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.

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

Northern Exposure - Part 1 - 28/04/2017

With summer nearly upon us my club, Eastwood Sub Aqua Club, has planned a trip to Loch Sunart in the Scottish Highlands. Despite its relative close proximity (around 140km as the crow flies) it takes almost four hours to get there due to a combination of traffic, ferries and single track roads. As such, we took the opportunity to stop two thirds of the way up at The Slates, Loch Leven.

 

The Slates is one of my favourite dives and I was especially excited for two reasons:

1. I had finally managed to repair my camera
2. I was going to be the buddy of Campbell who was returning to diving after a medical break

We took our time and kitted up making sure the Chairman (Campbell's new nickname) was comfortable before checking kit and heading into the water. We were keeping it shallow (20m) and it really paid off with a nice catshark, pink spotted sea cucumbers, sunstars and a compliant ballan wrasse. The Chairman was performing admirably and seemed pretty comfortable, but as we started our ascent he signalled he was cold - not surprising, the bottom temperature was about 4c.

 

We surfaced and dekitted, where he decided to call it quits for the day. With a number of other divers also doing the same it meant that it fell to myself and the Barrman to restore the pride of club. We kitted up, buddy checked and headed down.

 

As we reached about 12m I looked right and spotted one of the most brazen octopus' I had ever seen. Sadly, the Barrman hadn't seen it and as I fiddled with camera I realised he was about to fin right over the to of it. I violently shook my torch but sadly it was too late to prevent a silt tsunami.

 

I kept my eye on the octopus and waited for the cloud to disperse as much as possible, but it was too late to great picture. I mean, I got a snap, but I was later accused of simply having photographed a red rock by a rather mean spirited Shiny.

 

We continued round enjoying the pleasant drift and admiring a lovely selection of Devonshire cup corals, before emerging cold and ready to enjoy the warmth of the cars up to our base for the weekend, Resipole.

Sunstar

Catshark

Sea Cucumber

Anemic Bloody Henry

Ballan Wrasse

Red rock - curled octopus

Devonshire Cup Coral

Sunstar

A Window of Opportunity - 03/12/2015

So the weather has conspired to keep me from the water in the last few weeks. I'm not bitter, I'm just not wet. A look at the detailed weather forecast on Tuesday saw me catch sight of a rare 4 hour window of opportunity. Jester decided it was worth the gamble too.

We met at Costa Coffee where, as chance would have it, some members of Eastwood SAC were also meeting. We decided to join them, although Grant and I dived separately.

As we got close to Seal Reef the rain stopped. We made it, the weather window! 

We kitted up and plopped in heading down enjoying the usual nightlife. As we passed back and forward we caught glimpse of the other divers and their silt clouds, but it didn't affect us. 

It was a great 63 minutes, but the action didn't start until we got out the water and discovered that Pat G had fallen foul of the famous St Catherine's stairway to heaven to the detriment of his knee - we later found out that he's broken his shin. 

So Campbell, took him to hospital while I took his kit home in my car. 

Sepiola Atlantica

Small Scorpionfish

Larger Scorpionfish

Pipefish

The Battle For Pilmuir Quarry - 01/03/2015

Scotland is awash with ancient battle sites where clans genuinely clashed in the bloodiest of fashions. However, today Pilmuir Quarry was the scene of a battle of a different type. We had originally planned to dive Seal Reef, St Catherines, but storms and inclement weather meant that the club had decided to dive their Pilmuir Quarry. 

I had arrived already in my drysuit (the site is 5 minutes from the house) and was planning to dive with Claire to do one of my required skills for the ScotSAC Master Diver rating. Today it was full kit removal and swim at 10m. I wasn't worried about this, but some of the guys on the surface had mentioned that they'd taken a few attempts to do it - a bit like a driving test. As a result, I was starting to feel some nerves.

As we went in the water Claire and I dropped down and swam out. The vis was pretty good, but the temperature was cold. Claire's computer registered 2c while my own registered a tropical 4c. Once in a suitable space Claire signalled for me to demonstrate the skill. I removed the kit, swam with it in front of me, then rekitted once I done it for sufficient time. Putting the kit back on was a bit of a struggle with numbing fingers but I'd succeeded. Box number 1 ticked.

When we got back to the entry point we found the rest of the group mulling about having not dived. Victims of the Battle of Pilmuir Quarry, as the cold wreaked havoc on the regulators - particularly those with Scubapro regs which, despite being cold water rated, don't seem to actually like the cold. My Mares Abyss Navy and Claire's Apeks regs fought valiantly and won.

I never took the camera underwater, but I took a few surface pictures to show the flooded car park, the hail and the ice on the surface. They say, in Scotland, that  March either comes in like a lion and out like lamb or vice-versa. Here's hoping that's us done with the lion.

Ice on the quarry

 

Flooded car park