You Dive and Learn and Dive Again - 6/2/2014

It is clear that the lure of Glen Douglas Road End, Loch Long as a dive site is unequivocal. The troop consisted of Me, Laura Ed, Sergeant Chris, Ally, Pat G & Grant. We were kind of like a platoon of crack Navy Seals, without any discernible skillset. As Ally and Pat were both ScotSAC divers from my club they buddied up, as did Chris and Ed, while Laura and I double teamed Grant and went in as a three.

Glen Douglas Road End (yes, the site is at the end of the road through Glen Douglas from Loch Lomond to Loch Long, though technically it's called Tulloch Road) is an interesting site in that it is home to cuttlefish, firework anemones and scorpion fish. In addition, it benefits from a number of fairly steep drop-offs so divers can get a lot of depth very quickly in a pretty safe environment. The only real downside to the site is access. There is no Finstrokes guide.

Accessing the site begins with kitting up, crossing the road, climbing over a crash barrier, slipping on the muddy slope, descending an almost sheer drop, then, depending on the state of the tide, staggering across a rocky riverbed and into the water. In short, to even the most experienced of divers it can be pretty stressful. Before inviting Grant, a 12 dive PADI AOW veteran, I should have considered this. Another site with easier access would have reduced the stress of entry on what would be a prima nocta dive and first experience away from the safety of an instructor*. Lesson 1 - respect inexperience.

Upon entry the G-man was having trouble with some of his kit and was struggling to descend, so Laura and I took a bit of time to help him into the water. Fortunately, I had sensibly stuck an extra kilo of shot in each of my BC pockets.  Regardless, we went in sometime after the rest of the Scooby Gang which was to prove handy later on. 

Now, I still like seeing starfish and crabs, however I've lost my initial wonder, but as we finally got Grant down and under the water I watched as he started to take an  interest in things I now take for granted:

• hermit crabs
• the stickiness of starfish
• velvet swimming crabs
• squat lobsters
• comb jellyfish
• a barnacle encrusted Buckfast bottle

I started looking for things that I wouldn't normally bother with. I picked up a squat lobster to give him a closer look, I shone my torch through the jellyfish, I looked for painted gobies. All of which were fascinating to the newbie eye. Lesson 2 - what seems dull and commonplace to me may be a marvel to someone else.

On exit, the other guys who had entered the water earlier had finished up were starting to wonder why we'd been gone so long, so our return navigation was aided by torches being shone one the surface. This was handy as topographically there isn't much to guide you at GDRE.

We never saw the cuttlefish or scorpion fish we were looking for, but the highlight was a magnificent Bloody Henry starfish. They're not particularly rare, you can see four in a dive or none in the next 20 dives, but regardless their magnificent purple hue still makes me smile.

Bloody Henry infused with orange light

Grant's first underwater photo

* I say, away from the experience of an instructor, in our midst we had qualified BSAC, ScotSAC and PADI Openwater instructors and a PADI Divemaster, but tonight they were just divers.

Just Another Dive :/

So after exploring Conger Alley on Sunday we visited again at night (23^rd January), hoping for more conger eel action than we had last time.

Myself, Laura & Fast Eddie followed the same route, rapidly descending through the thermocline and down to about 24m on the reef. I should point out that Laura was test driving a new undersuit. Upon arrival at the reef I instantly spotted Beryl the Seal who frequents these parts, though it seems I failed to communicate this with my two buddies who all thought I was asking them if they were OK.

Now, seals in general are pretty friendly and Beryl herself has been known to ‘assist’ divers on a safety stop to the surface. However, I challenge anyone who has never encountered a six foot long seal in the dark not burn through their air supply pretty darn quick.  With this in mind I led our merry band up to around 15m to allow for a longer a seal encounter.  Once there, the fun began!

Fast Eddie (who has never encountered a seal at anytime) caught his first glimpse at this point. I know this because his torch turned into an excited searchlight. Fortunately, I had briefed him beforehand. The briefing went as follows:

• If the viz all of a sudden goes to pot there is a seal in the water
• Beryl is fast, you’ll catch a glimpse of her and think ‘what the hell was that’
• Beryl is big, about the same size as you
• You’re drysuit may not remain dry

Turning my attention to Laura who was prevented from dumping air from her drysuit by her new undersuit,  and was signalling she had a problem and 100 bar in between grabbing rocks. Being the gentleman buddy I am, I dumped all the air I could from my suit and BCD to make myself negatively buoyant and offered my hand to keep Laura from champagne corking to the surface.

Heading home at pace, Fast Eddie realised, as I struggled to keep Laura down, Laura’s rock collecting wasn’t a geological survey and grabbed her by the straps on the other side. Beryl’s curiosity however became more intense and she used the opportunity to make a number of very close passes including one between Laura’s flailing legs. Suffice to say we all made it quite safely to the surface.

The highlight of my evening was at the surface when the conversation went like this:

Fast Eddie: You weren’t kidding about the size of Beryl.
Me: No.

All in all just another dive in Posiedon’s Parlour 

Concerning Buddies

Let me start by saying that I’m easy when it comes to dive buddies I’ll dive with almost anyone so long as they have a valid cert and they’re diving safely within their limits. I’m ambivalent to the issuing agency.

My wife - Gillian - dives, but getting her into the water of Scotland is far harder than the Carribean or Red Sea where she has proven that she’s a cracking wee diver. She does occassionally dive here in Scotland, but getting her to forego a roller derby training session is tough. As such since October, I’ve dived with 9 buddies, but most often with Laura.

Since first meeting Laura (a PADI Divemaster no less) on a dive trip to the Farne Islands she’s become my de facto buddy.

Naturally, we pimp ourselves out to other dive buddies (it is, afterall, an open buddy relationship), but underwater we like the same things - easy going, hassle free dives teeming with life.

Laura and scallop