Hi All

first and foremost I want to thank Elfyn for a great weekend, he was as he always is a great skipper/laugh/storyteller. I have never had a bad day with him and this time we even had decent viz [more on that later] by North Wallian standards.

Elfyn is caught between a rock and a hard place, nobody has a right to dive the Resurgem so he is really cashing in favours with CADW to dive it, and if the guy concerned says it's a no go then there is no appeal.

Anyway, on with the story. Myself and 3 Heanor SAC DIWexplorers set off at a respectable time of 11am for the journey westwards hoping that this time we were going to be smiled upon by the weather/wreck gods. After an uneventful journey we arrived at Amlwch port at 15.45 for a 16.00 meet, result, we sorted the gear out met up with Ian and his unfeasibly good looking club member Cath.

Unfortunately the fishing charter was late in, and presumably to full of beer and fish to get their stuff off in a timely fashion, so we were delayed getting out.

Elfyn shotted the wreck several times but the slack had clearly gone so we sent "team stupid" in water first to tie in the shot followed by "team good looking" [and Ian] and finally "team old bas*ards". I was in the latter despite being neither old nor a bas*ard, but needs must. The current was ripping so a tight grip was in order, We caught up with teams stupid and good looking at the bottom who elected to return up the shot.

"Team old bas*ard"

Team old bas*ard then became team stupid and we set off on a brisk drift. The viz at 30m was probably 4+ metres once you had made it through the bloom and jellies, We saw a few dogfish, crabs and pollack and to my delight a baby octopus which is now identified by the signal of trying to turn around to get a better look, then doing a current assisted barrel roll and burying your buddy in the sand as he comes to your aid thinking some kind of fit has taken hold. After 30mins we thumbed it.

Back on the surface Elfyn was in the wheelhouse doing a Micheal Bentine's potty time impression, clearly gutted that he had had a career first.

Safely into port, and then off to the caravan in Anglesey's monsoon season - as usual I only had sandals and shorts [note to self, jerk]. After finding out the TV wasn't working we visited the "local chippy for local people" who were mortified at our coach load of orders when they were trying to close.

A few tinnies and tall stories later we were joined by Elfyn who gave us the bad news that due to a crap forecast Mike had called it. He gave us the option of a morning dive if the weather allowed, or a return home with tails firmly between legs and a refund. We choose to sleep on it.

Morning came and the wind had not come in yet, so buoyed, we set off to the boat and loaded for a possible 2 dives. I yorped a greeting to Terry [Elfyn's partner in crime] who was off with a fishing charter and, out of character, he was smoking.

"The Mona" (no, not Elfyn, but our first dive), a really small twin screwed brigantine covered in life with 6 or 7m viz. on the brief Elfyn said he can tell how good a persons buoyancy is by the amount of anemone slime on them. Teams old bas*ard and stupid were clear but unfortunately team good looking's DO let them down. I kid you not the wreck reminded me of a smaller version of the Mull wrecks. A fantastic dive of 30m for 40 mins, spirits on the boat were much lifted.

The sea started to pick up, so we headed back to dive the Dakota on slack, which would be a first for me, as normally you have to jump in holding a waster line to drag yourself to the shot. The brief was, head to the air lift part, de-kit and get the Cognac that has eluded the CCR wearers, at least that is how I interpreted it.

For those who have never dived her, she is the wreck that has kept Elfyn and Terry in fags and hair gel for years and is a fantastic rummage dive with crockery and bottles everywhere. Spurred by the info' of oil paintings rolled up in lead tubes I spent a good while trying to get something similar out, but to no avail. After 60 mins we thumbed it, unfortunately the old bas*ard part of our team still doesn't know how to work his D9 so we had 14 mins of deco from 18m. Obviously some hidden Bernard Manning conservatism setting.

"You don't need a lift as Elfyn make the rrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr noise for you as you climb the ladder"

Back to port and unloaded the boat with no help from team good looking's DO. The pikey element in Heanor SAC then tried to steal Cath's pony and when rumbled, we said our goodbyes and set off for home, listening to the 2nd half of the match on 5 live. A great end to a great weekend, oh, and the new inversion stand works a treat.

"The Derbyshire pony snatchers and their care/probation worker [in orange]"

Thanks to Elfyn, Ian and Cath, Mick, Jack and finally Bully who after diving for 18years is just getting the hang of it. I look forward to the next one [4th time lucky hopefully].

Safe diving,

Steve