Having been told by our illustrious chairman that Adriana & I could go to Stoney Cove on Thursday, I was pleasantly surprised to be told that we were both on the trip to Anglesey for the weekend after. I was soon planning how many dives I could cram into four days - best case 12, worst case, none and probably somewhere in between.

Friday 26th July

So it was that we drove up to Anglesey on Friday afternoon in the new Scuba mobile, complete with a boot full of camping, (wet) diving & personal kit. Maria, my 16 year old & her friend Jessica came along too in the hope of finding some nice Welsh boys to play with. Dud the Stud was ready, willing, able, but about 10 years too old!

When we arrived at the camp-site, Steve, Dudley & John were already there, along with some of Steve's mates from the SUDS club (Salford University Drinking Society). Big Andy, Big Dunc, Big Mel, Big Shirley & Little Mitch were all there. Big Mac couldn't make it unfortunately. Introductions over, we set up camp quickly & started the first BBQ of the weekend. Adriana was elected 'Mom' for the trip, which involved keeping order amongst the rabble & acting as top Dive Marshall for most of the dives.

I had been promised a night dive with Steve (who would be my buddy for the whole weekend) on the Friday, so wished the time away until about 10:00pm when we started to kit up on a dimly lit beach. I had never done a night dive & never been in the sea, so was looking forward to both. I thought I might find it a bit spooky, but night diving is awesome. Everywhere you look, there is something going on. Lobsters, crabs, Bio-luminescent creatures, they were all there in force & the sea-bed was incredible. Diving in Stoney or Dosthill is good, but there you lurch from one sunken vehicle to the next, here there is life everywhere. At one point we came into a clearing & I was quite surprised by the sudden lack of life, but then spotted a flat-fish doing an impressive impersonation of sand, a quick prod & it was off to hide elsewhere, miffed that I had seen through its disguise. As with all dives, it was over too soon & we were surfacing. As we had only dived to about 10m & the majority was done at 3-5 metres, there was no need for a safety stop, especially as we simply stood up at the end, then walked out!