Can you believe it, first dive this year. What with all the bad weather we've been having and the fact that I've been working non stop it has taken me till May to get "wet". Well now I'm back in the water, bring it on. Fantastic dive today. High Tide was 15:45 approx. Took it easy and checked all my gear was functioning correctly underwater, which it was. We had flat calm seas in the bay and the sun shon down on us for much of the dive. The water was cold at 10 degrees Celsius and I was glad of my hood. My hands however were exposed and the cold really got into them initially. After a few minutes however they were fine. We could see the Queen Mary II anchored far out off Dun Laoghaire and near the end of our dive a tall sailing ship pulled into the bay and anchored. The visibility was good for Sandycove, between 3-4m approx at 5m down. There was very little sea life. Small fish and mostly crab hiding amongst the kelp and under rocks. No surge to speak of so a very pleasant dive.

Second dive today. After our first dive which lead us out into the middle of the bay we sat on the surface for a few minutes talking. We took a reverse heading then back to shore and began our second dive. Again seas flat calm with no surge. Visibility still about 4m at 5.5m down. Still no sea life to speak of besides the odd crab or two. Still it was a very pleasant dive and a nice way to start the dive season.

First time diving from this location. It is located 200m south of the 40 Foot and it is easily accessed from the road but there can be limited parking at times as it is popular with swimmers and walkers. Access to the dive site is via a narrow concrete slipway. This leads to the entry point which is marked with a four foot tall yellow pole. The pole was very handy for entering and exiting the water. As the site is quite exposed to currents it should only be dived on slack water. High tide was at 13:01 so we had plenty of time to enjoy the site. Also entry and exit from this site should only be attempted at high tide otherwise bring your grappelling hooks to climb over the large boulders!! It was a cloudless sky with calm seas so every body in Dublin was in the area. There was a rather large group of swimmers (about 50 or so) racing in Scotmans Bay off of Sandycove beach so we steered clear of there. The area around the beach and the 40foot was teeming with people sunbathing and swimming so out location for diving was perfect, not as manic with people and quiet. There were sea kyakers and plenty of boats in the water off shore so we were mindfull of this throughout the dive. The dive itself was wonderful. Quite a lot of particles in the water with visability at around 3-4m pushing 5m in places at 9m down. Saw plenty of sea life, wrasse, crab, starfish and the odd gelly fish. All in all it was a lovely dive and we'll be coming back to this site ahain soon.

Almost flat calm seas. Easy access to dive site from the cul de sac. High tide was at 20:00 approx. Visability was down to about 3-4 m with quite a lot of sediment in the water. Still, it was an excellent dive and the sunset on surfacing was amazing. Few fish about, mostly starfish and crab.

What a cracker of a day. Flat calm seas, like a pond almost. Lovely relaxing dive. Saw a seal on the surface about ten feet from us at the begining of the dive. Once we submerged it was nowhere to be seen. Lots of life; crab, starfish, lobster, sponges by the hundreds.

It took us quite a while to find parking today. It's something to think about when planing a dive excursion to this location!! Clear skies and hundreds of people about swimming in the cove and at the 40 foot near by. As a result we had to park up a bit from the access to the dive site so we were sweating in our gear by the time we were all suited up. There was a bit of a swell (about three feet) so it took us a bit of time to enter the water. Thank god for the pole located at the entry point, it came in handy for donning our fins. It was another lovely dive at Mourners point. As I said there was a bit of a swell but once we were down it wasn't too bad. Current was running a little (N-S) with high tide at 14:23. At the start of the dive we came across an interesting oval shaped rock. It looked like a very large egg but about the size of a small coffee table. I've attached photos to the log. As usual there were lots of starfish about, crabs lurking under rocks, a few shrimp and a few Pollock and Wrasse. One of the Pollock was about the length of my forearm from elbow to finger tip. We also saw a few jellyfish about, one of them looked the worse for ware and seemed to have been nibbled on around the edges. Another lovely dive!

It's nice to be back in the water again after two months of working weekends and having to cancel dives due to weather changes. Very mild day today, overcast, slight wind making conditions a bit choppy. Slight swell, high tide at 13:34. It was a lovely relaxing dive. A few swimmers about and a few snorkelers too. My ears were playing up a bit today. Found it uncomfortable for the first few minutes to equalise but I took it slow and eventually got myself sorted. We took our time heading out towards the mouth of the bay on a NNW direction and found the tide pulling us out a bit so we headed west back towards the middle of the bay and it slackened off. We took our time on this dive and started noticing the little creatures hanging around the bottom of the seabed. Would love to have had a camera with a macro lens with me. Ah well i'll have to do with the GoPro for now. NOTE: I have added a short video (3min 48sec)of our two dives today. See the pictures tab to find it.

Fantastic second dive today. Still very mild day, overcast, slight wind making conditions a bit choppy. High tide at 13:34. Check out a short video of todays two dives in the pictures tab.

Excellent night dive in Sandycove. Flat calm seas with hardly any current. Not a lot of life about, mostly crabs, wrasse and the odd prawn. Cold water temperature but I was very comfortable in my drysuit. Best purchase ever!! I brought my GoPro Hero 2 with me on the dive but didn't use it much. To get any good photos I would have had to have had a lighting rig, must look into that next year. I shot a tiny bit of video but had to stop when we had to cancel the dive early as Mick was feeling the cold. Nice night dive, can't wait for the next one.