Anemone of the State - 27/06/2015

So with the weather looking fair, Jester and I decided to go out and photograph different types of anemone. Our first and what was to be our last dive of the day was at Drishaig Reef, Loch Fyne. As we kitted up and headed in we joined briefly by Phil Cunningham - the legendary Scottish folk musician. We chuckled as we entered the water.

Heading down to 30m we noticed a very distinct thermocline as the temperature dropped from an almost tropical 14c to 8c at about 6m. The temperature change wouldn't just have an affect on our extremities, but also Jesters camera which was suffering from condensation.

Enjoying the langoustine and firework anemones we bumbled along for 30 minutes before cold got the better of us. Heading up, we passed back through the thermocline. It was like stepping into a warm bath and made the safety stop very nice indeed.

On the surface the real action happened. Jester was coming out of his drysuit when he ripped his wrist seal. The diving was over for the day, but we still met big Phil.

Firework anemone

Firework anemone

Langoustine

Adventures in Roofing - 20/06/2015

With the promise of decent tide times and higher than 6mph winds versus a midge Forecast of 5 (the highest it gets), myself Jester and Dave Lee Arbuckle  headed up to Loch Leven with the intention to dive the Slates and Manse Point.

Now according to the Finstrokes guide, Manse Point should be dived at slack water and we had planned to be there by 7.30pm to dive it at that time. However, the traffic up the side of Loch Lomond and through Glen Coe was so bad that we couldn't do both dives. Instead we plumped for two at the Slates with a BBQ in between.

Dive one saw us enter at my usual exit point and exit where I'd normally enter. With the tide on a flood it was great as it meant that we a had a gentle current carrying us round the point. The visibility was good with a nice array of the usual critters. Including:

• Cuckoo wrasse
• Catsharks
• Sunstars (northern and common)
• Ballan wrasse

With the wind making for a nice midge- blasting breeze we started up the BBQ and enjoyed a feast of rolls 'n' sausage and burgers with cheese, spring onions and DLA's favourite chilli mayo. Apparently, it's the 'every meal' mayo of choice.

Dive two was meant to see us dive round the second point, pausing to photograph the wrecks of an old barge and rowing boat, but a muddle at the dive shop had meant that my second tank hadn't been filled and only had the 100 bar of air left from my previous dive with the tank. As such I plopped in with the guys for 5 minutes before exiting the water and leaving them to enjoy the rest of the dive. A bit of a wasted trip for me, but the guys had fun.

As we dekitted the wind died down and the Highland terrors descended en masse. We made a quick exit.

With Friends Like These Who Needs Anemones - 13/06/2015

Diving at the A-Frames wasn't really the dive I wanted to do this weekend, but it was where we ended up. Myself Jester and Captain Al met up with the Chuckle Brothers of underwater photography.

We dived as a three and had planned to go down to 30+m on the first dive, but mask troubles and an an uncomfortable testing of a pony configuration had meant Captain Al sensibly wasn't risking it. We passed from Frame to Frame before heading up having passed a few nice little critters in the water.

Dive two was to be the more eventful of the two. Our plan remained the same as the first assuming everyone felt comfortable. So off we went to dive down.

It was all going to plan and Captain Al led us down to the large frame before we turned and headed deeper. His initial target was what we call the deep frame, but he headed off on the wrong heading. A mistake which was to ultimately make the dive far more interesting.

As we veered off course we came over a part of the site that I've never been to. There were a number of excellent deeplet and firework anemones. which had I not been waiting for new Moisture Munchers I'd have photographed. Jester was trying to photograph them but the jet wash of a fast finning, excited Captain Al meant that:

1. silt was making for poor photographs
2. we'd have been separated as a group in the limited visibility

While bridging the gap between us I suggested to Jester that he leave them for now and follow Al to our doom or at least the end of the dive. :)

After the dive Jester and I discussed it. We'll go back soon with the sole purpose of photographing the anemone garden.

Deeply Dippy - 09/06/2015

Despite having tolerated the Kingmaker for two dives on Sunday it seems that I was to endure a few more hours of his chat this evening as we headed up to Loch Fyne for a cheeky sunny, Tuesday night dive. 

When we arrived, the gentle breeze ensured that the midgies were kept at bay.that made the kit up very pleasant indeed. Hitting the water first the Kingmaker declared visibility of about 10m, but the reality was that was looking horizontally above the halocline. Below it, the water cooled drastically to 8c and the vis fell to 7m, but it was dark.

We finned down, passing a nice Yarrells Blenny swimming out in the open. I went to take picture, but it seems my camera had some condensation on the inside. So I'll need to replace the moisture munchers. As such there are no photographs.

We continued down to just beyond 38m where I now reckon my nitrogen narcosis fuzzy fun feelings kick in, but only mildly. That's three dives that I've started to feel the same sense of fun at about the same depth. 

It was a nice night, a decent dive and the moisture munchers have been ordered.

The Crutch - 07/06/2015

When the Kingmaker asked if I'd join him and Dr Gore as potential crutch for Dr Gore's return to coldwater diving. I was flattered. As it was, I was pretty redundant - except for my position as fin helper on and off because one of us (coughs, the Kingmaker) was too lazy to change fin straps. We dived two sites in Loch Fyne - Drishaig Reef and Seal Reef en route home.

I haven't dived Drishaig Reef in ages. It's a very silty site with little life beyond the spectacular array of firework anemones and, like many people, I often disregard it for a quick dip. 

Wait....did I just type that right? "A spectacular array of firework anemones."  Yes. A freakin' forrest of one of the most beautiful anemones in Scottish waters. We even got blase' as we skipped from anemone to anemone judging them for photographic purposes as though it were a beauty pageant.

We had a great dive. It included:

• Catsharks
• Langoustine
• Firework anemones
• Highland dancers
• Flabellinas
• Great vis beyond an initial halocline

The second dive was pretty good too. delivering a nice selection of local wildlife and the thought of what the collective name is for a pair of Highland dancers. I'm going for a breast of highland dancers. Thoughts and answers on a postcard to the comments section below.

Firework anemone

Sneaky catshark

Firework anemone

Flabellina lineata

Highland dancer

Yarrell's blenny

Highland dancer

Wet lensed lovers

Baw Deep - 04/06/2015

Here in Scotland we have a phrase - 'baw deep'. It's a coarse turn of phrase with an overtly sexual content. It represents the natural limits of coitus. It has also come to be used in common parlance as term for very deep. For example in Scotland you might hear a conversation such as follows: 

• Person 1 "See that Davie, he's been done by the polis."
• Person 2 "Ooft, he's in the sh*t now!"
• Person 1 "Aye, baw deep"

To Translate into common English:

• Person 1 " Davie has been arrested."
• Person 2 "Oh dear, he's in trouble now."
• Person 1 "Yes, deep trouble."

In diving parlance, it would therefore be appropriate to describe a dive to the edge on ones limit and experience as being baw deep.

You see, both my self and the Zookeeper are qualified to 40m, but as she is the jealous sort, she envies the fact that my computer has registered a 40m dive and hers has not. Tonight the plan was to journey down to 40m so that she could log a limit equaling 40m dive.

We chose Seal Reef, St Catherines largely because we knew we could get the depth, it was familiar and it would have better visibility than any of the easy depth sites in Loch Long. 

We arrived just before two other entirely untrustworthy diver - Sergeant Chris and the Smooth Criminal. They were hunkering down for a night of beach spooning and male bonding with cups of tea and a BBQ. In fairness, it was a nice night for it.

A nice night for beach spooning and male bonding

Regardless, myself and the Zookeeper kitted up keeping company with the pair of them and headed into the water.

We dived straight down, passing some nice Highland Dancers but nor stopping to take a photograph to prolong our bottom time. We skirted the edge of the reef and continued our dive catching the tail end of the second reef at about 37m. We then turned and went straight. With the Zookeeper on my left I stopped at 39.5 m. Meaning that I reckoned she'd be registering around 40m. She did (40.2m). We were baw deep.

We headed for the surface at a more sedate pace, pausing to enjoy the sea pens, sea cucumbers and langoustine before heading over to the main reef. 

I was testing out some new gloves. which weren't great for taking pictures. As such I only took a couple of snaps.

Sea cucumber

Langoustine