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!

Rollercoasters - 04/02/2017

Ronan Keating once sang that life was a rollercoaster. I hated that song. Diving today also seemed like a bit of a rollercoaster. I had finally decided to finish my ScotSAC Master Diver qualification - a process that I began about 4 years ago. 

Crossing over from PADI Recue Diver was a relatively simply process that included:

• 4  lectures
• Underwater Kit removal
• Expedition organiser
• 2 assisted ascents from 20m
• 2 assisted ascents from 30m

However, finding time to do it on a day when the club had instructors available proved more challenging. Getting time to do the 30m ascents proved particularly challenging. So with the bit beneath my teeth at the start of the year I arranged with the Barrman to organise a day of Master Diving training.

My willing instructor was Andy. Our plan for the two dives was to signal out of air, ascend from 30m to 6m at a nice slow rate. hold a safety stop and then descend straight back down and make our way back to the shore - twice.

The first dive saw me being the recipient of the donated air. I hate breathing off someone elses octopus. Unless of course it was a real emergency in which case I'd be more than happy to do it!!

We went down passing a lovely cushion star on the way down. Once at thirty odd metres I gave the signal and up we went. Now I had forgotten to turn off the deep stops on my computer so we spent a couple of minutes at 15m before continuing up to 6m. Then it was straight back down to make out way back to the shore,

The surface interval was delightful as the American made us bacon rolls.I had two.

The buddy check, saw us highlight how my regulator wasn't really optimal for sharing without a strange kink in the hose. I'll need to swap that over for future dives.

2 hours later we were back in repeating the exercise only this time I was donating....down, up, down, up. I emerged a ScotSAC Master Diver.

Celebrating a masterly dive

The Big Frewbowski & The Curious Case of the Missing Sock - 02/02/2017

Sunday's dive threw up a curious case of a missing Fourth Element Arctic sock. My initial theory was that I'd left it at Drishaig Reef last week. I convinced Jester that a return to the site was just what the Dr had ordered and explained about my lost sock. Inviting the Walkman along for the ride we met at Costa and headed up in what seemed to be storm like conditions.

Upon arrival in the I searched for the sock in the pouring rain before considering that it probably wasn't work the effort and opting to get changed in the car. Then just as we were heading into the water we entered the eye of the storm and a very sudden calm.

Now the Walkman hadn't ever seen a cuttlefish, a firework anemone or a thornback ray. The only thing we guaranteed was firework anemone's. 

The dive began slowly with a float down to around 30m, but it was on our return to the surface that real action happened. In total as a group we found:

• 3 thornback rays
• 2 cuttlefish
• 2 red gurnards
• >6 Firework anemones

In fact, I spent more time with thornback rays on the dive dive than I have in the preceding 360.

We returned to the surface somewhat astonished. I still haven't found the sock. The weather got worse as we dekitted.

I attach a trio of Jester original images of the three Thornback Rays.

Sunday Drive - 29/01/2017

I had decided to take Gill.I.Am's fancy jeep for a Sunday drive and a trip to the A-Frames. Gill.I.Am even came too, but not to dive, just to feast in Costa and join us for a late lunch at the Malt & Myre. It fell, therefore, on Jester and I to do the actual diving.

At the sight we met some old friends who advised us that the visibility was a bit rubbish. Undeterred we headed in. Jester's camera failed almost instantly so we just spent an hour pottering about going from frame to frame.

The visibility wasn't really that bad - at least 4m. I wondered if it was because our old chums were diving with scub-newbs. My suspicions were confirmed as we neared the end of our dive and we passed a group of three of the divers. Two of them, not the dive leader I hasten to add, were kicking up so much silt that I was unsurprised by their initial assessment. I looked at Jester and he was obviously thinking the same thing, as the moment we made eye contact he picked up a handful of silt and threw it in the air. 

I mean, they were terrible - kit dragging, arms flapping, flutter kicks and bouncing along the bottom. I know we've all been there  learning to dive, but it made me wonder why they don't teach frog kicking as a matter of course before divers get in the water.

Still our dive at depths far below the newbs were diving was pretty good as was lunch at the Malt & Myre.

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

Road Works - 19/01/2017

With Captain Al and the Zookeeper deciding tonight wasn't their night to dive, Jester and I headed to Drishaig Reef only to find the lay-by filled with large truck. So it was an about turn toe St Catherines, Loch Fyne. 

Now I've dived this a lot recently and there are rarely surprises to be found here, but tonight turned out to be a real winner, especially for those who love the nudies. 

Between us we found three different species of seaslug/flatworm. However, it was the proliferation of flabellina lineata that was amazing. We easily spotted 15 (mostly small ones) in a location that only a week or so ago yielded barely one.

However, for me the dive highlight was introducing myself to a squat lobster. We briefly regarded one another, shook hands and went about our business. I feel in a week when the world is divided it was a metaphor - even the diver and a squatie can be pals. 

The same cannot be said for the squat lobster and the shore crab. Despite both being technically crabs they seem to enjoy fighting - a lot.

"The diver and the squat lobster regarded one another" by Jester

A Late Start - 07/01/2017

The Announcer, like me, is no fan early starts. In fact, the nature of her job means that diving at any time can be a hassle. So I was delighted when she said that she fancied diving but later in the morning due to her shift.

We met for elevenses and headed up to Loch Fyne. We were rewarded with stunning views and light. Reminding s why sometimes the diving is actually secondary to the journey, At the site our good fortune continued with Mother Nature rewarding us with 8m visibility and two very pleasant dives. In each case, we false started.

The first was most definitely my fault, having entered the water with my primary torch, er, safely lodged in my, er, fin. Upon entering the water I forgot this flipped my fin upside down and began putting them on. Only as I dropped down to 10m did I realise that I was 'sans torche'. 

A quick signal and we went back up and floundered in the shallows until I struck gold finding my misplaced £150. :) 

*Mental Note: Remember to buy new lanyard / clip to put on torch.* 

The second dive also started with an aborted descent, this time the Announcer had wrongly connected her drysuit hose. Fixed in a jiffy, we surfaced and headed down enjoying nudibranchs and some familiar favourites. 

Cold, but with the appearance our favourites, it was good day to dive.

Yes, Scotland really is that beautiful.

No, really.