Break From The Old Routine - 23/04/2015

After an extended break from the old routine the dynamic diving duo - me and the Zookeeper -unleashed our combined powers on one of the warmest evenings of the year thus far. No longer for us getting changed in a howling gale and horizontal rain. Nope, we kitted up in the radiant glow of warm sunshine.

We entered the water and plopped down. The visibility was great, easily up to 10m. Although, there were very heavy particulates in the water, Almost like swimming in a green rain shower with the rain drops suspended mid air.

We headed down to 30m passing a nice northern sunstar, a cushion star, and a few sea cucumbers. A real feast of nice echinoderms. However, if the first half of the dive was about echinoderms, then the second half was all about the nudibranchs. There were loads.

In total we were down 51 minutes and had a great time. Normal service it seems was resumed.

Northern sunstar

Cushion star

Sea cucumber

Nudibranch

Highland dancer

Highland dancer

Zookeeper

Zookeeper

Does my bum look big in this...?

Driving home

Driving home

Breath... And Relax - 01/04/2015

Of all my dive buddies the one person I've dived with most frequently and consistently for a period of time was the Zookeeper. She's now moved to a new life on a rural island on the West Coast of Scotland. I'm a pragmatic sort of person, so I don't miss people, but I do notice their absence. For example, since I stopped diving regularly with the Zookeeper my breathing rate underwater has typically increased by around a third. 

Typically with the Zookeeper I breathed around 16 litres per minute and it wasn't unheard of for me to drop down to the 14 point somethings. My last dive was 19 l/m - considerably lower than my last 10-20 dives - which was at least below 20 l/m. So perhaps I've reached a new turning point.

I suppose, you come to trust people underwater. You trust their experience, their training and get used to their habits. For me, a creature of particular habit, I like that, I find it comfortable. This chopping and changing buddies will in the long run probably make me a better diver, but for now I'm eating air in a similar fashion to the way I eat Nutella.

Leading The Way - 29/03/2015

Some say that dive clubs are dying. Not so Eastwood ScotSAC. Today we had around 15 trainees in the water and around 25 people in total. That's a lot of people at one site all learning to dive for the measly cost of their annual membership fee (£150). It was also nice to encounter the divers of the Napier University Sub Aqua Club  who were also out learning to dive.

I doff my cap to them in particular for a very particular reason. Due to a lack of funds their small club can't afford drysuits, so they dive in.....wetsuits. Pretty hardcore in March, in Scotland. If you have an old drysuit lying around why not donate it to their cause? They aren't too concerned about styling (trust me I saw the wetsuits), but functionality is important. You'll be doing young Harriet et al a favour.

As for me I was leading divers around the site (Seal Reef). On each occasion three divers went in, and three came out. I consider that a dive leading success.

I took one photograph as it was too big a scorpionfish to leave un-papped

Scorpionfish

Freaky Friday - 27/03/2015

After a week of reading scare-monger stories about Dogfish Reef and the Quarry at Furnace on a certain social media story relating to the ongoing dispute with a crazy guy, we decided that we'd head to Dogfish Reef to reclaim the space.

Myself, Captain Al, Jester and Stew all headed there. We arrived at the site after some Starbucks japery. We kitted up under the watchful gaze of the crazy resident and his wife and headed in. No hassle, no threats - just watchful gazes.

We entered the water at low tide, which was ideal as it allowed two of our party to legitimately head down to the gnome garden at the end of the mat (27m) before heading back up the reef. 

I'd promised Stew dogfish, but what he actually got was a strange proliferation of cushion stars. Oh well, them's the breaks.

After some chat we headed round to St Cat's where three of us executed a fantastic buddy separation procedure in a silt cloud as we all headed off in different directions. Not the best of dives to be honest.

I'm Gonna Hit The Brakes... He'll Fly Right On By - 23/03/2015

To celebrate his 100th dive I suggested the TDFKAMF would be allowed to change his name on my blog. He chose a slightly camp Top Gun reference - Jester. Jester is of course played by the legendary Michael Ironside, "Jester's" secret man crush. I am, however, not one to judge. So I'll leave it there.

Our original plan had been to photograph firework anemones at Drishaig, but with the weather looking pretty pleasant I suggested a blast up to Loch Leven for either the Slates or Manse Point. We plumped for the Slates as we had no idea of tide times and Manse Point had a recommendation for an hour before slack. As it was there was a strong current running.

Jester had never dived the site before. So, I told him what to expect. I explained how I'd never seen a dogfish here. What was the first thing he spotted? You guessed it - dogfish.  I lead us out along the point agauinst the current to give him an idea of what the wall side of the site was like before hitting the brakes and letting the current take us out into the flatter bay area of the site.

The water was a pretty cool 6/7c and the viz wasn't the best I'd had at the sight, but it was still a good 4-5m.

We encountered some pretty sweet life including:

• Pipefish
• Large Pollock (like proper Godzilla sized ones)
• Northern & Common sunstars

We finished in the shallows with me a bit disorientated (I'd left my compass in the car). We popped up from around 5m after a safety stop to find we had a 20m surface swim back to the shore, but given it was night and I was sans compass, that wasn't too bad.

Pipefish

Common Sunstar

Common Sunstar

Catshark

Common Sunstar

Bloody Henry and Brittle Star

Northern Sunstar

Smoking Mussel

Northern Sunstar

End Of Season Seal - 04/02/2015

Seal Sighting

Some people, myself included, like to visit the Farne Islands to play with the seals. Typically, this costs between £35 and £50 to dive with a proliferation of relatively diver friendly seals during the day. However, it never quite compares with the thrill of meeting Loch Long's Beryl at night for free, while she hunts. It is, in diving terms, a genuine bargain.

With the light nights and the start of British Summer Time fast approaching, the Announcer was very keen to sneak in a dive before the night diving season ends for the summer. So, tonight (as you'll have guessed the Announcer and I headed up to Loch Long for a dive at the A-Frames. 

After my experience on Monday I didn't have much hope for good visibility. As I descended I knew instantly that the vis was pretty rubbish, but as I slipped below 6m I could see it clearing up. Then I noticed silt puffs. It was then when I realised that the Announcer and I weren't alone.

I led us down towards the big frame where all seal-hell broke loose!

She stayed with us for the rest of the dive. We saw little else. Sadly my camera isn't equipped to take fast moving photos of Beryl at night, but I managed to snatch a few video clips of her fly-bys.

Beryl bait

Through The Clouds - 02/03/2015

After doing a lot of not diving last week, The Kingmaker and I decided to visit the The Caves, Loch Long. With snow forecast we took my 4x4 just in case we ended up coming home in a blizzard -which we did.

Kitting up in the failing light and snow I already had numb fingers before I even entered the water. Thankfully, the effort of clambering down the Caves unpleasant entry warmed the cockles enough to make the dive bearable.

We plopped in and I was immediately aware that the vis was less than 1m. As I sank, I watched the depth reading increasing. 5m, 6m, 7m, 8m, 9m with no improvement in the visibility. Then at around 12m I burst through the cloud only to see the Kingmaker a few metres ahead of me. Prior to this I had been following the faintest glow of his Seadragon video light.

It had opened out into a perfectly reasonable 4-5m. We dropped down to a few metres above the visible bottom (27m) where I spotted a clawless lobster - someone had clearly decided the on lobster claws for dinner, but had considered the main body too much hassle to cook.

I was enjoying myself. The last time I was here the visibility had been poor. I forgot how good a site it can be. Highlights included cluster anemones and deeplet anemone perched on the side of one of the sheer drops.

The return journey, normally my favourite part of a dive at The Caves, was poor due to the silt laden halocline that we'd entered through. Still, a pretty good Monday night scuba escapade.

My old friend

Pink spotted sea cucumber

Cluster anemone

Cluster anemone

Deeplet anemone

Deeplet anemone

The Kingmaker