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

North West Bound & Down - 12/06/2019

I'd organised a dive weekend for the club and some friends to dive out of Kinlochbervie, with the ironically named North East Dive .

"Hey Frewbowski, where the hell is Kinlochbervie?", "Why ironically?", I hear you ask.

Well of you've ever looked at a map of Scotland, Kinlochbervie is at the top left hand side. Bar some midgie infested moorland its about as North WEST as you can go and still be on the mainland.

I've followed them on Instagram for some time. There well worth checking out, Cathy takes some great photographs.

We did four dives over the two days and they were all belters. Even diving with my relatively inexperienced buddy - the VHB. We saw some cool stuff and did some decent deep dives in beautidul crystal blue water,

We saw nudibranchs and anemones, schools of fish. We drifted through tunnels that felt like caves and enjoyed the experience. It was definitely reinvigorating.

Rescue Me - 6/5/2019

So we had decided that we'd do a rescue session at St Catherine's. I took a student did a lift. It was all quite uninspiring.

That's what I've discovered teaching people to dive isn't huge amounts of fun. I mean, for the trainee I'm sure it's all very exciting, but for me it's uninspiring. Fortunately my next few posts will be way more interesting.

Teaching Teachers - 13/04/2019

With a number of Eastwood Divers divers' undertaking the ScotSAC Instructor Course at the end of March, we have a number of trainee instructors all keen to get experimenting on students. Well, for Chairman G, today was that day. We were taking M-Dawg in for his every first dive. 

Now, I'm fully aware of how bad everyone is on their first dry suit dives, but experienced divers who are new to teaching totally forget!. Chairman G was a little surprised and later confessed how he'd been totally exhausted by the end of the day. It was tiring, but I think by the end of the second dive M-Dawg was starting to get it.

The Day's Divers

Seasearch - 24/03/2019

Recently, myself and some others completed the classroom session of the Seasearch course. Today, we would head to Loch Fyne to dive some sites with firework anemones to finish our observer course.

We dived one site I'd dived once before and another that I'd driven by loads of times but just ignored time and time again. It turns out I'd been right to ignore Cairndow View. 

Jester and I would diving together 'observing' the wildlife. It was funny, because I probably could of listed everything I saw in advance of the dive. However, that's hardly in the spirit of Seasearch. 

We took some nice snaps of firework anemones. So all was not lost.

Firework Anemone

Blame It On The Weatherman - 16/03/2019

I'm not entirely Bewitched were correct when they decided to blame the weatherman, but I had set aside this day as day when I'd take students training months ago. Then when the forecast came out it was for bad weather.

We were valiant. I mean, fighting throw the snow storm to get there. Kitting up in high winds and blizzard. Entering the water with a surface current and waves. Going down in what seemed like zero visibility. 

However, we were then rewarded with a calm dive around the Frames. Malky saw his first shark. We surfaced and the rest of the gang all agreed that a trip to the Village Inn seemed like a better idea than a second dive.

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.

The Only Way Is Up - 03/11/2018

So there are two guys in my club, I like them both and I'm desperate to get both of them through their ScotSAC Master Diver Award. We had managed to secure a date when they both could have a go at rescue lifts and also perhaps a 30m ascent.

The weather forecast had predicted that we'd be battered by the tail end of a hurricane that had caused havoc on the other side of the Atlantic Ocean. However, by the time it came to us it was just a bit cold an miserable - miserable enough to deter most others from diving.

We headed to Conger Alley where aside from two other club members we had the place to ourselves. We kitted up and headed down for 30m assisted ascent. It never went well. In the first instance we struggled to get the depth, then when we did the area was super silty. We began only for one person to start suffering from a dark narc. It wasn't worth it so we simply headed back. I'm glad I took a compass heading as I led them back through the flat silt.

Our second dive was going to be two 15m rescue lifts. We had time for one go each. Both of them succeeded in delivering an excellent lifts but failed to stop for the required safety stop.

Afterwards we chatted about the computer data. I tried to put a positive spin on it for the guys but I was disappointed for them, because I know they can do it.

Dude, What Do You Bench? - 19/08/2018

Recovery

So after our last epic failure lifting the anchor Jester and I returned to have another go. This time we were joined by the Wylie Fox & the Wee Barra.

We were working on a two dive strategy:

Dive 1 - Locate and buoy anchor, survey

Dive 2 - Controlled Lift

This time we had two LOMO 70lb lift bags with dump valves and a further 25kg bag borrowed from a friend.

We planned to fill one bag at the top of the anchor and partially fill the second at the same place until the anchor was neutrally buoyant. Then we'd control the lift by dumping air from the full bag. Meanwhile we'd attach the second bag to the chain attached to anchor. It would all be attached using a 23kn screw gate carabiner. The Wee Barra would be charged with reeling in the marker SMB. 

We began and to our surprise it worked perfectly. Our only problem was at the shore where the lift bags no longer shared the combined 100kg weight.

Up, Up and Away - 12/08/2018

When I was asked about doing a seabed survey for the Long Long Jetty Association I immediately hatched a plan. My plan involved getting ScotSAC Master Diver trainees to do sweep searches, noting anything they could see.

They did a sterling job, and I managed to create a map that puts the Jetty Association's mind at rest as to any potential problems they might encounter in their quest to reintroduce boat visitors to Arrochar.

However, someone had also mentioned that there was lost 50kg boat mooring that had been accidentally dropped in water that was a little too deep. We were asked if we could find it and potentially recover it. This appealed to Jester and I. We haven't enjoyed a good adventure like this in a while. So armed with a lift bag, we left the trainees to enjoy a dive by themselves as we then attempted to lift the anchor.

The anchor had been located by Jester on a previous dive and marked with an SMB. We then headed over to the anchor with a my £5 lift bag from ebay. We connected it up and started filling. The bag worryingly had no dump and as it began to lift we had no way to slow it. Our only choice was to swim away from the danger of anything coming back down. 

I looked aup and saw the bag hit the surface with a jar and our lifting rig broke lose of the anchor causing the anchor to fall back down. thankfully we had exercised the no one underneath rule.

I came to the surface only to see my lifting bag floating away down the loch. I never recovered it, but I did see it in the middle of the loch a few miles down the loch.

We returned to shore a little wiser with a plan....

Our Map

Floating Away

Work Pays - 02/07/2018

Sometimes life throws up a serendipitous moment. For me work had required me to attend a meeting a few miles from my usual diving haunts. The meeting would take me to lunchtime by which point I had enough time in the bank to flexi off in the afternoon.

Jester, who never works Monday, had agreed to drive up and meet me for an afternoon dive at Seal Reef, St Catherines.

I was still without my camera so was again on the look out for things for Jester to photograph. We had been swimming about for 15 minutes when I noticed a cluster of clam shells lying outside a hole.  I peered in and saw the pulsating mass of an octopus. I signalled to Jester and showed him the hole, he looked in and wondered what I'd seen. Eventually after an underwater argument explaining what he was looking at, he reluctantly took a picture and continued the dive. 

Back on the shore we laughed. It was Jesters first ever octopus and my first ever octopus at the site. 

Work it seems pays.

Window Shopping - 01/07/2018

With the camera out of action I headed to Anchor Point with Jester. I was just window shopping for Jester as he took photo after photo after photo after photo. We found all sorts of nudies and catsharks. 

It was two nice dives that sandwiched a cheeky BBQ. Afterwards Gill.I.Am and I headed to Otter Ferry and one of our favourite overnight spots for the campervan.

Shawaddy Wuddy - 24/06/2018

When the club headed over to St Abbs for the third time in three months, I wasn't sure what to expect. I was diving with the Wanton Hussy. It was his first dives off a boat, he was relatively in experienced. The problem I wasn't expecting was that my relatively new Sealife DC2000 was to be the thing that went wrong - It was subsequently returned, and replaced under warranty.

As a result, I have no pictures of any of the cool things we saw including the octopus. Sad times. Meanwhile, while we were under the water England won 6-1 against the mighty Panama. Apparently they're going to win the World Cup.

Going South - Part 7 The Spectre of Elphinstone - 13/05/2018

We did to dives on Elphinstone Reef. They were to be the end of cruise filler dives. Granted on a fantastic reef. 

Dive one saw us hanging out deep on the northern plateau looking for pelagic life. We never saw any big stuff. It was nice, but if it feels like I'm skipping over stuff, I am. 

The second dive saw us dive as a group. I lead us out to 40m on the southern plateau up the eastern side back round to the western side - by which point it was just the Big Easy and I left. We kept our eyes peeled, but we never saw any of the pelagic life we were looking for.

We headed back toward the boat enjoying a very gentle drift. As we approached the boat we spotted a tight group of divers looking like they were all doing a safety stop. They weren't though. I asked what they were looking at. One chap, a keen photographer signalled shark. 

We swam to join them and out of the blue they came. Two of them - oceanic white tips, the worlds most prolific man eater. They circled a couple of times and after a couple of minutes The Big Easy and I headed out the water delighted to have encountered them.

Turtle

Nudi

Oceanic White Tip

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

The King & I - 24/05/2018

So with a trip to Rocky & Zabargad on the horizon the Kingmaker was back in the water giving his kit a nice 30m shake down. I was driving so I got to pick the site and as I hadn't been to Drishaig in about a year that was where I chose. We kitted up in some pretty stormy weather before heading down the old fisherman's path and into the water.

The Kingmaker had forgotten his primary torch and my old primary was, er, out of action after a mishap a few weeks before. So between the two of us we had a cumulative total of about 800 lumens of light.  That wouldn't stop us. Afterall, we're tough folk up here. It would, however,  limit our ability to spot life. As it was, the life found us.

There were nudibranchs, firework anemones, a sea mouse, and all kinds of little critters. And the vis?! Despite being stormy and brown on the surface under 5m it was pretty clear - easily 5m, but dark.

After about 40 minutes we surfaced and made our way back. All in all a pretty decent shakedown. Roll on May!!

Highland Dancers

Sea mouse

Northern Soul - 22/04/2018

Having a campervan has made diving more pleasant in a number of ways:

• Between dives I can take refuge from the elements in the van and cook up a tasty treat and a cup of tea
• If meeting friends I don't have to rush up to sites at the crack of dawn - I can arrive the night before sleepover
• I can go to more rural spots and not have to worry about getting back

This weekend I was teaming up with me ol' Yorkshire mucker Josh. He was wanting to dive "some deep Scottish walls". I felt I could oblige combining my campervan and his desire to test out a new tent.

So I assembled a plan:

• Day 1 - Dive Trail Island with K-Pep in the Firth of Clyde
• Day 2 - Dive Kentallan Wall & the Slates
• Day 3 - Dive Lochaline Wall in the Sound of Mull

I asked Jester if he wanted to come, then I asked my buddy (Wylie Fox) for an upcoming trip to Scapa Flow. They both agreed. The team was set.

Trail Island saw Jester, Josh and I all diving off K-Peps much loved RHIB Jenny. As we set of from Largs we realised we had nailed it - the weather was perfect. We rolled off the RHIB and headed down to 30m the point where the sea bed disappears into the abyss. I led us over the wall and down to a casual 34m and along the wall. We bumped into a few nudibranchs (flabellina pedata, flabellina lineata) and the odd candy striped flatworm. It was going well from a nudi perspective and josh had nailed his first Scottish wall. I'd been wearing a hire drysuit that wasnt that dry so I sat out a 2nd dive on the Lady Isabella Barque in preference for drying out in the sun.

From there it was the drive north to our overnight stop at Caolasnacon for our overnight stop.

The following morning we were joined by the Barrman & the Landlady for Kentallan Wall. I had dived Kentallan wall a couple of weeks before and wasn't expecting too much life. Sadly, for us I was right. It was a decent dive, but it was cold and my undersuit was still little on the damp side. As such, I decided against doing the Slates in preference for letting my undersuit dry.

Afterwards four us headed to Lochaline to set up camp for the night. The dive the next day would be memorable.

I'd never dived the Lochaline Wall. The only other time I'd been there was when I dived in the Sound of Mull years ago, but missed out because I'd arrived late.

Wylie Fox was the expert and we'd just follow her lead. So, the next morning, we kitted up and entered the water one hour before slack. We swam for a bit in the shallows then plunged down toward 46m. ~The bottom was still nowhere in site. So with the discretion being the better part of valour we turned and zig-zagged back up the wall before the tide turned and dragged us out. 

The wall was covered in life. We emerged agreeing that it was perhaps the best shore dive we've done in Scotland (Kintyre excepted). From there we began the long trek home and the even longer drive for Josh who had nourished his diving soul away from the English quarries.

Flabellina lineata

Flabellina lineata

Flabellina pedata

Cushionstar

Northern Sunstar

More flabellinas

Bahamarama -15/04/2018

OK, I've been a bit remiss. I've done a lot of dives and not blogged. Now it seems I'm playing catch up. So let me bring you up to speed.

1. I qualified as a ScotSAC dive instructor
2. I bought a new camera and I've been using it.
3. I'm approaching 500 dives.
4. I went to the Bahamas.

So you're now up to speed.

Yeah, the Bahamas. Like many people I had seen the adverts in dive magazines with beautiful pictures of sharks in azure waters with glossy writing advertising Stuart Cove's aquatic adventures. I wanted to see the sharks for myself. So when the opportunity arose thanks to a cheap flight flight from Scotland to Miami and another cheap flight across to Nassau the game was on.

I ended up doing six dives with Stuart Cove's, they were pretty pricey averaging about $75 per dive. That was 4 reef 'n' wreck dives, one 'natural' encounter swimming with sharks before they were fed and a shark feed.

Let's cut a long story short, the coral and reefs and fish life in the Bahamas were distinctly average. However, they have sharks (Caribbean and Nurse), lots of sharks. And that's why I went. And speaking to the other divers that's why they were there too.

So from that perspective it was pretty good, but given I bought a new camera I'll let you judge for yourself.

Flamingo Tongue

Porthole

Basic Instruction - 10/03/2018

I had mentioned in a previous post that onlt two moths ago I undertook my first Assistant Instructoring and my major take away had been the SEEDS acronym. Well today I took the plunge and had my final assessments. They included:

• Instructor session (Wanton was putting up an SMB and leading a dive)
• A rescue lift (Wanton would die underwater and I'd bravely swim up and rescue him)

As ScotSAC club we had our Regional Instructor and Branch Diving Officer Present on a day when, to be honest, none of us would really like to be there.

As such, we kitted up quickly, briefed quickly and jumped in the water. In the dive brief, I remembered my SEEDS (Safety, Exercise, Equipment, Discipline, Signals), I remembered to tell the 'trainee' to behave. That's easier said than done with Wanton.

We went in, and he led a really unspectacular dive but stuck to all the disciplines he was required to stick to. At the end of the dive he successfully inflated his 'sausage' and we exited safely. Easy, so now onto dive two - rescue lift.

Now, I'd practised this the day before and it was alright but a reg knocked out the mouth and a freeflow made it a little tricky. I was hoping for an easier time of it today. As it was, it went swimmingly and I'd nailed it.

Just like that they let me be an instructor. My first new diving qualification of the year. Now I can get back to some fun diving. ;)

Caolasnacon & the Valley of the Frozen Winds - 11/02/2018

It's a beautiful place in summer or in winter and probably has to be one of the best located campsites in Scotland. Caolasnacon (pronounced Cowel-na-cone). It is also home to a dive site. Despite planning a whole weekend around Caolasnacon for March/April 2018, I had never dived here. I had camped here once and dived a number of the nearby sites, but never dived it.

Today, despite the cold, blizzards, and howling wind, today was going to be that day. More than this however, it was also going to be Jester's 300th dive.We were joined by the Wylie Fox and Haylie (the dog).

We kitted up and made our way down to the water and began swimming out. with none of us having ever dived here it fell to me (unfairly) to lead our merry band to the wall. I had expected to be under impressed. But once we found the wall it was actually quite spectacular. A little lifeless, which was to be expected at this time of the year.

We surfaced just before the hour mark and emerged to a blizzard that might of compromised our ability to get the van and car out of the campsite.

Fortunately, we made it up the road with little trouble and made it to the security of the Clachaig Inn for a spot of lunch before heading through the snow back to Glasgow.