. This concluded our diving for the weekend.
Our dive trip was blessed with good weather. The wind was north/north westerly, which suits the area. The sea was flat calm and the sky was cloudless all weekend. It was not too busy on the roads, at the dive sites, or at the hotel.
Dave Murphy.