Day 13 – Traeth Borth Wen, Anglesey

14 November

This morning Storm Claudia was making her presence felt. The wind was howling, the rain was bouncing off the ground, and it felt much colder than the thermometer suggested. At first, it looked unlikely that we’d be able to dive safely at all. After speaking with some local divers, we decided to head to Traeth Borth Wen, one of the most sheltered beaches on Anglesey. The horseshoe-shaped cove creates a naturally protected area, and today it was our best chance of getting in the water. It must be a stunning spot in the summer as even in bad weather it looked beautiful.

There was a walk from the car park around to the opposite side of the bay where we planned to enter the water. Another unusual moment for this trip was that the sea temperature was actually warmer than the air today: 10°C in the air, 14°C in the water.

The dive itself was shallow, with limited visibility, so the photos were once again taken using a macro lens. We spent 1 hour and 10 minutes underwater, moving slowly along the seabed. Early in the dive we came across two lobster pots containing large lobsters, clearly waiting to be collected by a fisherman. Seeing them reminded us of a couple of dives in Cornwall where we discovered abandoned pots full of trapped marine life, a heart breaking sight. It brought to mind the brilliant work of Fathoms Free, a charity dedicated to clearing abandoned and discarded fishing gear from the coastline of Devon and Cornwall. We were thrilled to learn that they had recently been awarded the King’s Award for Voluntary Service, so richly deserved.

Throughout the dive we were entertained and teased by small painted gobies. They would hover around us until the very moment the camera shutter was pressed, then dart away, only to reappear seconds later. We also saw various crabs and a number of common prawns, all going

about their business in the sheltered cove.

By the time we got out, we felt pleased, and a little relieved, that we’d managed a dive on a day that had looked so unpromising. We battled the weather back to the campsite, hoping our caravan was still where we’d left it, and began searching for

somewhere to warm up with a hot chocolate.