Wales

Dive instructor Kevin Murphy was desperate to get in the water for his first sea dive with newly qualified son Sam, but after efforts to get to Malta were thwarted by COVID restrictions, the siren lure of North Wales delivered the goods

PHOTOGRAPHS BY KEVIN MURPHY

My first sea dive with my son Sam had been a long time coming! Sam qualified as a RAID Junior Open Water Diver in August 2020 on a trip to Malta, and four travel vouchers later, it looked like our August 2021 trip was about to be cancelled due to COVID restrictions (Malta requires anyone over 12 to have both vaccination jabs, but in the UK, we are not currently offering vaccinations to anyone under the age of 18). So, with the UK basking in Mediterranean-like weather at the end of July, I decided to look closer to home for our first dad and lad dive outing in the sea.

With my dive centre Severntec Diving being based near Shrewsbury in Shropshire, my nearest coastline lies over the border in North Wales, and after assessing the tidal and wind conditions, I opted for one of my regular training sites – Porth Ysgaden, on the Llyn Peninsula.

Arriving on site, we were greeted with flat-calm seas and blue, cloudless skies – the perfect recipe for some top-quality UK diving. The tides were coming on to neaps, the water was a tropical 14 degrees C and visibility was easily ten metres or more. The life in the sheltered bay was awesome as usual – tompot blennies, schools of sea bass, edible crabs, lobster, wrasse, pollock, and much more.

The best part about diving in Ysgaden is we didn’t get below 5m, which meant that the light was phenomenal and we managed two 45-minute dives. Sam also got a trip out in a RIB, and even took the wheel for a run, and we had the most amazing view from our roof-top truck tent. This is what British diving is all about! Now Sam is acclimatised to UK waters, next on the agenda is a trip over to Otter Watersports followed by a RAID drysuit course.

Severntec Diving will be running more trips to Porth Ysgaden, and other locations around North Wales and beyond, in the coming months, so keep an eye on the events page on our Facebook group, or check out the website: www.severntecdiving.com

Sam ready to dive Sam ready to put up the roof tent

WE’RE ALL DIVERS The weekend turned into a bit of an impromptu multiagency diving session. Also at Ysgaden enjoying the tranquil conditions were BSAC divers from the Wirral and Chester, and on the Sunday we met members of Bangor and Liverpool universities. I even got chance for a catch-up with Jake from Seasearch North Wales. It was great to see the camaraderie displayed over the weekend, regardless of what training agency the divers belonged to. There were even freedivers on site, and one of them recognised me from the GO Diving Show, where he had done a sidemount trydive with me! The diving world is a small place…

Kevin in Maltese waters Kevin showing off the buoyancy characteristics of one of his cylinders

Kevin in a sidemount rig

Cylinder handling drills

In instructor mode

Want to try sidemount diving? A limited number of trydive sessions will be available at the GO Diving Roadshow at NDAC on Friday 17 September and Saturday 18 September. Kevin Murphy will be again leading the trydives, as he has done at the last two GO Diving Shows in Coventry, only this time rather than a pool, you will be sampling the waters of NDAC, which has plenty of sunken attractions to see even in the first 10-15m. As well as the sidemount trydives, there is the opportunity to join tech guru Mark Powell on skill development sessions, take part in underwater photography workshops with Paul ‘Duxy’ Duxfield and Phil and Anne Medcalf, and wander around a whole host of exhibitors, including Fourth Element, PADI, O’Three, Santi Diving, Kent Tooling, Shearwater Research, British Virgin Islands, Roots Red Sea, Scubapro and NammuTech. The event is hosted by adventurer, author and TV presenter Andy Torbet, and he will be speaking on both the Friday and Saturday evenings. Cave and deep diver Phil Short and TV presenter Miranda Krestovnikoff will also be presenting on Friday evening. Diving is all about the social scene – which has been stifled due to COVID-19 - so on Friday evening, there will also be a BBQ and the chance to hang out and chat with the exhibitors, speakers and your fellow divers. Tickets for the event are on sale now, and if you want to do a trydive – make sure you register, as there are only six spots available both days. Once they are gone, they’re gone. www.godivingshow.com/go-diving-road-show

Ready to dive in sidemount

Conducting a sidemount trydive

Instructing at NDAC

Adventurer, TV presenter, technical diver and all-round top bloke Andy Torbet will be hosting the event, as well as being keynote speaker on the Friday and Saturday evenings. There will also be talks from TV presenter, author and British diving advocate Miranda Krestovnikoff, tech legend Phil Short, who has a brandnew presentation about the B-17 Tulsamerican project, and Clare Dutton, who will be showcasing the unique Scuba Escape – the world’s first underwater escape room, which is based in picturesque North Wales.

Want to dip your fin-tips into technical diving? Training agencies including RAID will be running trydives for those wanting to sample twinset and sidemount diving for the first time, and tech icon Mark Powell will be conducting in-water skill development sessions.

Want to dip your fin-tips into technical diving? Training agencies including RAID will be running trydives for those wanting to sample twinset and sidemount diving for the first time, and tech icon Mark Powell will be conducting in-water skill development sessions.

The Friday evening will culminate with a BBQ and a social evening, where divers and exhibitors can mingle, chat about diving, and enjoy being out and about. All are welcome, from individuals to buddy pairs and groups. In fact, this is the perfect club weekend – schedule your dive courses for the event, so that when you are having your surface intervals between diving, your members can wander the exhibitor stands or listen to a talk, and then on the Friday evening, you can all enjoy the BBQ and social evening.

Of course, the best thing about being located at NDAC is that you can actually go diving as well! NDAC is one of the most-popular inland dive sites, and it offers depths from the shallows right down to full-on technical levels. Within the vast expanse of water, divers will find Land Rovers, cruisers, airplanes, helicopters, armoured cars, diving bells, gun turrets, hyperbaric chamber, double decker bus, a trawler and various training platforms.

• Full ticket (Friday 17 September – Saturday 18 September) - £69 (includes access to talks, workshops, exhibitors,

BBQ/social evening on Friday night, and diving in NDAC on both days). • One-day ticket (Friday 17 September) - £45 (includes access to talks, workshops, exhibitors, BBQ/social evening, and diving in NDAC). • Non-diving ticket (Friday 17 September – Saturday 18

September) - £25 (includes access to talks, workshops, exhibitors, BBQ/social evening on Friday night). • Not interested in diving or the workshops? Then you can come along to NDAC for free on Sunday 19 September to speak with the exhibitors.