New To The Night - 21/01/2018

I'm often asked if I'd be prepared to take people on a night dive. My general feeling is that they think it's a more exciting way to dive. I mean, diving in the dark is pretty spooky right? For me, it's not so much about the darkness, or the excitement but rather my availability to dive.

Tonight was one such night. There was a small group of us, but I was buddying someone with a c considerable amount of diving experience in warm blue water, but limited experience in a drysuit at night.

I led him about St Catherine's, Seal Reef. Staying shallow. Keeping an eye on him. He did well and presented me with no unwanted surprises. As a reward, I showed him where the nudibranchs live. He was appreciative.

Floodlight Sonata - 22/12/2018

When Beethoven wrote his Moonlight Sonata, it was probably beyond even his imagination that it would be whizzing round my head when around 207 years later I was diving the Breda at night, floodlit with the Barrman. I mean, he had an impressive imagination, but I'm prepared to wager that he never composed it as a soundtrack to something of that ilk. In fairness, it was probably the Barrman that tipped it over the edge of probability.

We had agreed we wanted to do it some time ago, along with StewPatz and his good lady. At the time of booking we didn't know what the weather would do. As it was we were blessed with flat seas, low wind and moonlight. 

In the end the Barrman and I headed in and swam around the deck of the Breda. It was very relaxing, with lots of fish.

The Stranger in the Dark - 21/12/2018

With Christmas holidays fast approaching I took the decision that I could sleep later in the week and so embarked on 4 dives over three sites in around 40 hours.

It started with Jester and Chairman Andy joining me for a Friday night dive at St Cats. As Andy is heading towards his ScotSAC Masters Diver award we headed down beyond 30m to allow him to gain further experience at depth.

It was all pretty straightforward, then I saw a stranger. I hadn't met one in quite some time. In fact, I'd only met one once before a couple of years ago - the european squid. Thereafter it was pretty plane sailing but then something happened right at the end. As we floated at 5m doing a safety stop we could see a torch light glinting at the surface. Someone was on the surface waiting for us.

As we surfaced we could see the person on the shore. We got out and started chatting. Apparently we were chatting to nudibranch photography royalty in the form of Terry Griffiths. He was up visiting Scotland for one last diving hoorah before Christmas.

He was a nice chap and, as it turned out, he was going to be wildcamping in his van at the same spot as me the following night.

Going South - Part 4 500 - 10/05/2018

My 200th dive was memorable. It was in the Red Sea at a site called The Alternatives. My buddy was the Zookeeper and we had a prolonged encounter with my first scribbled filefish. It stayed with us most of the dive and I've never seen one since.

My 300th dive was also in Egypt and was at Ghobal Island with the Kingmaker. We saw my first and only ever stargazer fish.

By way of contrast, dive 400 was a very dull affair with someone who could barely dive at Twin Piers, Loch Long.

It's safe to say that I wanted to make 500 special. My buddy would be the Gandalf of the Internet and to make it special we would dive it with our cheap Chinese UV torches. It wouldn't be spectacular but it would be fun and it would, perhaps, throw up something interesting.

We swam away from the ever dwindling number of people diving on night dives and fired up the torches. At first I wasn't taking pictures thinking my camera would struggle with the strange white balance and, so, to my disappointment I never photographed the small bubble anemone that lit up furiously under the UV light. But I did snap some glowing corals.

We meandered around for 45 minutes. With that I was half way to 1,000 dives.

Glowing corals

Glowing corals

Charitable Outreach - 10/11/2017

It is a well known (or ken't if you're from Falkirk) fact that beneath my gruff exterior I'm a charitable chap. As members of my club know ,I've taken the step of introducing as many people as possible to diving at night. People appreciate it, not everyone enjoys the dark as I do. On this occasion I took Walker Texas Ranger and Andy G out to Finnart for another dive in the dark. 

We were running late. A phenomenon that happens a lot with diving. We quickly kitted up and got into the water for a potter around.

The viz was decent as we plodded from frame to frame. We passed a nice pipefish, a few cuttlefish and a number of the usual suspects.

It was another success, and pleasantly uneventful!

Back on the surface Gill.I.Am loaded up the trailer and headed to Firkin Point, Loch Lomond to camp overnight.

Single Again - 13/10/2017

A trip to the The Caves beckoned as myself and two additional member of Eastwood Divers started a new monthly Friday Night dive. The prospect of it being Friday the 13th didn't bother me, but the descent at the Caves to the waters edge in the dark, in a twinset was enough for me to rejig one of my regulators and dive it on a single cylinder.  A decision that as I mountain goated in and out of the water I did not regret.

The weather had been wet on the run up to the dive so the stream running under the road was in full flow. In some ways this made the entry less slippy and hazardous and by the time I was half way down I noticed the tide was high, reduce my clamber considerably. 

The dive itself proved to be lobster themed as we went about cutting them loose from the fishing line left by fishermen at the site. We plodded on for 45 minutes in decent visibility before heading up.

As successful first for our regular club night dives.

The Darkness - 19/09/2017

Diving at night isn't for everyone. The imagination is a powerful thing and in the darkness people's imaginations often run riot out running even the most reasoned of minds. However, my own love it compels me time and again to introduce it to more people for the first time.

Tonight it was the turn of Freeflow Bob to experience diving in the dark for the first time. I couldn't tell if he was excited about night diving specifically or not.

On the way up I explained a few basic principles of night diving:

• Use a couple of lights to create an entry line for ease of navigating back to the shore - I rarely do this :)
• Dive the site in daylight before diving it at night - I've skipped this a few times too :)
• Don't turn off your torch underwater in case it doesn't go back on - I've experienced this first hand :)
• Carry a spare torch - top tip- I always do this
• Always, always do a buddy check. The incident pit can get so much deeper faster in the dark!

We were all set.

We kitted up and buddy checked at the car before entering the water. We dropped into fairly pleasant, clear, Finnart water. We went down to the big frame before spending the rest of the time looking amongst the wreckage for life.

We saw:

• 
  
• Catsharks
• Nudibranchs
• Lobsters 
• Wrasse
• Cod

Pretty much everything you'd expect to see. However, it was at the end of the dive when I revealed my favourite night diving feature. Encouraging the others to cover the light from their torches we blackened the sea bed then began moving our spare hands in the dark. Lighting up the sea with bioluminescence. If you haven't seen it before I recommend diving at night for that reason. 

You can learn more about the ocean at night here.

I think Ol' Freeflow may have discovered a taste for it.

Lanzarote Day 4 - The Night Shift - 04/07/17

One of my many vices is diving in the dark. Tonight I got the chance to be present at the shift change - when the day shift ends and the reef night shift begins. Diving with a relatively inexperienced French PADI instructor still keen to get a variety of different dives under his belt.

There was 10 euro premium for a night dive, but experience has told me that it is money well spent. 

Calimera Reef was just outside the hotel gates and it at about 8 metres deep it's an ideal beginners site, but I had doubts about how good it would be. I can say with all honesty that it wasn't the best dive I've ever done, but it was pretty good.

It started well, in mostly daylight with a cuttlefish scuttling away from us towards reef fish looking for a place to hole up for the evening. As we continued reef fish gave way to sea cucumbers, octopus, moray eels, crustaceans and diadem sea urchins.

We stayed down for around an hour before slowly returning in dark to the entry point. It was then when the dive highlights presented themselves - a roaming stingray and a seahorse galloping across its rock home.

As we walked back to the hotel the Maxi suggested that he liked night diving, I agreed.

Octopus

Sea cucumber

Seahare

Moray Eeel

Scorpion fish

Seahorse

The Big Frewbowski & The Curious Case of the Missing Sock - 02/02/2017

Sunday's dive threw up a curious case of a missing Fourth Element Arctic sock. My initial theory was that I'd left it at Drishaig Reef last week. I convinced Jester that a return to the site was just what the Dr had ordered and explained about my lost sock. Inviting the Walkman along for the ride we met at Costa and headed up in what seemed to be storm like conditions.

Upon arrival in the I searched for the sock in the pouring rain before considering that it probably wasn't work the effort and opting to get changed in the car. Then just as we were heading into the water we entered the eye of the storm and a very sudden calm.

Now the Walkman hadn't ever seen a cuttlefish, a firework anemone or a thornback ray. The only thing we guaranteed was firework anemone's. 

The dive began slowly with a float down to around 30m, but it was on our return to the surface that real action happened. In total as a group we found:

• 3 thornback rays
• 2 cuttlefish
• 2 red gurnards
• >6 Firework anemones

In fact, I spent more time with thornback rays on the dive dive than I have in the preceding 360.

We returned to the surface somewhat astonished. I still haven't found the sock. The weather got worse as we dekitted.

I attach a trio of Jester original images of the three Thornback Rays.

Death Ray - 26/01/2017

As regular readers will know last week Jester and I were hampered in our attempt to dive Drishaig Reef. This week there were no such impediments to our plan. We arrived under the cover of darkness and dived.

As we kitted up I was wondering if this my first ever night dive at this site. Well, as it turns out it is indeed the first time I've ever dived it under the cover of darkness. Although I have dived it on a summers evening and on the odd occasion when the light has been unable to penetrate much beyond 10m. So tonight was a first.

The site itself is pretty unspectacular - a steep muddy entry to the beach, a small sparse rocky reef and a very silty bottom. Aside from being home to some of the most easily accessed firework anemones it doesn't have a great abundance of (interesting to me) sea life.

Tonight was a little different - as we know every dive site improves with the onset of night.

As we descended Jester scored first with what would ultimately be the winning goal when he spotted a young thornback ray. I shot back with a big sea scorpion, a cuttlefish and two red gurnards. However, Jester was not to be bettered when he countered with two nudibranch species and a mermaid's purse.

What made the dive interesting for me was that I took my UV torch with me, but not unfortunately my yellow mask screen. It was clear that a few things will fluoresce:

• Corkwing wrasse
• Firework anemones
• Cuttlefish
• Flabellina Lineatas

After 35 minutes I was starting to feel the cold having forgotton half of my undersuit. So we slowly made our way back to the surface and celebrated the sighting of what we affectionately called the Death Ray.

The following photographs are all Jester originals.....

Firework Anemone

Sea Scorpion

Thornback (Death) Ray

Mermaid's Purse

Road Works - 19/01/2017

With Captain Al and the Zookeeper deciding tonight wasn't their night to dive, Jester and I headed to Drishaig Reef only to find the lay-by filled with large truck. So it was an about turn toe St Catherines, Loch Fyne. 

Now I've dived this a lot recently and there are rarely surprises to be found here, but tonight turned out to be a real winner, especially for those who love the nudies. 

Between us we found three different species of seaslug/flatworm. However, it was the proliferation of flabellina lineata that was amazing. We easily spotted 15 (mostly small ones) in a location that only a week or so ago yielded barely one.

However, for me the dive highlight was introducing myself to a squat lobster. We briefly regarded one another, shook hands and went about our business. I feel in a week when the world is divided it was a metaphor - even the diver and a squatie can be pals. 

The same cannot be said for the squat lobster and the shore crab. Despite both being technically crabs they seem to enjoy fighting - a lot.

"The diver and the squat lobster regarded one another" by Jester

Free Fallin' - 20/10/2016

It was my 70th dive when I first got a real taste for night diving. My buddy was Mike Diver and while I'd done a few night dives that was the one where I found my confidence. From there diving with the Zookeeper made me the diver I am today and I passed that experience onto Jester.

I say this because Jester and I were talking about why so few people take the plunge at night despite perfect weather, sea conditions and more life. Anyway, that's their loss.

With the tide at the lowest we'd seen in a while, we briefly wondered where the loch went before stepping in and 'free fallin' down the ledge to10m.

It started well with the first of a few cuttlefish and a two types of nudibranch. We pottered about for around an hour before returning to the shore, the car and the timeless tunes of Tom Petty.  

Cuttlefish

Nudibranch

Nudibranch

Gurnards & Not So Fast Cars - 24/08/2016

With what seemed like the last glimpse of summer, the Zookeeper, Jester and I met up for a twilight dive in Loch Fyne. This wasn't our original plan, but parking at our chosen site was full. 

We kitted up in fast fading but brilliant sunshine, buddy checked on our march down the beach and skipped into the water. 

It seemed like the fates were with us as we landed on our first huge catshark of the day. I haven't seen one for a few months. So it was nice to reacquaint myself with an old friend.

As we continued down in search of an alleged firework anemone that Jester is convinced is down there, my torch caught a glimpse of what I think was a seal. Moments later there was a flurry of large fish swimming towards us using us for shelter. This confirmed my theory. However, the initial sighting never materialised into a full blown encounter, sadly.

Instead, we stumbled along the bottom chasing langoustine and gurnards before hitting the reef and heading up to the shallows. 

It was, however, catsharks that were the atars of the show as we encountered at least two and the largest one twice. They were very relaxed around us especially as Jester approached with his National Geographic-esque camera set up.

We emerged 67 minutes later, hampered by hunger and cold on my part, packed up and cruised home behind some not so fast cars. 'Twas a good night.

Catshark

Red Gurnard

Cushionstar

Catshark

End of the Night - 21/04/2016

With the Announcer requiring an early start and Jester working late (as always), the Zookeeper and I decided to dive twice with each of them at Conger Alley, Loch Long.

We kitted up and headed in, enjoying a dogfish and a few sea lemons as we pottered about. I'dforgotton half of my undersuit, but I really wasn't feeling the cold too much. We surfaced, switched tanks and, like a true wrestling tag team, the Announcer switched out for Jester who was waiting for us when we surfaced.

The second dive, was much the same, if a little deeper. With the exception of the reluctant appearance of a curled octopus. There were no Beryl related surprises to give Jester a scare.

However, the cold was starting to gnaw away at me. I was really feeling it. When I surfaced it was mostly dark, but there was enough ambient light to see the entry/exit. It was the end of the night diving season.

Catshark

Sea cucumber

Butterfish

Yarrell's Blenny

Day 1 - The Poseidon Adventure begins - 10/01/2016

The day began, as all liveaboards do, with a check dive. The reef (Poseidon) was pleasant, somewhat like an aquarium, but with nothing of any great interest. It was, afterall, a check dive.

It was to get better with a move to the Giannis D – one of the reasons for my trip.* The Giannis D ran aground and sunk in 1983 and has been sitting at a 45 degree angle confusing divers ever since. It's really quite disorientating, I personally began using my torch and bubbles  as a plumb line while penetrating. It's a great wreck and at a little more than 20m very accessible.

While inside the wreck we lost the Kingmaker amidst the dazzle of Royston's lights. Knowing he was no longer inside the wreck, the remaining three of us emerged and had a look for him. Now when you lose your buddy you tend to stick to standard buddy separation procedure, but on this occasion we asked ourselves what would the Kingmaker do? We took a gamble and headed to the shallower bow of the boat where we found him snuggled in like a cuckoo with another buddy pair - panic over, dive saved. It made me wonder though....

Our third and final dive of the day was a night dive on the Sha'ab Abu Nuhas reef itself. I took the opportunity to have some with an inexpensive UV torch I'd been given for Christmas. The down side was that this meant I'd have to dive with a yellow filter on my camera - something which I'd never done before. IT definitely messes with the white balance of the camera. As such I have no fluorescing photographs. I do, however, have some nice little video clips and some non UV but yellow filtered pictures of Spanish Dancers!

To add even more colour to the experience, the Kingmaker was using a red filter on his video light. Apparently, it doesn't scare the reef life quite as much and so you see a bit more on the dive.

Kingmaker

Hell's Kells

Fish & Coral

Giannis D bow

Porcupinefish

* I've done a Red Sea Liveaboard before and I have dived much of this itinerary before. However my last boat was wooden hulled and poor weather meant she wasn't able to make the crossing over to Sha'ab Abu Nuhas.

The Drysuit Cometh - 22/10/2015

Having ordered a new O'Three drysuit Saturday it had arrived by Thursday enabling a trip with the Zookeeper out to Loch Long and the A-Frames. The Aquatron school was out teaching the PADI Night Speciality (probably the most fun PADI Speciality if you are choosing to go down the PADI route).  

The nature of the night speciality training meant that with the minimum of alteration to our dive plan we could entirely avoid the training area. We did, admirably.  Circling round the far side of the big frame we encountered some nice feather stars and a couple of what I think are horseman anemones, I'm not really an expert.

From there it was down deeper and round for some feeding of Colin The-Conger. I'm not saying disaster struck, but from this point the dive was a bit downhill. Having forgotten to fully charge my Mares Eos10r I had a bit of a blackout. Switching torches meant that I spent the rest of the dive using an old torch with the same number of lumens as a roasted parsnip. I wasn't concerned. 

As I was leading us back, the Zookeeper offered me her primary, but it really wasn't worth it. I reckon I could get back to safety with no light at that sight. A challenge which I might attempt at some point.

During the safety stop I showed the Zookeeper some of my photos. They were pretty poor. In fact, some might say rotten. Anyway, that was enough to have us chuckling as we surfaced. Much to the bemusement of the Aquatron crew who wondered if we'd be eating the magic anenomes  around the site. Good times. Oh, and the drysuit? Very nice, very nice.

Horseman Anemone

Horseman Anemone

Feather star

Red Gurnard

Colin

The Last Days of Summer - 25/08/2015

The Mermaid and the Zookeeper were heading to the A-Frames. With them were two less experienced divers. I wasn't planning to dive as my mate was coming round to my house to collect some stuff much later in the evening. However, he came much earlier than anticipated. and left me twiddling my fingers at 6.30pm. 

A browse on Facebook meant I knew Hoddit and Doddit had just left Costa Coffee in Dumbarton and were heading up to the site for their first dive. I could make the second if I wanted. A quick look out the window and I noticed that it was one of the last days summer. I needed to take advantage this opportunity.

I arrived at the site to find three abandoned cars, a lot of midgies and bubbles making their way back to shore. I kitted up el pronto and got back in the car. The midgies were horrific. To escape them I went into the water early and waited there while the rest endured their surface intervals. 

The sun had set by the time we went underwater and I was tasked with leading us down to the 'big frame' which I did while keeping a close eye on the least experienced in our group. With just 12 dives under his belt, but he was performing admirably. I never really took many pictures, but we did see a few lobsters. 

Bubbles

This guy!

200 - 22/11/2014

When I first started diving I was told by an instructor that th majority of people who invest the time and the money to learn to dive never get beyond 100 dives. I was alsways going to get a least that far purely on the basis of getting my monies worth out of my kit.  However three years later it was time for dive 200.

We moored in the south lagoon of Tiran Island for our night dive and were to dive the large pinnacle the boat as moored to.

I donned my special shorts. We danced, kitted up and I lead my honour guard out into the water off the back of the boat. The stride entry was perfect, though as I hit the water I realised one of my Seawing Novas had broken. This was an ominous beginning. I threw it back on to the boat and was handed a replacement for the dive.

As we dropped to around 10m we practically landed on top of a large free swimming Moray Eel that was ultimately to accompany us for the most of the dive. We swam through the dark to the pinnacle where most of the group headed round in a clockwise direction while the Zookeeper and I went clockwise as per our dive guides onboard instructions. Not that it made a difference, but I did like the moment when we went from being on our own to swimming towards the larger troop. It was all very James-Bond-underwater-fight-scene-esque.

I never took pictures, but I did shoot some video. It made me realise I really need a proper videolight.

When I got back aboard I discovered that one of the wee guys that helps you to kit up had given me Smooth Criminals fins instead of my own. He'd broken one earlier in the week. So that was £100 saved. Perhaps I can put that towards a video light to celebrate my 200th dive. :)

Thanks to Aquatron for the shorts and Total TeamWear Scotland for the numbering. Also a big shout out to the guard of honour. I had a blast!!!!

Here Comes the Night - 07/10/2014

Today, in Glasgow, the sun set at 18:37. That meant one thing - tonight was my first night dive of the coming winter.

I've you've never dived at night you are missing out on the one of the best diving experiences. As long as you're armed with a decent torch, a backup torch and, if both you and your buddy agree, a strobe* then you're pretty much ready to go .

For night diving in Scotland I currently use:

• Mares 10R (primary)
• Subgear SP30 (back-up)
• Tektite Strobe

My first night dive was on the 10th January, 2013 at Finnart. Since then I've probably done about 50 night dives. Meaning that night dives account for a little less than a third of my dives.  However, as I've said this was my first of the new night diving season. :) For the benefit of those readers not from Scotland, Scotland has very long days in the summer meaning that between May and September night diving is a little impractical. Although, in the winter you get just 8 hours of daylight, making it a cold water night diving paradise for seven months of the year!

Tonight we (the Mermaid, Fast Ed and I  headed for Seal Reef, St Catherine's, Loch Fyne. 

The drive down to the loch was spectacular as the sun set over loch. Arriving at the site a little later than planned the Mermaid and I apologised to Fast Ed and blamed everyone else except ourselves.

Entering the water in the dark it became clear that, in the shallows at least, the visibility was poor - less than 2m.   However, as we descended down the slope it opened up to a beautiful 5-6m or as far as your torch could penetrate.

We went down to the speedboat and then turned to the reef. I had promised the guys that the strip of sand between the boat and the reef was Cuttlefish Central. It didn't disappoint. At least two cuttlefish were spotted and papped along with a docile pipefish.

Now, I'm glad a few weeks ago I began to experiment with macros, because having never been able to spot nudibranchs in the past it is as though the scales have fallen from my eyes. I now see them everywhere. Including in my sleep which can't be normal.

Anyway, I digress! As I was photographing the 2nd nudi you can see below I heard the rattle of the Mermaids shaker. Prior to the dive she had told us she'd only shake for something special or being in danger. She had found a large scorpionfish. 

I went over and began snapping away....."Work it, oh yeah, give me just a little more, yeah that's it, uh huh, you're a monkey, you're a tree, yeah baby!"

Then just as I was getting the money shot, something swam from beneath my belly that none of us had noticed - a second scorpionfish. Well, I'm man enough to admit I yelped with fright much to the delight of Fast Ed and the Mermaid. 

We then headed back to shore,but not before I noticed a weird purple plankton bloom from 3m up. I tried to take a picture of it but it came out totally rubbish.

54 minutes, 21 metres and a whole lot of fun in the dark.

The sun sets

Cuttlefish

Pipefish

Nudibranch

Nudibranch & sea squirt

Scorpionfish

Spider crab (sea toad)

* Not everyone likes using a strobe and some think it can be detrimental to your night diving experience, particularly in tropical waters. The one thing I would say is that here in Scotland I have on occasion lost sight of my buddy and her torch in dark, poor visibility, but I've still been able to hear and see the strobe.