Members of the club have been busy working on Orange Peel over Easter. As she's lane dormant and exposed in Anglesey for the last 14months. The freshly charged battery has been fitted with new terminal connectors. The engine run for 30minutes. The jockey wheel freed disassembled and greased the seat taken for re covering the instruments cleaned and tested. The tyres have been pumped up, the tubes re inflated, the windscreen re attached, and a new fire extinguisher fitter. A temporary switch has been installed to replace the broken navigation switch and everything has been greased.

The old system of a checklist has been reinstated and a copy placed on the boat. Outstanding jobs are the fixing of the port navigation light (it needs re wiring) The purchase of new flares (out of date Dec 2002) Items missing and needed are a 17mm wrench for the wheels and a re stocking of the spares box. A waterproof Nav switch, jerry can, spare battery and cover are also on the list! Myself and Mr Slade have agreed to look after the boat so the new regime is here! We have a new electronics case which contains all the boat gadgets plus the instructions and battery chargers. The GPS now runs on rechargeable batteries and the bits are all in the box. If you are marshalling a dive from the boat then you are responsible for its return and maintenance. The sheets are in the box and must be returned completed so that we can keep on top of jobs!

Gareth Jones

You're just a mona

The weekend of the 12th saw members up at silly o'clock and driving to meet the Diving charter Quest at Menai Bridge. Mike had organised everything - including the weather! After humping the kit onto the boat we sailed down the straights. As there was only 5 of use we had some strangers on the boat. After a couple of hours we arrived over the wrecks. All was set for 40m when a lone voice asked to do a 25m one! Having shotted the Mona The first wave of 3 hit the water. I descended with Steve Henry and Mike behind. Disaster struck as I hit the bottom and realised that my torch had arrived at the bottom without me and was no where to be seen. The wreck was reasonably intact with the sand covering the front section apart from some bollards. The stern was uncovered with a deep scour beneath it and huge rudder. Large Lobsters were everywhere although the visibility was limited to around 5 metres. Still sobbing I carried out a futile search for the torch before surfacing in a rather bad mood! The second dive of the day was with the Seals of puffin Island. As I was inconsolable I elected to stay dry as 5m was not worth getting wet for and seals are just like big fish aren't they? On the way home we dived the dregger Hoveringm in the straights. It lies high and dry at low water with about 7m of water beneath the upturned hull. Myself and Mike spent 30minutes exploring at times in zero visibility, but there wasn't much to see and it rather reminded me of HMS Cricket (for those of you who remember that memorable Cypriot wreck!) Back to the Hotel which Mike had booked and at £13 a head was outstanding. The evening meal slid down and Sunday dawned.

We sped off to Rhosneigr to pick up the boat battery before getting on the charter to be warned of force 8's . We were on a chartered trawler with a home made ladder that another group had condemned and refused to dive from on the Saturday, pha puffs what do they know.. We'll that was the view at 9am. We dived the swellies as a 4knt drift and apart from some imaginative separation drills we all enjoyed it. Then out to the shelter of puffin island and a dive to 30 or 40..feet! Bathaway and me hit the water to recover a grapnel anchor and surfaced for the praise of the skipper. As I put weight on the ladder the bottom half broke and I was left with the first rung above me and out of the water. After a bit of a strain Tinky and twin set were back on board and awaiting with interest the exit strategies of the others! My thanks go to Mike for an excellent weekend - for all the wrong reasons and to the rest of the group for not mentioning my torch much.

Gareth Jones