Dive trip to Llyn Peninsula – 9th & 10th May 2026

Steve and Helen collected Cheshire Cat Friday lunchtime and towed it to the accommodation just outside Pwllheli.  On arrival, we discovered that the caravan is owned by total boat care who also operate the slipway.  We parked and secured the boat trailer and enjoyed the sunny late afternoon and spectacular views of Snowdon and Cardigan bay.  Jon joined us in time for fish and chips.  Stu was staying a bit further along the road with Kelly and their dog.

Saturday

Saturday morning was sunny and mild, we met at 8am at Pwllheli slipway.  Prepped divers and boat and launched easily.  Decent trip over to St. Tudwal’s Island East and the first dive site at the Sea Caves (despite the name, you can surface within the cave). 

Steve and Helen went in first, we had at least 6m visibility, and an abundance of life including masses of huge spiny spider crabs, a seal in the back of the cave, shrimp, wrasse, tompot blennies, velvet swimming crab, edible crab, snakelock anemones, dahlia anemones, various sponges, fan worms, common lobster, hundreds of juvenile fish,  all in a balmy 13 degrees.  Jon and Stu went in next and reported much the same life.  We were very sheltered from the north-easterly winds at that site, which subsequently picked up significantly and gave us a fairly lumpy ride back to the slip for comfort breaks and a bit of lunch.  

Due to the higher than predicted winds we changed the plan for dive 2 and dived off Gimblet Rock where we had shelter from the winds.  Very similar life to what we experienced at the sea caves, plus lots of hermit crabs and netted dog whelk.  Best find was a greater pipefish.  Steve and Helen also recovered a long-lost boat hook.  We returned to the slip, recovered the boat and headed back to our accommodations.

Steve, Helen and Jon were joined for a BBQ by Fred (one of our out of port members) and his daughter Penny, while Stu and Kelly went to a local pub for a meal.

Sunday

Sunday was similar weather, we packed up our accommodation and met at the slip at 9am. Sea state was moderate so we headed out to Pen-y-Chain, where we could shelter from the wind.  Steve and Helen dived first, super shallow but visibility at least 8m which we couldn’t believe. Teeming with life, best finds a Conger cleaning station, another greater pipefish masquerading as a piece of weed and Jon and Stu spotted a catshark. This is now rated as Steve’s best shallow dive ever in north Wales purely for the amount of life seen, but it’s not one for the depth junkies!  We could see the divers’ cylinders and Stu’s orange fins most of the time.

After a quick comfort break back at the slip, we headed out for another dive near Gimblet rock, Jon was done with scenic stuff, so he coxed the boat and we dived as a 3.  It was full of jellyfish including compass jellyfish and blue jellyfish and there were sea gooseberries everywhere.  Best finds catshark and masked crab. Diving done we returned to the slip, recovered Cheshire Cat and headed home.

Great weekend, some lovely dives with amazing visibility, thanks to buddies Steve, Helen, Jon and Stu.

Trip report  – Steve