We have a GLUG trip to Pembrokeshire at least once a year. These trips would suit divers of all levels and make an excellent introduction to UK/cold water diving as drysuits are not a necessity during late summer.

Please choose a report from the following:
Pembrokeshire on Blue Shark - July 2008
Pembrokeshire on Blue Shark - July 2006

Pembrokeshire on Blue Shark - July 2008

by Val C.

It’s 8pm Sunday evening, I’m sipping ginger beer and being driven home down the long M4 at high (but legal-ish) speed by Corinne. The sun’s shining, Annie Lennox is entertaining us and it’s the end of another fantastic GLUG weekend in Pembrokeshire.
The weekend started on Thursday afternoon and whilst driving the other way along the M4 Corinne exclaimed, “Oh no, guess what I forgot?” Well, where do you start, I hear you say? What piece of vital kit had Corinne forgotten… dive computer, bcd, mask? Oh, no, thanks to the binmen’s surprise early visit (well, that’s Corinne’s story) Corinne had got dressed minus a bra and non packed. Fortunately it was a girlie weekend, a spare one was donated which added to an uplifting weekend for our leader.

We had 3 days of diving in all, not one day blown out, and, yes, we were in Wales, no detour via Heathrow. Also we had pretty much back to back sunshine all weekend…. but before you get to thinking this was all plain sailing, we did have a somewhat gusty time, especially day one and two before the south westerly wind turned to a more pleasant northerly. A few of us stayed at the lovely Dot and Reg’s ex b& b in Little Haven.

Day one started overcast, so I left the sunglasses and sunscreen at home and we headed to the Neyland marina, we all loaded up the boat and loaded up on Stugeron, and then headed out on the Blue Shark (with skipper Steve). It was a long bumpy ride and no seat belts were going to help us on this trip. When we reached our distant destination, the Lucy wreck at Rye Rocks, the buoy was missing and the swell was big, so we gave that spot a miss and headed round to the more sheltered South Haven. As the skies darkened we started our first dive. We had a surprisingly good dive, all in all, according to my buddy Brian it was his “best drift dive ever” which involved flying at high speed spotting endless lobsters and crabs. When we came up we were way away from the boat round the headland and the swell was up (nothing like a bit of rough!) so we had a bit of wait for a pick up but….the sun was shining and a friendly puffin appeared to keep us company. Allan and the skipper spotted our dsmb and torch, and when we got back on board we followed the general style of boat entry for the day - the sexy beached whale approach; hopefully no paparazzi spotted us.
We then lunched in South Haven with Sammy the seal entertaining us and the not so lovely puffins shitting on us. As time was ticking and we were all a bit knackered we called it a day and headed back to solid land (and light refreshments…nudge, nudge).
Dinner that night was in the Swan pub in Little Haven - full GLUG star rating for location (overlooking the sea) and quality of food.

Day two and we awoke to sunshine but also another gusty southwesterly which didn’t bode well. We had a change of skipper (Howard) and we headed out to Watwick Bay, a good bolthole when the weather is bad. We had another great dive, stuffed with life and also a submarine thrown in. We lunched again in the sunshine, Alison and I had a bit of a sunbathe on the top deck…very nice and I had to blink a few times to remind myself that I was in the UK and not the Med. Then we headed back to the shelter of the bay and dived the Dakotian wreck. I loved it; it’s flattened but quite intact and about 40m in length, so plenty to see.
Back into the marina we spent a very pleasant evening in Neyland Harbour (rooftop) bar and restaurant. At 6pm my dive computer was reading 32 degrees and we were all well topped up on sunshine, no longer green, more red. After another tasty meal we all headed back to our (own) various beds (I think) for an early night, so lots of happy, tired divers.

We were promised the best day of weather for our last day, Sunday, as the wind was due to settle. So Sunday morning brought more sunshine, a final breakfast with Dot and Reg and 7 (yes, 7) rashes of bacon for the lovely Brian. There was still some wind but it had moved northerly. We did the usual trolley dash (which, of course, we were highly skilled at…) loaded up and headed out on calm (almost flat calm) seas. We dived Rye Rocks off Skokholm Island, a great dive, where we spotted some dogfish and crayfish. Lunchtime was spent in another glorious sundrenched location, this time with seals on every rock…..diving heaven on earth I say! So just one more dive to go, on the Angelica, ‘HMS scattered’ as Howard describes it, which had some amazingly large lobsters lurking here and there. No, none came home for supper…we left them happy in the Pembrokeshire sea and we headed home happy and tired.

So here I am still driving fast down the M4, the sun is setting and I’m loading up, CDs this time - I’ve got to get some heavy metal going to keep my driving buddy awake; some Van Halen should do the trick.
So thanks Corinne for another fantastically organized GLUG weekend, and I can highly recommend Pembrokeshire 2009.

Pembrokeshire on Blue Shark - July 2006

We don’t have a report from this trip but you can have a look at our pictures in the gallery.