Our first day of hard boat diving with Pembrokeshire boat charters onboard Overdale.

The SS. Dakotian sank in 1940 , a Merchant ship of 6,426 tons, 400 feet long and 52 feet wide. Depth of wreck from 7m to 19m. Visibility can be poor, and tides fast.

Sank by a mine while dropping anchor on the night of 21/11/40 and went down in 3 min. In 1976 efforts raised a 1918 vintage 4″ Vickers gun. The bow was blow apart as she presented a navigation hazard to shipping. Parts of the wreck can be dived through. Bow Section: Rich in Devonshire cup corals.

• Dive 1
• Divers: Simon and Chris
• Max Depth: 18.7 metres
• Dive Time: 37 minutes
• Water temperature: degrees C
• Viz: 4-5 metres
• Dive details:

• Divers: Nigel and Julie
• Max Depth: 19.2 metres
• Dive Time: 37 minutes
• Water temperature: degrees C
• Viz: 2-8 metres
• Dive details: A nice dive on quite a large vessel. Julie’s first hard boat dive. We saw 6 spotted dog fish, several large spider crabs and some big wrasse also. A dsmb was deployed at the end of the dive. Nigel Powley

We did a stride in entry off the boat, then descended (without a shot line) to hover just above the seabed, at 18.6 metres. We then explored the wreck of the Dakotian. Nigel led the dive, as this was Julie’s first proper boat dive. We saw lots of small fish and really big white crabs. We saw some cat sharks on the seabed, trying to hide from us, and some Wrasse. One extra large crab began to stalk Nigel, so Julie alerted Nigel so that he moved away. We also saw lots of anemones, including black spiny ones, and yellow puffy sponges. At the end of the dive, Nigel deployed his DSMB and we both ascended to 6m. We did a 3-minute deco stop, then surfaced. We were picked up by our charter boat and got onto the boat by Lift.

J Green

• Divers: Elaine and Jack
• Max Depth: 18.4 metres
• Dive Time: 45 minutes
• Water temperature: degrees C
• Viz: 4-5 metres
• Dive details: