New Year - 04/01/2020

OK, so last year - with the volume of dives I did - I found it difficult keeping up. In fact, the volume of diving somewhat overwhelmed my desire to write the blog. 

So for 2020, I'm taking a different approach. I'm not going to blog every dive, just the out of the ordinary stuff, the cool stuff, and maybe some product reviews as and when I invariably buy new kit. :)

So what did I omit in 2019 that I should of mentioned? Well:

• Lanzarote Technical Dives
• Scapa Flow, Orkney
• Clyde Wrecks, Glasgow
• A second trip to Kinlochbervie, Northwest Scotland
• Qualifying as a Seasearch Observer 

Aside from that, the usual run of the mill stuff totalling 113 dives in the calendar year. For some of you full time dive pros that's nothing, but for a recreational diver who has a full time job that's not an insubstantial number.

So I've dived twice already this year - once on New Years Day with Eastwood Divers and once with Deathbox Didier.

The latter turned out to a lovely swim around Anchor Point, Loch Fyne that ended up a glorious nudibranch hunt and, by deliberate coincidence, my 700th dive. I had quite intentionally selected a buddy who:

• was more competent than me (although this is highly debatable 😃)
• wasn't a club diver who would expect me, as an instructor, to look after them
• could help me make it a fairly lengthy memorable affair (70 minutes and ultimately limited by the cold water and not air)

Old Deathbox was the natural choice and what a fine choice he was!

700th Dive Montage

Discovering Atlantis - 04/04/2019

I'm told that the story of Santorini in the Cyclades forms the basis of the Atlantis myth when the so named Minoan Eruption wiped out ancient Akrotiri, one of the most impressive outposts of the bronze age Minoan Civilisation. So while in the area I decided to a dive with Aegean Divers. 

I had contacted a few dive companies before my day, but they were the only ones that seemed enthusiastic about someone like me coming... and they'd pick me up from Fira where I was staying. Turns out they are an SSI school, with decent kit - just as well as I was hiring!

I had told them before I arrived that I had over 600 dives and trimix card to 52m. In the hope that I would just be able to go diving, without any newbs. However, dive one saw me dive with three people. 

One Canadian ex special forces, firefighter with limited experience, but a lot of enthusiasm

Two French girls with a a PADI AOW ticket and about 14 dives.

Surprisingly they were all competent and seemed to enjoy the 24m dive without any significant issues. More surprising was that I enjoyed diving with them. They were nice. Of particular note was showing the Candian guy his first ever nudibranchs - Swiss Cow nudi and a little flabellina.

The day also got better when the dive guide said he'd take me on a dive to see some pinnacles on the other side of the reef. Beautiful structures with swim-throughs, even more nudis and down to 35m.

This was my first taste of Mediterranean diving and I liked it.

Swiss Cow Nudi

Seeing your first nudi

Big Beryl - 05/03/2019

I was had convinced Jester and the Big Easy that Conger Alley would offer us a great location for a night dive. I can't explain why, I just felt it in my bones. The others were doubtful. 

We kitted up and headed in and down to 30m. There was little life about except for a large lobster that disappeared into the silt kicked up by one of my buddies. 

We had hit decompression after some time and started coming back up. It was then that we were joined by Beryl the resident seal. 

Now, I hadn't realised that the Big Easy was little phobic of seals. When he had mentioned it I genuinely thought he was joking. As such it came as surprise when one of my buddies became the tightest of buddies, no more than a couple of inches from me.

We continued up and Jester asked me using hand signals where were the nudibranchs I had promised him. Immediately we found them, all huddled on a rock - a variety of species too. I smugly took a snap and then followed Beryl on little fishing adventure.

As we returned to shore I was feeling satisfied and decided to briefly check for bio-luminescence. It was there. Genuinely, my luck was in. I should have bought a lottery ticket.

Cable Canyon - 02/01/2019

The diving gods were kind to me in 2018, and set a trend that seems to be continuing into 2019, as myself and Gill.I.Am took advantage of some cheap flights and a love affair with Jordan to allow me to dive again at one of my favourite parts of the world. 

Long term readers will know, I've visited and dived in this area before. However, I genuinely love this site. A wee bimble down a coral canyon to 43m then a turn and ascending under the man made cables connecting Jordan and Egypt, passing bright red anemones and delicate corals. Most importantly, considering all the people that dive from South Beach you won't see a soul until the shallows. That's because, they all want to dive the Cedar Pride. I did too, back then. But now it's so passe.

This time I was diving with Dive Aqaba, the company I'd used in the past was now kaput. I chatted Abdallah, tolf him of my experiences and how I wanted to see some old friends down deep on the reef I went, and there they were. I was, as the youngsters say, "totes emosh". 

We followed that up with a wee dive around the Cedar Pride, but I knew my wee anemone was still safe 4 years on. I was happy.

Then - December 2014

Now - January 2019

Snakelocks

Buddy for the day

Cedar Pride

Cedar Pride

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 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.

Climbing the Walls - 23/09/2018

When my local dive shop arranged a Mares Try Dive Day at Caolasnacon I was always going to be on it like sonnet.

I had wanted to try out a few different things - which in the end I didn't, but a number of my club members did. Examples include:

• the Mares goodman torch strap
• the Mares heated vest
• a Mares single tank wing

However, a suit leak on a wee training dive around the wall with a trainee meant that I chose to spend much of the day trying to dry out my suit and undersuit for an evening dive with Mares UK Sales Manager and his buddy.

Jester was accompanying me as we to Kentallan Wall for the first time in darkness. When we went, Jester and I promised very little. "Perhaps some nudibranch's and ray. No guarantees."

However, between the two of us Jester and I knocked it out the park. 

• Thornback ray
• Curled octopus 
• Sepiola Atlantica
• Nudibranch's

Oh, and let's not forget my magnificent navigation. 

Curled Octopus

Thornback Ray

Caolasnacon

Sepiola Atlantica

Northern Sunstar

Nudi

Nudi

Once More With Feeling - 02/09/2018

The end of summer is definitely approaching. The sea may  stay warmer for a few weeks and then starts to cool for winter. With that and mind, myself and Jester headed to St Abbs to dive the Glanmire before doing a shallow dive at Skelly's Hole. 

As usual we were diving with Pathfinder. We were diving to plans on the first dive and as a buddy three. We dropped down in great conditions and went in search of the props. On previous vists, the visibility has made navigating the wreck a little more challenging, but today in around 8m the wreck made a lot more sense to me. It was nice to see it more fully too. Definitely worth the last minute decision to go.

We bimbled around for about 34 minutes, going a little deeper than we had originally planned and headed up doing our deco stops on the deeper plan. Simple. 

After a quick surface interval we headed to Skelly's Hole for a few swim-throughs and out over the gullies. We buzzed about for a bit before surfacing and congratulating ourselves on a very decent days diving.

Prop

Anemone

Lobster

Bloody Henry

Anemone

Last of the Summer Wine - 26/08/2018

Despite being a bank holiday somewhere in the world, but not Scotland, it certainly felt as though Jester and I were enjoying the last of the summer wine at St Catherine's. What had promised to be a very pleasant turned out to be pretty wet and miserable. To the extent that we decided one long 1hr+ dive to 38m and then on Gill.I.Am's request we headed for lunch at the old Inverbeg Hotel.

The dive was quite unspectacular but for a couple of scorpion fish. I paused briefly to take a couple of snaps.

Deep Learning - 22/07/2018

I like taking people down to where they've never been before. So after the wedding of two divers at Cairndow myself and the Chairman headed to Seal Reef to do a couple of 31m+ dives and attempt to sign off a couple of skills.

To help with the first skill a member of the Glasgow South Branch had agreed to be my victim. He was an unknown quantity and it didn't work out. So we abandoned that plan and just went for a nice dive to 34m.

At the surface interval we chatted, ate rolls and bacon before heading in again to complete the famous ScotSAC Master Diver Striptease or aqualung removal, swim and refit as it is more commonly called. Once that was nailed we headed down to 31m, u-turned and came back up.

That meant the Chairman had another few tasks ticked off on his journey to Master Diver.

Breda & Butter - 20/07/2018

When the Barrman suggested I could join him to dive the Breda I was happy to jump at the chance. I was off that week and happy to head to North Ledaig Caravan park with my campervan for some fun and games.

Just as we launched the Zodiac, another dive boat appeared at the wreck and troop of divers all jumped in. We hoped it wouldn't be too big a deal. It wasn't, we never saw any of the other divers at all.

It's a big ship, standing up right in around 30m of water, the deck was around 8m off the seabed and the seabed itself is littered with the detritus from the wreck. So, it's quite a nice profile to dive the seabed round the ship and then come up onto the deck and spend the rest of the dive there.

There were some nice highlights:

• a conger lurking amongst the wreckage
• an octopus who seemed to object to me clearing some discarded fishing lures
• nudibranchs
• the solid cargo of cement the ship was carrying

A little before we ended the dive I looked at my computer and noticed I had a couple of minutes of deco. I asked the Barrman what he had....well, he had lots. So we headed up my SMB to the surface where I swithered about leaving the Barrman to do his 15 minutes on his own. I didn't of course, that would be the sign that I'm a terrible buddy/human being, but I did still think about it.

I emerged from the water experiencing sinus squeeze brought on by my emerging wisdom teeth. For me diving was done for the day, but it was worth it. 

Learning to Teach - 08/07/2018

I'm still pretty new to the instructing thing, despite being a reasonably experienced diver. In some ways, I'm learning how to talk about diving all over again. There are things I take for granted. For example, going down to 30m isn't a big deal. Neither is going to 40m if I'm being honest. I forget that for others this isn't the case.

So when I took the Landlady and Freeflow Bob down to 30m to assisted ascents. I forgot that not everyone would be comfortable going from 0 to 30m in about 4 minutes. I shouldn't of been surprised when we reached the required depth and one diver wasn't comfortable.

We tried the ascent, it wasn't great, but we still had another attempt to get it right.

This time I tried a different approach, I was going to to go slower and deeper before bringing the student up to the required 30m for the ascent.  It worked a treat. All of a sudden the depth wasn't nearly such an issue. Afterall, we were already coming back into the 'shallows'.

So there you have it. You learn something new everyday.

Judge Dredger - 05/07/2018

When a relatively new company Wreckspeditions put up an offer to dive the Greenock Dredger on a warm sunny night, myself, the Wylie Fox and Jester thought it seemed like a decent idea. As a result, we gathered up a further 5 divers to fill the boat. My buddy for the evening was Jim. We were planning for 30minutes at 30m on a 32% mix. The weather, as forecast, was ideal, and we headed out full of optimism. 

As the last buddy pair to enter the water we were charged with making sure that the temporary shot line was free of any blockages. Once Jim and I hit the bottom there was already a fair amount of silt at the touchdown point, meaning I had a bit of a hassle moving the shot to a clear spot. My first attempt failed as in the gloom I didn't know I was dropping it into a second whole. Eventually, after a couple of minutes I felt I got it onto a spot that would be ideal. 

With that Jim and I headed off to the stern of the ship looking for the prop and rudder, before sheltering from the current up the port side to the bow. At that point Jim was getting uncomfortably* low on air. So we began our staged stops 7 minutes earlier than planned.

It was a weird dive, particularly gloomy, as most Clyde wrecks are, but recognisable as dredger with the old hoppers still lying on the deck.

* He still had plenty, 80bar and a full pony, but we didn't want to push anyone's comfort limits.

Deep & Done - 30/06/2018

When Chairman G asked me to take him deep, I decided to return to the site of my own Scotsac Deep Diving course. We kitted up and headed down to 37m and generally speaking had a pretty pleasant dive.

We chatted, had some bants with some other divers on the site then after a couple of hours we did our buddy check and headed back in. As we entered the water, the explosion happened as Chairman G's HP hose blew. We took it as a sign to abort the dive!

Scapa Flow Day 6 - Achilles & Hector - 14/06/2018

There are few dives on the planet where your maximum depth is below the seabed. There are fewer like that still that you'd also dive in the midst of a storm. The weather forecast hadn't been great with Storm Hector passing through. We had a limited time window. The plan was to dive the SMS Bayern gun turrets, like the Markgraf the day before according to a pretty strict plan. We plopped in and dropped down on the main turret. We looked about for half an hour, dipping below the seabed to have a look inside the turret, before very slowly heading back to the surface.

At the surface the weather was changing. The sea was slowly changing in into a lumpy mess that was enough to convince most divers on the boat to skip out the opportunity to dive the F2 - a nazi built WW2 wreck.

Despite the maelstrom on the surface, beneath the surface it was calm, shallow and scenic. For the first time in the week I was leading. 

Back on the surface I looked into the storm and I felt a little like Achilles calling out Hector.

Scapa Flow Day 4 - Battleships & Butterfish -12/06/2018

Our fourth day on ‘the Flow’ saw us dive our first Battleship. The SMS Kronpronz Wilhelm was the the target followed by a ‘shallow’ dive on the SMS Coln.

I was starting to notice my desat times were getting higher and higher, much like my deco penalties. As such it was probably the first day when I consciously took my foot off the diving gas, opting to no deco the Coln as I’d been there before. 

The Kronprinz W. was to be my first glimpse of one of the famous 12” guns. I liked it, though not as much as the Wylie Fox who proved to be a real fan of the big guns. 

I was particularly moved by the way nature had paid no head to the death and destruction mayhem of the guns and had instead used them to grow sea squirts and dead men’s fingers. There’s a metaphor there for life, I think. I was also starting to realise I was more interested in butterfish than battleships.

Werewolf Fish - 26/05/2018

I've done St Abb's already this year, but this time myself and the Wylie Fox were warming up for Scapa Flow in June so we turned our attention to the Glanmire and it's square profile.

Regular readers will know I've done it before in the Rope to Nowhere and Return to the Glanmire. In each case I never exactly covered myself in diving glory. Today I knew it would be different. Firstly, I was pretty dived up and secondly I had learned lessons.

I was right, Wylie Fox and I descended the shot line and dived the wreck and surfaced doing our 10 minutes of decompression on the way up. The dive was quite unremarkable apart from a pleasant snakelocks anemone. That was exactly the sort of experience we both wanted for our Scapa preparations. 

It was the second dive that was to be the standout however. A shallow dive (14m) at Skelly's Hole. I swapped buddies so that I could do some compass work with Walker Texas Ranger. WTR was leading as part of his ScotSAC Sport Diver training. 

The site is pleasant with a series of narrow ravine's and gullies and at certain times of the year home to the Atlantic Wolffish and Lumpsuckers. I've seen a small lumpsucker once many years ago, but an adult has always elluded me and I had never seen a live wolffish.

As we cut our way through the ravines we first saw a large male lumpsucker. It was bigger than I'd expected and way more colourful. It would not have looked out of place in the tropics.

Then one of the other members of our group signalled he'd found something. I'm not sure he knew if it was a conger eel or a wolffish, but it was definitely the latter. 

I surfaced delighted.I can't wait to return at the end of June.

Lumpsucker

Wolffish

Lumpsucker

Dahlia Anemone

Flabellina Lineata

Dahlia Anemone

Snakelocks Anemone

Going South - Part 3 The Battle for Sataya East - 10/05/2018

The day started on a small reef named Habili Gafar, a small pinnacle that took around 10 minutes to circumnavigate. For the briefest of moments it was desperately pretty then around 40 divers descended on it which for me took away its shine, but it did give us a few more grey reef sharks. From there we moved on to the winding labyrinth of St Gohn's Cave. It was a pretty spectacular set of winding corridors through a delicate reef. 

However, as with yesterday it was the third dive of the day, this time my 499th dive that was to live long in the memory - Sataya East, Fury Shoals

The Kingmaker, overcome with an anal fury of his own had decided to sit this one out. As such there were five of us. We were dropped by rhib on the far side of the reef and were aiming to 'drift with the current' along to a sandy lagoon where we'd find a small exit back towards the main liveaboard. It seemed easy.

We made our way over the barrier reef to the outer wall, rolled and began the dive. It seemed to be going well then as we approached where the lagoon should of been we turned headlong into a powerful current. As the diver at the back of our group of five I watched as Gandalf was swept straight back from his advanced position, We all felt it.

We signalled to the guide coming behind,  his advice was to stay low, and press on. None of us were convinced. Heavy finning, afterall increases the risk of DCI.

Gandalf took the decision to go 'over the top of the reef' , weaving between any large coral formation that could put us in the leeward side of the current.

Eventually we dropped into a small sandy lagoon, where I momentarily admired my first blue spotted ray of the trip.

As a group we had now been joined by two other divers who had slipped into our slipstream. It was hard work, but I found myself having magnificent fun. I signalled 'charge' to the troops. They all got the message Once again we were going over the top.

We never made it back to the boat, but we got closer than any other group. That to me seemed like a moral victory. Once everyone got over their annoyance at the dive guides getting the currents all wrong, we laughed about the dive now named the Battle for Sataya East.

St Gohn's Cave

Moray

The Blue Spotted Ray in the sandy lagoon

St Gohn's Cave