Thursday 27 October 2016

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

Wednesday 19 October 2016

Giant Shark vs Mega Octopus - 18/10/2016

With the Mermaid determined to get a few more twinset dives under her belt before heading up to Scapa for a liveaboard with her teckie other half, we headed to Loch Long and Conger Alley for a couple of day dives.

It was to be two dives defined by two creatures often featured in B-rate horror movies including Giant Shark vs Mega Octopus. However, neither encounter was as one would expect in the world of bad cinema.

The first dive saw us head down to 25m. While en route down the Mermaid was scanning with her torch when I caught a glimpse of the octopus. I was surprised at first, I've never seen one in Scotland during the day. I signalled to Avril and we stopped to watch this deep sea monster before moving on to enjoy the congers, wrasse, lobsters etc.

The journey back was a little eventful with the Mermaid being slightly under weighted. I'd gone down a little overweighted to compensate, which proved to be useful as I held her down on the safety stop. That's what buddies are for.

The second dive saw us go in looking for an illusive firework anemone, but instead turned up a gentle catshark along with the usual reef life.

Great fun.

Just hanging around

Leaving

Smurf

Conger Eel

Catshark

Wednesday 12 October 2016

The Return of Fast Ed - 09/10/2016

Chuck Norris
With my chest infection all but cleared up, I took the opportunity to join the Something For The Weekend Group down to Capernwray. As always they had an absurdly early start. I mean we met at Fast Ed's new gaff at 6.15am. It is a well documented fact that I don't like early starts. Even in Starbucks I don't have the energy to say my real name. I chose Chuck. Fast Ed chose Norris for the win.

With that, our little band (Captain Al, Fast Ed, Jester and The Jackal - so named because is an international man of mystery) headed south.

The weather was fair and with Captain Al and The Jackal test driving new things myself, Fast Ed and Jester teamed up as a buddy three.

The dive, Fast Ed's first Capernwray, took us from the plane to the Podsnap, to the pig gnomes, to Helo 2 and up to famous Devil and other shallow attractions. In all honesty, I found it pretty dull. Even the new addition of albino sturgeon couldn't save the day. However, it was good to visit my Ninja Gnome, who after a while is starting to wear.

After lunch while kitting up Jester ripped his drysuit cuff. Being noble and the site slightly dull I kept him company on the surface while the others went in for another potter about.

Ninja Gnome

Pig Gnome

Albino Sturgeon

Devil

Fast Ed