Wow! What a weekend we had in South Wales last weekend. Massive swell and gale force winds. This weekend see's things return to a more normal situation and could actually see acceptable conditions for diving on certain parts of the South Wales coast, particularly on Saturday.
We're expecting winds to be reasonably gentle and in an Easterly / Northerly direction, meaning we have fairly small swell and the wind shouldn't be causing too many visibility problems. The tidal movement, whilst still large compared to many places in the UK, is reasonably small for the South Wales coast which will also help with visibility and dive times.
So, Saturday you should have the option of most of the dive sites in the Gower, such as Limeslade Bay or Oxwich Bay. You will also have the option to head a little further west and dive some of the bays out there, such as Martins Haven and St Brides Bay. Sunday conditions could become more troublesome as wind and swell size may increase.
As always it's important to plan your dive around the tide, remembering the rule of twelfths and looking to dive on slack water or an incoming tide.
There's no training for us this weekend after last weeks PADI Open Water Diver and PADI Rescue Diver courses. We're very pleased to say that all of our students passed their courses last weekend. This gives the Open Water students the ability to dive anywhere in the world up to 18m and we're hoping to see them back soon for their PADI Advanced Open Water course, allowing them to improve their skills in buoyancy and also dive up to 30m anywhere in the world.
Our PADI Rescue Divers now have he knowledge to deal with various situations they could find themselves in, provide first responder first aid care and assist in diver rescues should the need ever arise. It's a tough course that will allow them to move onto working towards the first PADI professional course, PADI Divemaster should they wish to, so they should be proud of their achievements.
CAUTIONS – It's summer but the British sea temperatures will still only be around the 12 degree mark, so we'll still need to take precautions with regards to thermal protection (wetsuits, drysuits, hoods, gloves).