New Frontiers - 17/01/2020

Well, my new Mares XR Extreme Undersuit arrived. I sent a buddy to collect it for me from Aquatron. I had planned to dive in it slightly earlier than I did, but in the end Craig and I chose to dive an undocumented dive site on the western side of Loch Fyne.

The site was far less important than the dive. I set my self up with a thin baselayer and put on my new Starfleet uniform then my drysuit. I deliberately did not use my Mares XR Heated Vest. I wanted to see how I'd fair in just the undersuit.

The site was near the mouth of a river so it was always going to be cool at this time of year, but at 8c for most of the dive it wasn't too bad.

We headed down the muddy slope roughly descending at a rate of one metre per minute. Maxing out at around 30m, we turned and headed back at the same rate, stopping at 5m for a safety stop in cooler 6c water.

I emerged cool, but far warmer than I otherwise would of expected. By comparison, my buddy was physically shaking. So it must of worked.

Previously I've used Fourth Element arctics which I don't think is an entirely fair comparison. a better comparison would be the hard to find Arctic Expedition one piece, but I can say that I was far warmer in the new Mares suit.

Likes

• Deep hand warmer pockets
• Left and right catheter holes (useful depending what way you *coughs* tuck)
• Comfortable low collar 
• Nice length sleeves that match the drysuit
• Smooth material for ease of pulling on your drysuit
• Compared to my old suit it's a one piece which means the top doesn't ride up

Dislikes

• My only dislike is that it is bulkier around the calves and than my previous undersuit, but those who don't skip leg day may appreciate the extra capacity

Verdict

👍👍👍👍👍

As for the dive?

A feast of firework anemones and highland dancer nudibranchs, but not much else to report. I won't be rushing back.

Pachycerianthus Multiplicatus

Pleurobranchus Membranaceus

In the shop

Kitting up

At First Glance - 29/08/2018

I noticed while out for a walk with Gill - a quite unremarkable slipway. Clearly, rarely used. There was no dive guide on Finstrokes, or any other site for that matter. I had hoped it would be a decent training site. What we saw was in the end quite surprising. 

I'd taken Jester to see the site to see if he thought it was worth a dive. It was night and the weather was a bit miserable but he thought it was it too. So, we kitted up buddy checked and headed along the slipper rocks.

We descended through a halocline to about 3m and followed the slope down on a reasonable straight line using a compass*. 

We passed a few fish before spotting our first langoustine at around 7m, our first firework anemone at 10m and then many more. We swam out for around 30 minutes, both of us hoping for a ray sighting. A catshark hunting a langoustine, a sea mouse, more firework anemones.

Then as we started back towards the entry exit point we saw one. A lovely big thornback ray. Back on the surface we emerged entirely satisfied before heading off to find some food..

 

* It was dark and night time. I learnt the lesson a long time ago that in such situations on unfamiliar sites a compass is a thoroughly decent bit of kit to have on your person.

Northern Promise (1) - 17/08/2017

When I suggest to Midge (a diver that the Kingmaker and I met on our last trip to Egypt) that he comes to Scotland to dive I promised a number of things that he'd be able to do, dive and see.

When anyone comes to visit me in Scotland I want them to leave with a good impression. I'm proud of where I'm from. As such I gave Midge some options. He and Miss Hayes (his carer on his first adventure north of Glasgow) chose Anchor Point and Drishaig Reef for day one. Anchor Point was chosen because it is a scenic wall dive and Drishaig Reef because of the firework anemones and potential to see thornback rays.

The weather was always going to be mixed but the dry spells held out long enough for us to have a good time.

We kitted up at Anchor Point with both my Anglo companions already in awe of the scenery at the surface. Impressing them was going to be easy. :)

As we went down Miss Hayes seemed to be having a problem with her BCD, with Midge unable to fix a problem that I'd already noticed, I quickly sorted it. I think it helped her trust me as a guide. After all, she hadn't ever met me before and I could tell they were concerned about depth being that most of their UK shore dives were about 6m.

We went down and I instantly spotted two conger eels (something that was on Midge's list of wanna sees) and a large strawberry deeplet anemone. We pottered about looking at the array sea stars that were on show. We surfaced yards from our entry point. From then on they were hooked on Scottish shore diving.

Our second dive took us across to Drishaig Reef where I guaranteed them the opportunity to see firework anemones  and the potential of thornback rays. Sadly I failed on the thornback ray front....today.

I left them to head north to their campsite while I raced back to Glasgow to get our tanks refilled for day two.

Midge enjoys the view

My Word is my Bond - 14/06/2017

When I offered to take Captain Al to Drishaig Reef I promised him three things:

1. a steep descent from the car to the shore
2. firework anemones
3. the potential of some thornback rays.

Captain Al had never dived this site, as many people haven't, it is not a desperately interesting place. In the main, it is a large silt bed, requiring good buoyancy and finning. I purposely under sold it as a place to dive and oversold the treachery of the slope - in fairness, it is pretty treacherous.

However, despite the slope, the Captain was pleasantly surprised by the ease of entry in his twinset, and also by the pebble beach as a spot for a BBQ.

We buddy checked and headed in to the amusement of some non-diving muggles up in the lay-by, Once under, we'd be down about 5 minutes when the first Thornback Ray popped up, then, while Captain Al was following it for a picture, another appeared. I felt vindicated knowing full well that firework anemones were a certainty.

No sooner had the excitement of the rays dissipated when we encountered the first firework anemone. An attempt to steady himself meant that Captain Al accidentally disturbed the anemone and it closed it up. However, at this site it isn't a problem - a short swim and we had a few more.

We turned back, both of us slowly leaking in the neck. Just as we were about to safety stop a third ray appeared.

As we ascended the slope to the car I felt like a man who's word is his bond.

Ray number 2

Anemone

Clair de Lune - 09/02/2017

Sometimes, on a clear night, it can seem as though you are living in perpetual twilight. This can be especially true on those evenings when the lochs are bathed in the "clair de lune". 

Tonight saw the Kingmaker dive for the first time since he last dived with me on the El Minya in January 2016. In fact, his last coldwater dive was even further back in 2015. He chose St Catherine's as his site to do a nice tropical check dive. I say tropical - I mean, of course, baltic, but the poor chap didn't want to hear it. He stubbornly refused to believe that the water would be anything less than 13c. Oh well.

We kitted up, checked everything was in working order and headed in. The vis wasn't great but we eventually found the boat and made our way to the reef where we spotted a million nudibranchs. At one point I swam into a large cloud of silt that hadn't emanated from either of us. It made feel that we weren't alone in the water - I suspected a seal, a ninja seal.

As we emerged, Jester was waiting for to join us on the second dive. The Kingmaker was sufficiently cold by that time to know that he didn't to go again. The bellwether being the fact that when he slunk off for a pee he could barely find his 'chap' - a challenge at the best of times I'm told.

So off I went again, doing the same dive with Jester. Again we struggled to find the boat, but instead found the legendary St Cat's firework anemone. I reckon I could find it again too. Nudibranchs and butterfish were the order of the day yet again. 

On this dive Jester too thought he spotted a seal in the distance and that was without me mentioning what I had seen on the first dive.

We emerged onto the beach with the loch bathed in moonlight. Had I not been with Jester and the Kingmaker it could have been quite romantic. It is, afterall, the season for it!

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

Bonfire(work anemones) - 02/06/2016

Sometimes life throws you a few curve balls, above and below the surface. Today was one such day. Myself, The Zookeeper, The Announcer and Jester headed tentatively to the Council Yard for a beach BBQ and dive. I say tentatively because the A82 had been shut for most of the day, but had thankfully reopened by the time we got there. However, as we left the A82 to join the A83 a traffic board said it would be closed for our return journey. In any event, this didn't happen either.

We arrived at the Council Yard and got to work building our fire - I say "we", I really mean the Zookeeper - and a sterling job she did too. By the time Jester arrived the burgers were on and food poisoning was on the cards for all of us! :)

The real challenge of the evening was keeping the fire going. The recent dry spell had meant that the ground was baked and the wood all tinder dry and burning fast. Still, the wood collecting kept us busy.

Underwater it never exactly went to plan as either as a descent at a wrong angle meant that we found ourselves in an area of seabed that none of us had ever explored. It was pretty barren silty stuff, but it was the ideal habitat for firework anemones and langoustines and there were loads. 

However, as we progressed I started to sense that I was losing my sense of direction, so having forgotten my compass I borrowed The Announcers - Auntie is always prepared! 

The ascent threw us into the path of a lovely little catshark and a scorpion fish. So, it all ended well.

Finally, at the surface, Mother Nature threw one last curve ball. On the beach - a site specifically chosen for its westerly wind - the wind and smoke from our fire disappeared unleashing Scotlands's miniature hellhounds - the highland midge. It was time for a quick dekit and drive home.

Sun baked ground

The fire

Firework Anemone

Catshark

Scorpionfish

When Life Gives You Sea Lemons... - 18/02/2016

So, as the old saying goes, when life gives you sea lemons make sea lemonade! Or something like that. 

Tonights diving adventure was held at the Council Yard, Loch Fyne. This site is actually a little bereft of life, but every time I've dived it it has thrown up a couple of nice things. This time, with the Zookeeper, was no different.

The dive started badly with the zookeeper, switching undersuits and was hopelessly buoyant. We decided discretion was the better part of valor and she headed back to the car for some extra weight. Eventually after about 10-15 minutes in the cold surface water we went down. 

We followed the edge of the reef out into the middle of the loch, where at about 30m it ends. At this point I shone my torch a little deeper and spotted the firework anemone. It was the first point in the dive when I thought , 'yeah, I'll take a picture of that'.

As I said, the reef is a little lifeless, but I always seem to get decent visibility here and I quite enjoy some navigational challenges. 

At 31m and a couple of minutes from deco we turned and headed back up to the shallows. It was on route here when I spotted my first ever Sea Lemon. I've seen them before, but always spotted by someone else. My first solo spot for the sea slug win!

When we got to the surface Jester was there, but Neither the Zookeeper or I could face a second dive in the cold. I offered my apologies and we went to the pub where, by way of apology, I bought the chips.

Firework Anemone

Sea lemon

Cushion star

Friday Night Lights - 06/11/2015

Jester was so taken with our dive last night thay was wanting to return to St Catherine's to visit my other known firework anemone in the vicinity at 30m. However, while  I guided us to it. It wasn't the star of the show. There were other lights.

In particular, the waves produced by the westerly wind meant that the shoreline sparkled with bioluminescence while the milk way glistened above. Quite a spectacular start to any dive. 

Once we went down we found an assortment of nightlife including our friends the cuttlefish, pipefish and stickleback. Oh, and my firework anemone for a belated Guy Fawkes Night.

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

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

Return To Deeper Reef - 19/02/2015

In the post The Dive That Never Was I explained that the Kingmaker led me to a new part of Seal Reef which I'd never been to before. Tonight, armed with my 15l tank and Fast Ed as a buddy, we decided to return to the same bit of the reef.

On entry we encountered three emerging divers who told us to persevere with the poor visibility as it improved greatly beyond 10m. They weren't wrong. As we dropped through the halocline the visibility went from around 1-2m up to 4-5m. We turned and headed for the main reef, aided by a swift moving current which made light work of the swim. I appreciated this given I was still stiff from football and circuit training two days earlier.

We ecountered the second reef. The life on it was much the same as the main reef, but it was nice to explore new nooks and crannies. As we bottomed out at 32m we bumped into a nice little firework anemone (pictured below), then a large amount of rope. By this stage we were approaching deco (decompression limits, not the Portuguese footballer) so we began making our journey home doing a deep stop for good measure.

Once again, the current had turned and we were ably assisted back to our entry stopping for a few photographs on the way.  

On the surface we looked at our computers. While both Fast Ed and I have been considerably deeper we both recorded high average depths for the dive of over 18m. Even on some of my deepest dives beyond 40m I haven't recorded such a high average depth.

As we emerged we found more divers arriving. Sergeant Chris and The Wolf (so named because of a fancy dress costume he wore at Halloween one time). We shared some chuckles before Ed and I headed back to the Malt & Myre for a meal*. Good times.

The hungry scallop

Firework anemone

Firework anemone

Rope

Cushion star

* No matter what you order, even if it is just a bowl of chips or a glass of cola, the waitress always says, "Enjoy your meal". For no particular reason this always tickles Ed and I who like to think that with the addition of sauce and vinegar on the chips we have a three course meal.

Scuba Doo and the Mysteries of the Deep (Halloween Special) - 30/10/2014

The following is based on true events*. Caution, contains paragraphs of extended peril.

As part of our preparation for our pending trip to Egypt the Zookeeper and I have decided to do a few deep dives to build up our depth resistance. When I say 'deep' I mean over 30m - not 18m-30m  which PADI defines as a deep dive. To us, that's just a dive. However, tonight was the night before All Hallows Eve when everything in this land of ancient lochs, mountains and glens is creepier and the veil between this world and the other is at its thinnest.

The devil tank

Meeting at Aquatron there were some strange happenings. Noises in the attic of the shop, unexplained bumps. AVL was spooked, Gentle Ben was spooky (let's be honest he's always a little creepy) and Bret had a very sensible explanation. 

After considering a few options the Zookeeper and I headed off into the night. Recent weather had caused landslips on a number of key roads to some of our favourite sites, it seemed that fate was pointing us to Loch Long and the A-Frames. The drive was lengthened by thick fog banks and mysterious military vehicles.

Old Man Creeperson's House

When we got to the site, it was dark and fog was hanging menacingly over the loch. I had built my kit up previously and as I got my own kit out of the car I looked round to sea the Zookeepers scuba set hissing and glowing a devilish red. Meanwhile two workers at Old Man Creeperson's house emerged, boarded a clattering boat and steamed out into the fog and gloom. We never saw them again.

While buddy checking, we discovered that only I had a backup light (which wasn't ideal). It didn't change our pre-dive plan though. Dive to the big frame, head down past the deep frame then keep going to a maximum depth of 35m. Once we were in the water the dive was going to plan until we hit 30m when my my primary torch failed - for a moment I was engulfed in darkness. This meant switching to my backup. Now, with no backup lights left between us we took the sensible decision to turn back.

Having encountered our old friend Davey Jones the Cuttlefish and what the Zookeeper told me was a school of whiting on the way down. The mysteries of the deep began to attack!

First the shrimp swarmed to our dive lights, attempting to penetrate our masks and regulators. Then a firework anemone exploded before us. Then came the the attack of the killer catshark. Fighting them off with just our cameras we escaped to the shallows. Butj ust as we thought we had reached safety the ebbing tide and down current attempted to haul us to a watery hell, but we fought against it, finning for our lives. The deep would not take us.

Dekitting and packing the car we drove off. As we sped to safety all I could here was the rattle of something outside the car. I had heard the story of The Hook before. I knew how this could go down. I stopped ina parking bay, walked round the car and then.......

Fear not readers, I still got home in plenty of time to write this so clearly nothing bad actually happened....to me. Anyway, back to  account....

....I saw the Zookeepers mobile phone charger hanging from the door. What a klutz!

As it's Halloween, if you genuinely want a scuba scare, I thoroughly recommend this little vimeo. One Last Dive.

*All events have been exaggerated.  

Davey Jones the Cuttlefish

Firework Anemone

Catshark