A SWIM WITH WALES’ SHARKS
MEET the woman who loves going swimming with sharks – off the coast of West Wales! If you think shark and whale spotting is something you have to travel to far-flung places for, then Charlie Young will make you think again.
In fact, you only have to head to Pembrokeshire where Charlie is on a one-woman mission to show people there are sharks living right under our noses.
The 29-year-old marine scientist, diver and adventurer knows exactly where to find the awe-inspiring prehistoric creatures.
“The best thing we can do is fall in love with what’s on our doorstep,” she said. “You tell people you can see blue sharks in Wales and you take them out and they’re like, ‘wow, you can see blue sharks’.”
It’s not unheard of to spot pilot whales, fin whales, minke whales, blue sharks, basking sharks, sunfish, bluefin tuna, seals and even the odd leatherback turtle, all the while keeping the Pembrokeshire coastline not far off sight.
In fact, the fin whale is the second largest whale in the world and is believed to be a year-round resident in UK waters. One of the largest recorded gatherings of fin whales in UK waters was in the Celtic Sea.
Born and raised in Pembrokeshire until the age of 12, Charlie was forced to grow up in a wetsuit and spent every weekend at the beach with her family exploring rock pools and hidden coves.
In 2004, Charlie’s family set sail on an adventure of a lifetime, relocating to the Canary Islands where Charlie’s obsession with the ocean grew. Learning to dive at 14, she spent the next eight years exploring the island’s volcanic shores and submarine wildlife, before returning to the UK to study conservation biology at the University of West England in Bristol and then completed an MSc by research at Glasgow University.
Since graduating, she’s travelled the world conducting research on human impacts in the world’s oceans, heading to Asia, Saudi Arabia and the Red Sea.
And yet the lure of home has never left. As well as working for marine conservation charity Blue Ventures and doing freelance presenting jobs, Charlie founded Saltwater Britain in 2019 and has partnered with Blue Ventures to run expeditions through this summer.
Charlie call Saltwater Britain a “passion campaign” and said: “It’s essentially just trying to make people fall in love with UK seas and marine wildlife. She calls it “mission-driven adventure” because of the onus on conservation.
As well as the expeditions from Pembrokeshire this summer, she’s running trips to Scotland to dive with basking sharks, to the Farne Islands to dive with seals, and to Cornwall looking at seagrass.
The craggy coastline and golden sandy beaches of Pembrokeshire have led it to be named one of National Geographic’s top coastal destinations in the world. The specific place to head to is an area called the Celtic Deep, Charlie explained.
About an hour from Dale, the waters here are 100m deep and offer the vertical range that suits some species of large sharks.
Blue sharks can be found in abundance there; they’re normally mature females who migrate north to Welsh waters from breeding grounds in the central and eastern Atlantic ocean. Encountering groups of three and sometimes up to eight sharks at a time, the blue sharks are very curious creatures often sticking around to nuzzle and bump the charter boats.
Early in the season, porbeagles are common. The stout, powerfully built shark resembles a miniature great white and is in sharp contrast to the slender serpentine blue shark.
Charlie’s enthusiasm for what her homeland can offer is contagious as she explains how the waters in the Celtic Sea offer such a rich and rewarding experience for marine wildlife lovers.
If the way in is to use an iconic animal such as the blue shark to capture their interest, then so be it. She’s confident that once they see everything else that’s out there, they will become more aware of what there is to lose.
Saltwater Britain is running the Wild Pembrokeshire: Into the Celtic Deep trip in August later this year powered by Blue Ventures. Based in Dale the week-long experience will allow people to dive with sharks.
■ For more information visit www.saltwaterbritain.org/expedition/wild- pembrokeshire- into- theceltic-deep