Anglesey 1st-2nd August 2026

On Thursday evening, Top Cat was prepped and the brakes on the trailer adjusted. Phil towed her to Anglesey on Friday evening. The weather forecast for the weekend was good. As we had a big spring tide we were limited to non-tidal sites.

Saturday

We met Doug, Ruth, Anna and Will at Treaddur Bay car park at 8.30am to put everything needed onto Top Cat. Phil drove her onto the beach ready for launching. The BRUV was dropped in at Ravenspoint as we motored along the coast.

  • Dive 1: The Chasms.
  • Dive 2: Rhoscolyn side of The Beacons.

We returned to Treaddur Bay between dives to change cylinders where needed. The water temperature was16C and the viz around 4m. There was a plankton bloom which meant the water was milky.

Marine life was plentiful. We spotted:  Crater, Elephants Hide, Myxilla, Boring, Carrot, Sea Orange, Hedgehog, Staghorn and encrusting sponges: Deadmens Fingers, Snakelocks and White Striped Anemones, Double Spiral Worms, Common Prawn, Common and Squat Lobster, Velvet Swimming, Spider and Edible Crab, Spiral and Potato Crisp Bryzoan, Bloody Henry, Crevice Sea Cucumber, Star Sea Squirt, Ballan, Cuckoo(female) and Gold Sinny Wrasse, Gobies and Dragonets. Best finds, seal, Sponge Crab, Candy Striped Flatworms, Tom Pot Blennies, Scorpion Fish, Cat Shark and shoals of Sand Eels.

Above water we had seals and a pair of Porpoise. We picked up the BRUV on our return to Treaddur Bay.

We joined Alison, Loz and Rob at The Harbourfront Bistro in Holyhead for an evening meal.

Sunday:

We arrived at Holyhead slip at 8.30am to load and launch Top Cat. The BRUV was put in at Church Bay as we made our way out to The Skerries to dive on the north side. We were greeted by Arctic Terns, seals, gulls and Puffins.

The plankton bloom was significant and cut the viz to 3/4m. The marine life was like that seen on Saturday. Best finds Cat Shark, large Common Lobster and Tom Pot Blennies. We went into the lagoon expecting to see seals and Arctic Terns resting on the rocks. To our disgust we found a family on a large Rhib encouraging a young boy on a Jet Ski to race around. The police are keen to stamp out wildlife disturbance. If you see it, photograph and report it on101(Operation Seabird.)

We retrieved the BRUV and returned to Holyhead to recover and dekit Top Cat. Phil towed her back to the club house where we met Doug. Top Cat was cleaned ready for the first service of her new engine.

Thanks to Phil for planning and organising the diving, to Doug and Phil for coxing and to buddies Anna, Will and Ruth for joining us on a very enjoyable weekend.