Anyone out on the water of the Cleddau estuary was in for a surprise last week — a bright yellow underwater surprise.

It was the day that 71-year-old Doug Poole, of Pembroke Dock, finally got to live his dream of plunging into the watery depths in his very own yellow submarine.

The great grandfather-of-three recently purchased and resprayed the sport sub, the likes of which have featured in films such as Zeus and Roxanne and The Hunt for Red October.

“There were only about 300 of these ‘wet subs’ made and as far as I know this is the only one in Britain,” said Doug, a former scrap worker from Birmingham who moved to Pembrokeshire in 1986 because of his love of scuba diving. “I find peace when I’m diving,” he said.

“They say that diving is the nearest you get to flying — I feel like I’m playing Superman.”

Unlike the vessel depicted in The Beatles’ psychedelic super-hit Yellow Submarine, there isn’t a lot of living space in this sub, which Doug and his wing man John Scrivener launched off the slipway at East Llanion last week.

It is known as a ‘wet sub’ because the sub itself floods to a certain level, creating an air bubble effect from the waist up.

An on-board computer controls dive settings, while external propellers take the sub to a depth of 40 metres.

After having successfully tested the water, this won’t be the last of Doug’s nautical adventures in the yellow submarine.

“I can’t wait for the next bank holiday Monday, when Tenby is packed,” he said.

“I’ll go down at Lydstep and surface at South Beach!”