Following a successful visit last year, Coventry Sub Aqua Club travelled to Anglesey over the Easter weekend this year.

Just over twenty divers, including some of our club’s youngest members, visited Anglesey for a series of shore dives in sheltered sites, some of them unknown to the branch.

Like last year, this trip’s objectives were to provide safe opportunities for divers with little to no experience of diving in the sea around the UK.

With most members of our group stuck in traffic on the way to Wales, we hastily revised the first day’s plan and buddy pairings. Porth Eilian proved to be a pretty and quiet site, though the underwater visibility was disappointing.

On the second day, our group visited Bull Bay, a favourite site in Anglesey among members of Coventry Sub Aqua Club and one we visited last year. Again, the sunny weather and calm seas made for good diving conditions, but several divers cut their dives short due to poor visibility. At the end of the day, we enjoyed a BBQ and watched the tide go out.

Our group enjoyed good weather for the first half of the trip, but strong winds and choppy waves at Porth Castell cut our diving short on the third day. For one pair of divers, the waves were so strong that we were forced to call the Holyhead Coastguard for help getting back to shore. Thankfully, everyone returned to dry land safe and well.

Most of our evenings were spent in the on-site bar and bistro of our accommodation, where we drank and played games. Many a tear was shed over hilarious games of ‘Telestrations’.

With the wind and rain at its worst, less than half of our group attended our final site, Mackenzie’s Landing, to dive on the last day of the trip. The day’s Dive Manager, Jon, expected to do one dive before driving home. However, not only was this dive described as one of the best of the trip, but the weather improved significantly while our divers were underwater, leading to a second dive. If only the weather hadn’t reverted to heavy rain when they were finished!

Last year’s Anglesey trip came about after a handful of club members took a liking to the isle after some day trips to Bull Bay, Trearddur Bay and the Menai Strait. Some divers on that trip from other branches were inspired to run their own trips there and to other sites around Wales.