Poseidon's Parlour: Starry Starry Night

Friday 14 November 2014

Starry Starry Night - 14/11/2014

In my final installment before I head to Egypt myself, the Announcer and Fast Ed headed up to Loch Fyne and the Council Yard.

As regular readers will know I had been here once before with the Zookeeper as part of an exploratory dive back in August. However, a chance encounter with Lobsterman in Aquatron a couple of weeks ago meant that I had a conversation about the site. He explained about the main boulder reef and a wall to the right. My own experience had taken us down, but in the opposite direction to a shallower smaller reef. My resolve was set I was going to find this reef and wall. Moreover, Aquatron's very own Ace, suggested that there was some fun rubble and a table to be found also. Sadly for Ed and the Announcer they were my virgin site buddies.

We kitted up in some pretty miserable rain and headed in veering slightly to the right. Hitting the table just as Ace had said. We pottered about looking at various edible crabs and dabs then headed down deeper. The visibility incidentally was excellent (6m).

Following a rope we stumbled across the lobster creel and tail of the small reef I'd encountered on a previous dive. Then trusting Lobsterman's advice we went along, staying at 20m I led our band out into the nothingness of the seabed hoping for the boulder reef. Then just when it I was getting a little forlorn I saw it. It was actually quite impressive - far bigger then I expected. We pottered about it until one of his hit 100 bar and then we worked our way back to the shore.

Saw some nice stuff too, Brittle stars, scorpionfish, mackerel, cod, scallops etc. Worth some more exploration. I've made a crap map of what I now think the site looks like.

However, the real highlight came at the end/ As we finally emerged, the clouds had cleared and we enjoyed an unspoilt view of the Milky Way and numerous shooting stars. It was spectacular affair.