Mind the Gap - 28/12/2018

The gap between Christmas and New Year is a sacred time when divers who:

a: wish to off gas excess turkey & trimmings
b: are full of festive cheer
c: climbing the walls with boredom

...can all get together and have a wee dive.

We had a fairly meaty group of six divers who all went in and out safely. There is little to say about it. Other than in his excitement to show me a pipefish, the trainee I took in unleashed a tsunami of silt that obscured half the loch. :)

Apeks RK3 Test Dive - 15/01/2019

Apeks RK3

Despite sounding a little like a droid from a Star Wars film and also being the actual name of a blaster used by the Galactic Empire, Apeks RK3 are the latest fin offering from Apeks. Designed for the rough and tumble of the US Military, they are based on the pretty standard vented rubber fins popular among military, professional and technical divers.

As a club, Eastwood Divers decided to spend some cash on new fins. We bought three pairs of Scubapro Seawing Novas and three pairs of RK3s (as a starter) to allow members to try different fins before they jump in and spend the best part of £100 on their own purchase. As I happened to be diving with Gusto Leo and the Barrman on the day when the Barrman picked up the fins from the local dive shop I opted to try out the RK3s fresh from the box at Conger Alley.

I'm a Scubapro Seawing Nova user, so this type of fin is a little different for me and I'm predominantly a frog kicker due the silty bottoms I dive in. On my dive I did helicopter turns, some reverse finning, took a few photos and tried frog kicking along with standard flutter kicking. So, here's what I liked and didn't like. 

PROS

• Helicopter turns were very easy, helped by a shorter blade length than I am used to 
• Reverse finning was super easy, which helped reduce silt after stopping to take a photograph 
• The short blade also meant that flutter kicks threw up less silt than a Scubapro Seawing Nova would 
• They seemed pretty robust, and the length was certainly more compact than my existing fins 

CONS

• Frog kicking lacked power compared to my Seawings 
• Seawings are super easy to put on, RK3s aren't bad, but they certainly aren't as easily donned and doffed. 

OTHER CONSIDERATIONS

• We've bought the standard RK3. As a regular shore diver I was pleased to see they float. It means you can walk in wast deep, let go of a fin put one and then easily grab the other. If you want a heavier, negatively buoyant fin consider shelling out a little extra wedge and buying the RK3 HD. 
• Apeks also have a very generous instructor discount 

Am I going to buy a pair for myself? Well, mibbe but that doesn't mean I'm a convert, it just means I can see the advantages of them for different dives. Let's be honest every gentleman spy / scuba diver should have more than one tuxedo or pair of fins . :)

Oh, and as for the dive, it turned out to be thoroughly decent...

Carronella Pellucida 

Sepiola Atlantica 

Firework Anemone 

Facelina Bostoniensis 

Bloody Henry 

The Worm that Turned - 23/12/2018

After an overnight at the side of Loch Creran, a group of us gathered alongside our new friend Terry Griffiths to dive the Queenie Reef. My first dive of the day was with Jester. Our intention was to hunt for Serpula vermicularis. We found them, but they proved difficult to photograph as the slightest vibrations had them turning for cover.

I could tell the wee bandits were irking Jester too. Still, it was nice way to finish up diving for Christmas.

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.

Deepest Night - 05/12/2018

I'm not depth junkie, although those who only ever dive to 20m say that I am. Meanwhile those who dive regularly below 50m just laugh at the absurdity that I might be. However, I do enjoy taking people deeper than they've gone before, especially at night. They seem to be thrilled at the end of the night. So when I took StewPatz and Freeflow Bob for a 31m night dive at the A-Frames I was quite tickled.

It almost never happened when one of our divers, I shan't say 'Stew', forgot fins and his weightbelt, but somehow we cobbled together enough weight and a spare pair of fins from nowhere.

We kitted up and headed spotting some cracking life:

• a snake blennie
• a cuttlefish
• deeplet anemones
• firework anemones
• nudibranchs

We emerged, delighted with out hall and two divers thrilled that they'd done more than 31m at night.

Diving with D - 10/12/2018

Diving with the Big Easy is always a straightforward affair. You kit up, go into the water and then you dive. Tonight was no different. Except we lost one another about 20 minutes into the dive. The vis wasn't bad, we just couldn't find each other. We both surfaced slowly knowing both of us had bail out gasses and were self sufficient should any air incidents occur.

At the surface we regrouped and continued our dive. Simple.