Anglesey

A diving day here is either a shore dive or a RIB trip. Local clubs dive the sheltered bays of Anglesey and Holy Island year-round, walking in at spots such as Porth Dafarch, Porth Castell and Rhoscolyn Beach. SBS Rib Charter runs boats out of Trearddur Bay, and most of its sites lie within a 15-minute RIB ride. On weekdays and neap tides a popular plan is a 16 km (10-mile) run to the wreck of the Segontium, lunch on a beach, then a second dive on the shallow tanker Kimya. Every trip depends on the weather.

Underwater the island offers wrecks, reefs and drifts. The Norman Court sank in 1883 and the Missouri, a 3000-ton vessel, was wrecked at Porth Dafarch in 1886; the wreck sites lie between 6 and 40 m. Reefs and drifts run round Englishman's Rock and Rhoscolyn Beacon, and pinnacle dives at Carreg Hen go ahead when tide and weather allow. In the Menai Strait the seabed holds 3–4 m before dropping to 5–7 m, with dahlia anemones in large numbers, crabs everywhere and the odd small dogfish.

The Menai Strait is the part that asks the most. The current runs very hard through it, so dives are timed to slack water, which lasts up to an hour on a good neap tide and about 30 minutes on springs. Boat traffic is the other hazard. At one shore site the car park floods at high tide on springs. Summer visibility is generally 5–10 m and better in calm spells, while in the Strait it can be only a couple of metres in the shallows.

Anglesey suits divers with some UK experience who are willing to plan around tides; the boat wrecks call for Advanced training and UK experience, while sheltered Porth Dafarch is where newly qualified divers are taken for their first sea dives. Divers who want slack-water timing out of the picture should stay in the sheltered bays or look elsewhere.