Eh? Naw! - 23/02/2015

Part of the joy of living in Scotland is that it is amongst the greenest countries on the planet, chromatically speaking. I mean, if you are from outside the UK you've probable never seen so many shades of green. However, as we know every silver lining has an accompanying cloud. 

Tonight the Kingmaker and I didn't drive to Loch Fyne. We didn't kit up, buddy check and then head down to photograph firework anemones. Neither of us run out of air. In fact, we didn't even hit deco or reach 100 bar. 

Nope, none of it happened. Simply because we both emerged from work, took one look at the howling gales and torrential downpour of hail/sleet/snow/rain (the four seasons of Scottish weather) and simultaneously thought, "Eh? Naw!"

A typical forecast

Return To Deeper Reef - 19/02/2015

In the post The Dive That Never Was I explained that the Kingmaker led me to a new part of Seal Reef which I'd never been to before. Tonight, armed with my 15l tank and Fast Ed as a buddy, we decided to return to the same bit of the reef.

On entry we encountered three emerging divers who told us to persevere with the poor visibility as it improved greatly beyond 10m. They weren't wrong. As we dropped through the halocline the visibility went from around 1-2m up to 4-5m. We turned and headed for the main reef, aided by a swift moving current which made light work of the swim. I appreciated this given I was still stiff from football and circuit training two days earlier.

We ecountered the second reef. The life on it was much the same as the main reef, but it was nice to explore new nooks and crannies. As we bottomed out at 32m we bumped into a nice little firework anemone (pictured below), then a large amount of rope. By this stage we were approaching deco (decompression limits, not the Portuguese footballer) so we began making our journey home doing a deep stop for good measure.

Once again, the current had turned and we were ably assisted back to our entry stopping for a few photographs on the way.  

On the surface we looked at our computers. While both Fast Ed and I have been considerably deeper we both recorded high average depths for the dive of over 18m. Even on some of my deepest dives beyond 40m I haven't recorded such a high average depth.

As we emerged we found more divers arriving. Sergeant Chris and The Wolf (so named because of a fancy dress costume he wore at Halloween one time). We shared some chuckles before Ed and I headed back to the Malt & Myre for a meal*. Good times.

The hungry scallop

Firework anemone

Firework anemone

Rope

Cushion star

* No matter what you order, even if it is just a bowl of chips or a glass of cola, the waitress always says, "Enjoy your meal". For no particular reason this always tickles Ed and I who like to think that with the addition of sauce and vinegar on the chips we have a three course meal.

Check That Suit! What Suit? Gimp Suit! -

Today was a dive of a different kind for me. I was diving with someone I met on my recent liveaboard - Bridget. So named for her propensity to explete and working in PR.

The outing started comically with Bridget attracting, what seemed to me to be, the amorous advances of a socially awkward diver as we kitted up. It was painful to watch.

Bridget was testing out a new neoprene, as she calls it, gimp suit. It marked a move from someone diving in a hired trilaminate suit to a neoprene suit. It was also her first dive in the postmodern tropical waters of Loch Long at Twin Piers. 

Today I added a little extra weight to my set up after an experience with the Zookeeper trying out a new drysuit at this very site a year ago. So, when we went into the water and she couldn't get down I slipped an extra few kilo's into her BCD which had her sinking in no time.

The visibility to 15m was surprisingly good (5-6m), but deteriorated rapidly below that depth.

We made our way round the piers, past the old truck (8m), through the wrecked barge (15m) and onto the reef. En route I'd picked up a clappy-doo for sacrificial purposes to lure out the big conger eel. It went down a treat. :) Much to the delight of Bridget who'd never seen a conger eel in her previous Scottish dives. 

On the way back, Bridget was clearly still getting use to the new drysuit and it seemed to me was struggling to get the air out. I held her down for the safety stop and as we got a few metres from the shore let her go gently. As she rose the valve was automatically purging excess air.

I've been fortunate and had the same drysuit as when I did my drysuit speciality, more than three years ago. I can imagine a new suit can take some time to get used to. I mean, I don't even like diving with a different torch. I am, though, a creature of routine and habit.

On the basis that this was more of a check dive I never really took any pictures.

Conger eel

Plumose anemone

I first met TDFKAMF on a boat at the Farne Islands. He was a scub-noob suffering from seasickness. I offered him some 'stoogs' He also supported Partick Thistle - as do I. I remembered being at a similar stage a year or so before so I offered to take him to few sites after that day.

It was an inglorious start, as I foolishly took him to a place that was probably a little beyond what he was ready for, but he got through that night and we did a few more dives. I christened him Mr Fallsoveralot because he stumbled a fair bit in the early days under the weight of the kit, but in fairness to him he found his feet on land and underwater. So I renamed him The Diver Formerly Known As Mr Fallsoveralot (TDFKAMF).

Tonight, a coincidental year after that night at Glen Douglas Road End, we headed to the Council Yard, Loch Fyne. TFKAMF had never dived the site and was keen to try something new, Moreover, after a false start earlier in the week tonight was to be his 100th dive.

We kitted up and plopped into the water  - the visibility was great. We headed down to the reef where we took some pictures of:

• Nudis
• Scorpion fish
• Prawns
• Squaties

We returned up the reef to the training area before heading out after 57 minutes. I think he enjoyed it.

Highland dancer

Dead man's finger

Short squad squat lobster

Shrimp

Prawn

The $100 man

The Dive That Never Was - 03/02/2015

Today was going to be a special day. TDFKAMF had reached 99 dives. Tonight would have been 100. We were also diving with The Kingmaker, who was diving in Scottish waters for the first time since returning from the Red Sea where, apparently, he was swimming with an Oceanic Whitetip, but as we always say, if there is no picture then it didn't happen. We met up and headed over to Seal Reef, Loch Fyne for the event....

About two thirds of the way there I heard TDFKAMF utter an expletive. He'd forgotten his weights. I sincerely offered mine and I'd sit it out. He declined - he's a gentleman that way.

So it fell to The Kingmaker and I to kit up and head in. His girlfriend had wondered if he was fit* enough to be diving in Scotland. He said he was. *coughs*

We headed in and went down passing a number of Highland Dancer nudibranchs. We bottomed out out at 32m  and headed along to a secondary reef that I'd never been able to find before. I suspect my inability to find it was because I'd been told that it lay elsewhere. The visibility was good. As was the life. 

Now, I can count on one hand the number of Highland Dancers I've seen - 3. Once at this site, once at the St Catherine's Pier and once at Drishaig. Tonight we found four highland dancers and numerous nice scorpion fish. 

In addition, I'd add that it was warm. The coldest temperature recorded by my computer was 8c. That's five degrees warmer than it was just four days ago.

We returned to see TDFKAMF standing sentry with my head torch on. The 100th dive that never was.

* Caution: Euphemism alert

Highland dancer

Scorpion fish

Scorpion fish

Highland dancer