THE DIVE

If you are prepared to dive long and shallow – it can be difficult to exceed 8m or so – then Criccieth can be a fascinating and rewarding shore dive, despite it being over a sandy sea-bed.

Access is easy – you simply put on your gear on the seafront and walk the few metres into the water. Low tide enables you to reach the areas of sand with richer marine life sooner. And in this part of Cardigan Bay currents are largely insignificant.

The site is also tailor-made for an easy introduction to night dives and occasionally there can be strong planktonic bioluminescence – I’ve seen my buddy brightly lit by a shimmering, sparkling halo – stunning, if a little eerie. The lack of currents in the bay mean that you can choose where to dive and which direction to travel in. Take a compass bearing from your entry point and you shouldn’t go wrong. If you do get lost, the 8m depth means that ascending to see where you are is perfectly possible. If night diving, you can navigate by the lights of the town itself.

Strange, rarely-met creatures are easy to see in the shallow and often well-lit waters. And in summer the sea temperature can exceed 20°C!

Among the sparse clumps of sea grass, a plant considered to be scarce nationally, are hermit crabs and swimming crabs. Pipefish and sticklebacks camouflage themselves vertically alongside blades of grass and can be hard to spot at first. You can also find sand gobies, dragonets, scorpionfish, flatties, and even small rays. Also worthy of mention, and seen only on sand, are the masked crab, with its very long ‘nose’ and the weird sea mouse, a creature the shape and size of a mouse with irridescent ‘fur’. In fact it is a scale worm.

Warning Watch out for one of the most dangerous animals found in British waters, the lesser weever fish, which hides under the sand with only its eyes showing in the sand. It can give a bare foot a nasty sting.
• Words and photographs by Paul Kay

How to get there
Criccieth is easily reached by a number of routes which skirt or pass through Snowdonia. Easiest is from the north coast – simply leave the A55 coast road at Bangor for Caernarfon, continue through Caernarfon and follow the signs for Porthmadog, Criccieth is clearly signposted from this road about 5 miles before Porthmadog. The picturesque port of Porthmadog is the nearest town.

The place
Dominated by the ruin of the castle (which dates from King Edward 1’s time), the village stands on a distinctive rounded hill which juts out into the sea. On the seafront is a small jetty, some pleasant if rather pebbly beaches, and to the east, rock pools formed where a clay cliff is gradually being eroded.

Parking
There is ample, reasonably-priced parking all along the seafront.

Air
Air can be obtained from Tynrhos Diving (01758 740712), which has a camp site and bunkhouse accommodation too (£5 per night) at Mynythonear, near Pwllheli, about 8–10 miles from Criccieth. Otherwise it remains scarce! Compressors can be found at Vivian Diving Centre (01286 870889) Llanberis, at Frogsborn Diving (01244 520333), and the Anglesey Diver Training College near Holyhead (01407 7645450).

Food
A must is a visit to Cadwalader’s ice-cream shop, on the east side of the castle hill (open Saturday and Sunday afternoons only from November–March), and then the ‘chippy’ opposite – both excellent. There is also the Moranedd café, owned by a diver, Wayne Nieto, with straightforward meals of substanital size.

Accommodation

Plentiful. Details from the Tourist Information Centre, which also provide a booking service.
E-mail: tourism@gwynedd.gov.uk