167'36"

"All good things come to an end." A simple saying but one that harbours quite a profoundly poignant & inescapable reality as we all know.

"As one door closes, another opens." Not always the case in my experience, but it is strange how often things seem to follow an ordered plan.

What's all this gibbering leading to?

Basically, I'm done with Scottish diving! Sad but true. Kit is rinsed & dried & stowed away... no diving planned. But I'm not too despondent as "there's light at the end of the tunnel"!

So, we're moving to Norway. I start my new job in Stavanger next Monday. Going to miss Scotland though... family, friends, colleagues... and buddies (no... not the residents of Scotland's largest town... but the diving type)!

I'm very grateful to everyone who participated in my leaving events: both drinking & diving (but not both together)! Probably the less said about karaoke the better. They were certainly enjoyable & almost memorable. We had a great diving weekend at the Slates & Kenmore including much of note:

1. I decided to do the longest surface swim in history chasing a run-away SMB & ended up being rescued by a passing fish farm boat
2. Pippa qualified as a Sport Diver
   
3. Our boat dive for Sunday from Dunbar to the Bass Rock was cancelled due to rough seas (at least I'd got that boat dive the day before)!
4. I forgot my suit but we still went to Kenmore & got my deepest dive yet (45m)
5. We had a pleasant sing-song on the way back in the bus & stopped for pints & chips in Inverary (but where was the famous landslide?)
6. This all left me not knowing if I would fit in another dive as work became a bit hectic
   

Still, my number one buddy helped me sneak a couple of relaxing night dives at the Caves, Loch Long on Sunday. Gus took pity on me as I was sitting on 98 dives for 2007 so he helped me reach the ton. Thoroughly enjoyed them... leisurely and rewarding; just a shame that we didn't spot Beryl the seal but you can't have everything.

So I feel quite contented to have reached my target of 100 this year as I don't know if I'll manage any in Norway imminently. But upon checking my log book I've realised that another motivation has shown itself to get me diving in Scandinavia as soon as I can. My compiled logged dive time is now sitting at 167 hours & 36 minutes: that's 24 measly minutes shy of a full week under water. Just as well that I didn't know that before Sunday or I would have been freezing gus' 'nads for a few precious minutes more!

One thing's for sure: I'm going to miss SUSAC. But as Marks once said (Groucho not Karl!), "I don't care to belong to a club that accepts people like me as members!"

one more thing

It's funny how many dives I've had where there was a single defining moment that was subsequently indelibly imprinted on my psyche. In fact, it's scary just how much of each dive I seem to immediately forget upon surfacing. Is this due to nitrogen narcosis or just plain senility starting to take hold? Anyway, it often seems that there's a special event - whether it's an encounter with an unfamiliar species or spotting a particularly impressive underwater feature or even a mishap - that sticks in my mind for days to come.

Last night's dive was a case in point.

Sometimes it just feels as if something's destined to be good. I felt that last week when we visited Ness Ends, Eyemouth for a night dive but was bitterly disappointed that Murphy's Law kicked in: a buddy with kit problems , heavy swell, poor life & dodgy navigation... not the ideal combination. Our Hallowe'en dip in Loch Long fortunately redressed the balance this week: it felt like it was going to be good & it turned out to be even better!

Glen Douglas Road End is the kind of site that can offer a fantastic dive or alternatively it can sometimes be rather mediocre. All depends on the conditions, the path followed & the life seen. We followed a nice route down the scenic drop-offs to our maximum depth of 30m. The steady ascent beside the wall was great but the truly special moment was keeping itself for the safety stop. Frazer (who is becoming a bit of a genius at finding great fish) spotted an interesting specimen associated with a bit of seaweed passing by at 3m. He gently guided it towards gus & me. We were mesmerized by this vibrantly coloured podgy little fish no more than 5 cm in length. At one point, I gently cradled it in my hand & swam to an area of clear visibilty to photograph our new friend. Unfortunately, he had taken such a shine to us that he wouldn't stay still... instead he constantly swam towards my camera lens! Still, I managed to capture a couple of snaps of this captivating little critter.

juvenile lumpsucker Cyclopterus lumpus

great craic

We're currently enjoying our family holiday in County Tipperary (it's a long way to go). But I would never let such a detail get in the way of enjoying some great diving. Funnily enough, the Scottish Sub-Aqua Club has a well-established & very active branch based at Limerick University. I contacted their Diving Officer & he kindly invited me along on their latest day trip to Co. Clare. I met up with the others at the predetermined location, as this is Ireland it was of course outside a pub. Being 8am though there wasn't time for a Guinness although I dare say that the locals may well have still be in there for a lock-in from the night before!

The weather was decidedly dreich, but at least it was calm. Diving the west coast of Ireland is particularly susceptible to being blown-out (much like the east coast of Scotland). After a couple of hours we arrived at our destination of Bridges of Ross on the Atlantic side of a peninsula just north of the Shannon estuary. Access was a bit tricky down some particularly slippery rocks but wasn't too bad. The tide was low meaning that we had a longer walk than might have been the case. I teamed up with Liam who led us on a glorious scenic dive.


We made our way through a forest of kelp to drop over a lip onto a pebbled seabed. Immediately, I spotted a free-roaming large common lobster: the 1st time that I've ever witnessed one of these critters out in the open. I reached for my camera, but didn't get the best of snaps. I think that Liam was slightly perplexed that I was stopping to photograph sea cucumbers, but the cotton spinner is a species that I'm not familiar with in Scotland. In fact there were many other unfamiliar creatures all around. While we were submerged, a pod of dolphins cruised past the coast, but the viz wasn't quite good enough for us to spot them unfortunately!

The visibility was 8-10 m meaning that it was possible to savour a good look around without risking buddy separation. This was the 1st time for ages that I was using only a single cylinder (I didn't want to take too much kit so left my pony at home) but Liam was a very attentive buddy meaning that I felt completely at ease. The water temperature was a bit milder than I'm accustomed to (15 °C) so I was fairly toasty in my drysuit (despite the zip leaking badly). Liam was wearing a wetsuit but still enjoyed the 40 min dive with no sign of feeling cold. Upon our return, the other group of 3 entered the water to carry out some rescue training.

Meanwhile, I changed out of my wet drysuit while Liam acted as the shore cover. Once the others came ashore we all congregated at the cars & started to get excited about our boat dive arranged for the afternoon. The calm conditions boded well for a good trip.

Unfortunately, fate conspired to throw a spanner in the works at this point. As we all sorted out our kit, the boot of Adrian's car (well actually his wife's car that he was borrowing) was closed. Its security central locking system then kindly locked the whole car down. At that exact instant it became apparent that the keys for both of the vehicles were now safely lodged in the boot! Being a modern car, there didn't appear to be any easy way of forcing any of the locks. With 3 of us standing about in wetsuits in the rather cold & damp conditions, it became evident that something had to be done. As I had changed back into my clothes, I happened to have my mobile phone in my pocket. Adrian's wife was duly called but she said that the car didn't have any emergency cover. Her spouse then bravely (?!) decided that breaking one of the windows was the best course of action.

It was decided that one of the small windows would be a better bet as replacement cost would be less. Easier said than done though! Adrian managed to dent the lead weight that he used without making an impression on the window. Pepijn then took over: he'd obviously done this kind of thing before (although maybe he wasn't quite as self-conscious about smashing the window as he might have been if it was his beloved's car)!

Once the window was breached, we unfortunately discovered that the car's security extended to electronic deadlocks meaning that the door still couldn't be opened. It was therefore necessary for the brave guys to reach through the broken window & fold down the back seat to allow access to the boot. Of course, this being Ireland, Murphy's Law continued with great aplomb as the keys were at the far edge of the boot's floor, well out of reach. Strategic use of a fence stake allowed Denny to liberate the keys from their lair and we all breathed a collective sigh of relief. It was just about this moment that my mobile phone rang. Adrian's wife had discovered that the car did have valid emergency cover after all... oops!

After all of that excitement, we trotted along the coast to the town of Kilkee and the Ocean Life dive centre for our boat dive. After a few refreshments & cylinder top-ups, we had a chat with the divemaster about our itinerary for the dive. As the conditions were calm, it was decided to try a cavern dive (about 25m) which sounded pretty enticing: replete with an exit hole leading right up to the surface. We assembled all of our kit & changed in the excellent changing rooms at the centre. Upon emerging, we found out that Murphy hadn't finished for the day. A force 4 breeze had sprung up from the NW: the worst possible direction for us. The cave dive was a definite no-no and it seemed touch and go whether we would get out at all. It appeared as if my jinx of boat diving this year had struck again... grr!

We managed to get across the bay - through some pretty lumpy seas - but the dive on offer was the 10 m deep kelp-covered reef at Newfee.

Not the most exciting of dives but still OK as the viz was 10m+. There were lots of fish about. RIB diving is always good fun anyway: the skipper did a great job.

We made our way back to Limerick only to find that flash flooding had caused a fair bit of local damage: my route back to Lough Derg (via the curry shop) was fairly treacherous with lots of surface water.

It had been a fantastic day all together. The guys from ULSAC couldn't have been more accommodating and hospitable. The Irish (and Dutch!) really are great folk: they know how to make visitors very welcome. I hope to meet up with the guys in the future & would heartily recommend the Irish diving & the Guinness & the craic!

more photos on my web pages

east-west

We've been reaping the rewards of our central location over the last couple of weeks: easy access to both the west & east coasts.

I took Frazer along for a couple of evening dives to the Caves, Loch Long. This was to be his first time at this site, which I would say is only for "grown-up divers". He's done a few dives over the last months & has good buoyancy control so he was well up for it. It was a decent evening when we arrived at the layby which was fortunately empty. Not too many midges as we kitted up. In my infinite wisdom, I'd decided not to take my camera as I'd found in the past that poor viz there makes photography difficult. Big mistake! The viz was superb: 10 metres+!!

We dropped down the wall to about 26m and pottered our way along. In the good viz, it was possible to explore areas of the rock formations that I'd never seen before. Lots of life including congers, lobsters, edible crabs and my first ever Yarrell's blenny! Damn, I wish that I'd taken my camera.

Second dive was a bit shallower (21m) meaning that we saw a completely different vista. The site is just so complex that you could explore it for weeks & still not see it all. Lots of fishing line about though which is a bit of a bind. When we surfaced after the 2nd dive we started swimming the wrong way, so had a 40 min surface swim... we were absolutely knackered... and the pub had shut... big disappointment, but still a corking evening.

Conger eel at Conger Alley

Last week, I met up with stew & fran from congeralley.com appropriately enough at Conger Alley, Loch Long (we would have dived the Caves but it was busy with anglers). Had my best dive ever at the site. We spent quite a bit of time at the deep reef, spotting a Yarrell's blenny, a dogfish, big congers & lobsters amongst lots of other life on the way up. Nice pint in the Village Inn preceded a long drive home (the A83 was blocked... again)!

Yarrell's blenny at St Abbs

I've also been lucky to revisit St Abbs harbour on a few occasions recently. Am starting to get a bit more familiar with the underwater topography now, having found Cathedral Rock on several occasions, and circumnavigated Broad Craig, Little Green Carr & Big Green Carr. Finally got some decent photos of a Yarrell's blenny. Plus, we spotted an amazing lumpsucker: what an incredible fish! Again, I guided Frazer on his first dive at the site & he seemed to love it. It's hard to beat as far as shore dives go!

a bad dive site?

I'm starting to wonder... is there any such thing as a bad Scottish scuba diving site?

At first consideration it would seem obvious. Some diving sites are great and some are mince. But is it that simple? OK, the Gareloch wrecks are never going to compare favourably with the Hispania but maybe things aren't always back & white: certainly in Scotland they're often green & grey!

I used to accept without question the general consensus within our club that some sites are crap and are not really worth a dive except for training purposes. Finnart was maligned. The even mention of diving in a quarry was poo-pooed as being brass monkey-freezing puddle diving & pointless. Now, through experience, I realise what really was crap... the closed-minded attitude of these so-called experienced divers. The sad thing is that some of these guys were my instructors when I was a trainee diver. The fact that none of them are active Scottish divers anymore sums it up... they'd lost their enthusiasm, their verve, their love of green water diving. How tragic.

another dive in a boring site?

Will it happen to me? I hope not. But you never know. Things change, life moves on & sometimes priorities change demoting certain pursuits to the scrap heap. Certainly at the moment, I couldn't contemplate not having a burning desire to dive in our waters so I hope that it will remain for years to come. I've been lucky enough to dive with equally enthusiastic buddies who've been at it for decades, so there's no reason to assume that everyone's interest gets jaded with time.

Anyway, getting back to the premise. Good site bad site?

Apparently it depends on a number of factors. Some are obvious: the viz, the temperature, the tide, currents etc. But then what about your buddy pairing, your mood that day, the dive plan, your kit? Many factors can conspire to make a particular dive sublime or a waste of time.

A case in point is our diving on Sunday. We participated in the ScotSAC Summer Solstice Dive at Furnace Tearoom, Loch Fyne. It takes a couple of hours to get to the site from our house, so it's one of the furthest options for a day trip. A lot of divers regard it as a "training only" site, not having merit for the more experienced diver. I was pretty much of that opinion myself but thought that it would be a pleasant social event. In particular, one of our ex-members from 10 years ago was coming all the way from Warrington to join us, so it seemed very little effort for us to turn out.

On arriving at the site we were greeted by Kevin Miller (ScotSAC NDO) and parked the car under a tree to gain some shade from the powerful sunshine. Frazer & I kitted up & entered the water. On the surface swim he complained of a leaky neck-seal. "It'll be OK", I told him (woose). We submerged & did a quick bubble check at 3m. He inflated his suit, only for streams of bubbled to spew from a 1cm hole in the middle of the neck seal. Oops! Thumbs up & ashore we went. Not the best start but never mind. As Frazer sorted out another suit from the generous guys of Clydebank SSAC branch, Mark got ready & splashed with me.

We made our way to the headland & kept to the lower edge of the reef. The viz was OK (about 4-5m) although it was reduced to about 1m for a short while (other divers about I guess). The dive was one of those really enjoyable ones. Relaxing, satisfying, invigorating. The life on offer was standard sea loch fauna but it was just an all round pleasurable experience. Not deep. Not pushing the envelope. Just immensely gratifying. Mark was an attentive buddy, he kept close, snapping away with his camera as he went. I didn't have to search for him, he just stayed where he should be but with out us bumping into each other.

Mark:

The second dive was even more enjoyable. We walked to the far end of the headland & finned all of the way around it. We spotted the renowned (very thick-bodied) conger eel as well as a sizeable edible crab & many friendly wrasse. I was pleased with my navigation (OK it's not exactly difficult!), bringing us up just a few metres from the metal slip.

The others also had some great dives. Sarah in particular seemed really enthusiastic. She completed some Master Diver training with Dot, and was really contented with her achievements. Quite rightly so: Dot said that she did very well.

So all in all, I'm still of the opinion that just about any dive is worth doing. Some people might not agree with me but each to their own.

even more Kintyred!

Today saw the culmination of a lot of planning, considerable consultation & a bit of luck.

I'd been keen on diving the wreck of the SS Kintyre since I first read the excellent dive site guide over 6 months ago on congeralley by John Nicolson (of finstrokes fame... or is that infamy!). As John rightly stated, this dive is not one to be taken lightly for a number of reasons:

1. depth: the wreck lies with its bow in about 30m depth pointing towards the shore while its stern is about 50m deep.
2. distance: as a boat dive this wouldn't be such an undertaking but it is a long swim from the shore: adding to fatigue, alongside gas consumption and nitrogen saturation.
3. currents: strong tidal flow can lead to potentially dangerous down-currents.

I'd been planning this dive for a considerable time: in fact it was one of the prime motivations for establishing my twin 12L tank set up. From consultation with Stewart & Gord, I'd managed to estimate our dive profile & fed these data into Decochek software to predict the decompression requirements. Today was an ideal choice for diving the wreck as there were neap tides meaning minimal potential currents. The weather was also kind: minimal wind & no waves: hence the luck.

Our family made our way to Wemyss Bay, arriving as planned at 13:00. Gus & Rachel were already in attendance & had checked out the access. We parked beside the pumping station. The wreck lies over a hundred metres from the shore. The dive plan is to swim out along the sewage pipe until about 26m where a rope is tied which leads to the bow of the wreck. We'd been led to believe that the sewage pipe was now disused despite conspicuous whirring noises from the pumping station & a definite whiff of effluent in the air!

Access to the rocky shore was a bit tricky, especially with the tide being so low. After a bit of scrambling, we made our way over the last few slippery boulders into the open sea. We swam in front of the pumping station where Gus spotted the pipe submerged a few metres below. We swam out along it for 20m before signalling to the shore & making our descent. After a quick bubble check we finned along the right (north) side of the pipe. Almost immediately my buddy found a fantastic dogfish which he nabbed & tried to shove down my BCD for no apparent reason. I eased the hapless elasmobranch free & had a look at this splendid creature. I turned it on its back & it duly curled in a ring with it head nuzzled into its tail. I was too preoccupied with our mission at this point to bother with liberating my camera from its pouch although I did turn the fish the right way up before venturing on!

The pipe is quite glorious in its own right: covered in multicoloured anemones with many crabs & squat lobsters in evidence (for some reason I didn't feel like collecting them for supper... sewage... yum!). The slope of the seabed is quite gentle until about 15m depth meaning that a great distance had to be covered. Fortunately, Gus & I are keen octopush players so it wasn't too demanding (although I must add that he is much fitter then me!).

Eventually the slope steepened a bit & before we knew it we spotted the rope secured to the pipe at about 26m depth. Of course, this was at low tide; at high tide it would be in 30m depth or so. By this point the green well lit water of the shallows had transformed into pitch darkness. While the visibility in the shallows was in the order of 5m, along the rope it was more like 3m. This was still quite respectable & made keeping contact with the guide line & my buddy relatively easy.

The rope sags down between its tethering points, brushing the sea bed at one point, but is mostly mid-water. About half way along its length I was starting to get excited in anticipation of finally glimpsing this famous ship wreck. However, I noticed that Gus was waving his torch beam about in front of me signalling that something was amiss. I glanced to find him, only to see him hovering about 2m above me with his bright light dazzling me. I headed up & he gestured that he had pain in his frontal sinuses & wanted to ascend.

Oh well, I thought, we almost made it but never mind.

We retraced our fin strokes along the rope back to the pipe & followed it up for a few metres. At his point Gus signalled that all was fine & he wanted to descend again. The show was back on! We hadn't lost much time with regard to my dive plan, so we made our way again down the pipe & along the rope. The anticipation was really quite palpable for me this time. I was peering at the limit of my torch beam just waiting for a treasured glimpse of a recognisable structure. The rope started to follow an apparently increasingly steep path suggesting that our goal was approaching.

And then at last there it was: the bow!



The SS Kintyre was constructed in 1868. She came to grief in 1907 when the Maori on speed trials collided with her. The captain & engineer tried to guide her ashore but when the boilers exploded she went down rapidly. The captain survived but the engineer was sadly lost.

There was certainly no mistaking the feature of the wreck that the rope was fixed to: her clipper style bow was highly distinctive. After touching the structure (why did I feel compelled to do that?) I felt mesmerised for a moment. Success! Well not quite yet, but at least things were going to plan. We finned along the port side of the vessel peering down into the holds & admiring the life adorning its rusting remains. At 35m depth, we were roughly a quarter of the way along its length but that was quite enough for this occasion. Surprisingly, I didn't perceive any effects of nitrogen narcosis during the dive. We crossed the deck to starboard and made our way back towards the bow. Gus ducked down into one of the holds while I illuminated his exit. That lad is becoming more of a wreck aficionado with each successive dive!



There was no problem finding the bow again & the rope attached to it. Following the rope back was no hassle either & before we knew it we were pipe-diving again. On the way back up, with slack water abating, noticeable currents were buffeting us about. As previously reported, these varied in direction at different depths, with some mild down-currents in evidence. We kept to the north side of the pipe & were sheltered from the incoming tidal wash. Our computers indicated that we had minimal decompression requirements: 1 min at 3m according to mine but we still carried out our plan of stopping for 3 min at 6m & 9 min at 3m to purge as much dissolved nitrogen as we could from our tissues before surfacing. Before we knew it we were swimming to shore, thoroughly satisfied with a great day of diving. Hard work but most definitely worthwhile!



Sarah, the kids & I decided to head a few miles down the coast to Largs for a seaside stroll & the obligatory fix of ice cream. We visited Nardini's emporium at the pier. It brought back memories of childhood holidays for me. Our desserts were splendid: the kids ate all of theirs while I absolutely adored my Coppa Amaretto: honestly one of the best ice cream sundaes that I've ever had (Sarah was very restrained in just having a skinny café latte)! We then wandered along to the play park & the kids had some great fun there too.

All in all it was a great day out & I hope to repeat it again before too long. Thanks to everyone who helped in the planning & execution.

bullet the green sea

Another week; more great diving!

On Tuesday evening, Gus, Joe, Vasilis & I made our merry way to Finnart, Loch Long for a couple of training dives. Gus & I took the guys in & on the first dive they did a shared buddy breathing ascent from 15m which was completed well. The 2nd dive involved Joe carrying out a simulated rescue procedure of a casualty from 10m depth. Again this was completed adeptly. Congratulations to Joe on becoming a fully-fledged ScotSAC Sport Diver: he's stacking up his diving qualifications now!

On Sunday, Gus & I headed to the Caves, L. Long. We set off early & managed to arrive first at the lay-by, kit up quickly & submerge at 09:02.

Two great dives!

Although the midges were a killer during the surface interval!

Viz wasn't great - 2m in the plankton bloom down to 10m depth then about 4m - but we discovered a few gems of life & lot of new topography to us today; we now at least know why the site is so named! Gus caught a langoustine but let it go to fight another day. There was an abundance of plumose & sea loch anemones, dead men's fingers and peacock worms adorning the rocky outcrops. We also saw a large number of cuckoo wrasse and a friendly ballan wrasse who stalked us on the first dive. Gus spotted a shoal of pollack & I saw a little conger eel. Also an interesting inorganic object was discovered by Gus...

We even got back to the uni before 2pm: a most successful & smooth diving day!

barbeque Saucy

It's been another great diving week...

On Tuesday evening, a group of us headed through to Eyemouth to join Alex, Don Lees at al. aboard the Aquanaut again. This time, the conditions were perfect. We had a fantastic dive at Hawkness Caves and a nice drink & chat in the pub afterwards. Was a very long day but well worth it.

Saturday brought a trip that I'd been anticipating for a few weeks. Gus & I headed across the Forth to the Kingdom of Fife. We reached the Dive Bunker in Burntisland in good time & met up with the rest of our group. We were diving from their massive RIB which involves getting kitted up & climbing into the boat & getting towed a few hundred yards on the road before even hitting the water. The ride out to the dive site (about a mile in 2 minutes) was absolutely exhilarating!

First dive was the HMS Campania. This wreck has an amazing history. Launched in 1892 as the RMS Campania & commissioned as a Cunard liner, she was winner of the Blue Riband for fastest Atlantic crossing, first ship to have a Marconi radio installed & the world's first aircraft carrier! She sank in 1918 just before WW1 ended and at that time was a naval vessel.

The viz wasn't great but the scale of this wreck has to be seen to be believed... massive! We saw a tiny proportion of it before our computers lapsed into deco prompting our ascent under our delayed SMBs.

Back to port for cylinder changing & lunch. Then back out at high velocity to the site of a WW2 wreck this time: HMS Saucy.

Gus led on what was to be his 250th dive. Viz was a bit better. On descending the shotline we immediately identified the deck gun festooned in plumose anemones. We made a nice tour of the wreck, trying to rescue an edible crab from netting en route. With 12 divers on this relatively small armoured tug, the viz suffered. The consummate wrecky that he is, Gus found his way back to the shotline in zero viz & we ascended. A brilliant day's diving rounded off with some great craic in the pub.

As I entered the pub, I received a call from Gord inviting us for a day of diving & barbeque at Anchor Bay on the following day with him & his wife Helen. Sarah & the kids were keen so we collected some cylinders & I got the kit ready while Sarah sorted out everything else (I got the good deal I guess).

Sunday was a fantastic day. Cloudy at home but sunny when we arrived at Loch Fyne. I had a brilliant couple of dives with Gord's pal Kash, collecting some juicy squatties for the BBQ during the first dive. On the 2nd dive we spotted a couple of big dogfish (or possibly the same one twice) and some big congers. There is an amazingly deep vertical crevice which contained a shoal of fish & a big conger at its base. We could see the whole length of the conger within its lair.

Sarah dived with Gord & Helen. They had some great diving too. Gord completed his 300th logged dive: congratulations to him!

The only downside was the infestation of midges at the lay-by. Absolutely awful! We escaped from the site as soon as we'd dekitted & headed to the Creagans for drinks & log book filling.

What a brilliant weekend: my 4th weekend of boat diving in a row!

Unfortunately that's all of my scheduled boat dives completed now but maybe we'll sneak in the occasional one at some point.

if at first you don't succeed...

The best things come to those who wait... or so the Guinness ad stated anyway. Well, we'd been waiting since March for our boat diving outing at the weekend. It was back then that our club's president Euan first proposed that we arrange a day of boat diving from the beautiful Berwickshire port of Eyemouth. After 2 months & 8 pages of posts on our forum, the day finally arrived on Saturday. Unfortunately, so did force 6+ gusts!

I really don't seem to be having a lot of luck with my boat diving trips this year. First, the Clyde wreck diving trip then the Sound of Mull & now Eyemouth. Maybe I should have done the decent thing & stayed at home... not a chance! The forecast for Saturday had been looking pretty dodgy since the middle of last week. Strong winds. Very strong winds. Extremely strong winds. The good point was at least the direction was from the west & south-west. If there had been an easterly component then the whole event would have been a bogey. We heard word on Friday lunch time from the skipper that the plan was still on. Everyone was relieved... for now.

A bright & breezy start for everyone (except the Frazer) on Saturday morning. We loaded the minibus with reasonable efficiency meaning that the carnivores were treated to their bacon roll pit stop as requested. We then made our way eastwards at a very sedate pace (although I did attain the mighty speed of 68 mph at one point downhill with a tailwind! (It turned out that the bus was limited to 62 mph.) We arrived at Eyemouth Harbour in good time & met up with Dot, Pete and the boat's skipper Alex.

It was a spring tide and it was low water meaning that the kit had to be lowered about 15 feet down onto the deck of the boat. This task was successfully completed with lots of rope work & team work. Thank goodness that we had nautical folk on hand to tie reliable knots. We exited the harbour at 10am in glorious sunshine but also ominous gusts of wind. Everyone zipped up their suits except Gus who maintained that he'd be fine. About 2 min out of port we all got a good laugh when a big wave crashed over the deck & soaked his thermals... silly boy!

The plan was to dive at Diver's Hole near Weasel Loch but the conditions were not kind. Alex did his best for us but decided that it wasn't safe so we reluctantly returned to port. We salvaged the day by deciding to shore dive at Nestends just up from the New Harbour. The site was fairly deserted apart from a van load of dubious-looking Belgian military divers, one of whom was having his first ever try of an aqualung! None of us strayed too far from the gullies on our dives as the swell was quite noticeable even at 10m+ depth. There was lots of standard east coast life with masses of dead men's fingers plus dahlia anemones, pipefish, lobsters, squatties and occasional shoals of fish. Joe & I spotted some small red fry within a crevice on the rock face. I took a few photos.

Most of us decided that we didn't want a 2nd dive at that site so we headed into the metropolis of Eyemouth for some delicious ice cream. Frazer also enjoyed spending his hard-earned cash on fresh fish to feed to the local seals in the harbour. While this was ongoing, I returned to the bus & noticed that I'd received a text message from Dot (who'd headed home) giving me Alex's contact details. I phoned him to thank him for his help & see what the situation was. He very kindly offered to come down to check out the sea conditions. The show was back on the road!

Despite some reluctance from some of our group, we loaded up the boat once again. This time it was a breeze as the tide was high meaning that we could literally step from the harbour straight onto the deck. Alex took us to Agate Point which is south of the harbour. He dropped us right on top of the wreck of the SS President. There's not much of the ship left: just really rusty plates & boilers. We then made our way through many gullies to Agate Point. Gus & Shug successfully found the excellent archway while the rest of us failed dismally. Everyone had a fantastic dive. Particularly memorable for Joe as his mask almost filled with blood: that's one way to clear your sinuses out!

The day was finished off with log book filling accompanied by delicious fish & chips. What a brilliant day: largely thanks to Alex being such a great guy. It was brilliant to spend such a pleasant day in such good company... cheers, guys!

Kintyring... but worth it!

Well, our family have just returned from a fantastico weekend on the beautiful Kintyre peninsula. The long drive meant that we didn't arrive on our friend's farm until after 11pm on Friday night. After unpacking & some banter we headed to bed.

In the morning, the kids all woke up excitedly, ready to explore the wonder that is a dairy farm! Fortunately, the ages of John & Ruth's kids were compatible with ours, so they hit it off immediately. I left Sarah & Ruth to catch up on old times & headed to find the Diving Officer of Campbeltown Sub-Aqua Club (a branch of the Scottish Sub-Aqua Club) who had kindly offered to give me some info on local dive sites. After an exceptionally scenic drive alongside Kilbrannan Sound, I arrived at the house which can only be described as having a breath-taking location. Overlooking the Sound and surrounded by vibrant flowers which were almost iridescent in the beaming sunlight, it was a true oasis. I was made to feel very welcome and enjoyed a mug of coffee & biscuits while overlooking the sea, discussing the best local sites. I was also invited to join the club on their RIB on the following day...

Sarah & I planned to have a quick dive on the Saturday afternoon while Ruth kept an eye on the kids at the beach. Due to the calm sea conditions, we decided to dive at the Stirling University Marine Research Station at Machrihanish. This offered easy access to scenic diving, and also seemed appropriate as the facility is affiliated to the department where I'm currently employed. It really was a beautiful day with the sunlight piercing through the blue-green water, illuminating fields of hypnotically swaying kelp. The dive could best be described as a shallow bimble. Depth was minimal, but it was a pleasant liberating experience. It was so nice being able to just nip out for a dive without having a 90 min drive to negotiate!

With plenty of the day left, we made the most of it, with the kids having a great time on the farm. An evening barbecue washed down with plenty of red wine was just the ticket although I pitied poor John who had to arise at 5am for the milking! He seemed to take it in his stride as always though, being particularly adept at mid-conversation power naps.

I arose on the Sunday morning with a mildly throbbing red-wine-head and glanced out of the bedroom window to check on the sea conditions... nice and calm just as we wanted. I phoned to confirm my attendance on the RIB trip & then started to get excited! Upon arriving at the slipway, the boat was just about to be launched. I introduced myself to the other divers & we loaded our gear on board.

The sun was shining; the sea was calm; it was too good to be true. Inevitably, Murphy's Law kicked in! This was the season's first outing for the club's 5.3m Humber RIB. The engine had just been serviced. Unfortunately, it seemed that in their infinite wisdom, the engineers didn't check the battery of the 75 HP outboard... flat as a pancake! Much scratching of heads and muttering of frustrated words ensued. Shore diving alternatives were mooted. While the deliberations were ongoing, the local RNLI crew launched their RIB alongside us in about 60 sec flat for helicopter exercises in the Sound apparently. It was decided that jump leads would be our best option but no-one had any! I really must remember to put our jump leads in our main car as this is the 2nd time in a month when they would have been useful on a diving trip. Anyway, I suggested that there might well be a set on the farm. I phoned Ruth who dashed out at full emergency vet speed with the precious items. After a few attempts, the strategy worked & the engine roared to life. The show was back on the road... thanks to Ruth!

We made our way out of Campbeltown Loch and north into Kilbrannan Sound. It was a while since I'd been on a RIB and I'd forgotten just how much of a buzz it was. We headed to Otterard Rock which is a submerged pinnacle/boulder slope rising from a sea bed of ~40m depth situated a few hundred yards from the shore. I splashed with Daniel who works as a commercial diver on fish farms. There was quite current running as we descended the shot line & reached the reef. We drifted & pottered about. There was a noticeable plankton bloom which took the edge off the viz. Spotted 2 beautiful big dogfish, lots of small life & the occasional wrasse. A nice relaxing dive. Ascended under my dSMB and clambered back on-board.


We then headed south, rounding Davaar Island at the mouth of the loch. We dropped anchor in Kildalloig Bay in about 3m depth. There were 2 trainees on-board, ready for their 1st or 2nd dives. I shadowed Daniel who was instructing Shaun. The viz was stunning: 10m+. Sunlight streamed down, illuminating the abundant benthic life on offer. There were also numerous jelly fish (including small lion's manes) and comb jellies. I spotted a delightful dogfish & screamed through my reg to attract the others who were about 8m away at that point. After confusedly looking around to try to work out what the weird noise was, they made their way towards me just in time to see the little shark swimming off. Not to worry though as Daniel found another one a couple of minutes later. I also found a nice pipefish which Shaun enjoyed playing with. Lots of little shrimp of a variety that I'm not familiar with, peacock worms, chitons, wrasse... there was just a great abundance of life bathed in glorious sunlight.

Unfortunately, the other trainee didn't get a dive as her suit inflation hose didn't fit the valve. However, she still got to have an excellent snorkel in the bay where she appreciated all of the life on offer.

It was a thoroughly enjoyable trip and I am very grateful to Livingstone and the rest of Campbeltown Sub-Aqua Club for making me feel so welcome. I hope to catch up with them again soon.

It was a long journey home. We were all knackered. It was well worth it though.

Cathedral octopus

Went for an evening dive on Tuesday with guys from SUSAC. As the conditions were favourable, we decided to head to the east coast. I'd been wanting to try & find Cathedral Rock (a submerged double archway) at St Abbs for ages. This was my fourth day of diving in a row following our weekend liveaboard trip!

We submerged at exactly 20:00 (30 min after HW). Resultantly, access was easy. Headed SE, skirting several walls. They were adorned with the most voluptuous display of anemones & corals with large friendly ballan wrasse making us feel very welcome. Much to my relief, I brought us to the archways. The tide was running against us, so we had to get down low & pull ourselves along the rocks to get through the big arch. We then ascended beside it and allowed ourselves to be sucked through the upper small archway. Stopped to poke our fingers into the "air" (expired gas from divers) which had gathered on the ceiling.

We then made our way back. I was instructing Joe, so we carried out a shared buddy breathing ascent from 15m. He managed it without any bother: could see the other buddy pair almost the whole time during the ascent as the viz was 10m+. I then tried to guide us home. After a short time, I was flashed to join my buddies. Gus had found a sedate but beautiful octopus sitting on a rock. Absolutely wonderful!

Unfortunately, my navigation was flawed on the way back & we ended up doing our safety stop mid water. At least we had the delight of being surrounded my multitudinous comb jellies: quite amazing. We had a long surface swim back to shore but all agreed that it was a fantastic dive.

Our plans for a 2nd dive were scuppered by the news that night diving is not allowed at St Abbs Harbour so we returned to Coldingham to visit the pub for a coke & log book filling. We weren't made to feel very welcome in there... perhaps not local enough?!

narked at 30!

Our club's resident mega-keen diver (Max from Nevada) was enthusiastic to go diving on Saturday so I had my arm twisted & took him (it didn't take much persuasion to be honest)! We decided to make an early start to the day so that we'd hopefully get back home before the afternoon was over. So we met at our 07:30 and made good time: arriving at Conger Alley at the north end of Loch Long before 09:00.

We'd already rigged up our kit before leaving, so I turned on the hazard lights and stopped the car right beside the site to unload our rigs. Then drove on to the caravan site entrance, hung a U-turn & parked in the trusty big lay-by. Nobody else was parked there although there was a white van along at the "parking space of death" beside the white wall. Turned out that they were 2 divers from Hamilton ScotSAC club. We got suited & booted, decided upon our dive plan & made our way to the entry point. Everyone (including the Hamilton guys) was instructed to look for Gus' lost blue knife but to no avail.

Our plan was to head down towards the bottom reef and then zig-zag back through the standard reef. I would practise deploying my new dSMB. During the buddy check it transpired that Max's suit inflation hose was a bit dodgy: he had to push the hose towards the valve to allow it to work. Although not ideal, we decided that it wasn't worth curtailing the dive for as it was inconvenient but not unmanageable.

We submerged at 09:39. Viz was crystal in the shallows. Going a bit deeper the viz was about 5m: not as good as reported the previous week. I led us down to our max depth of 31m and we swam in the direction where the reef should be. Unfortunately the viz at this depth dropped dramatically to less than 1m.

We didn't reach the reef. Max attracted my attention & pointed to his suit inflation hose which had become detached from the suit valve. I approached him & we knelt facing each other. We were at 30m at this point. I had a go at reattaching it but it was tricky. I was trying to manipulate it with my left hand and the hose was quite short meaning that there was very little slack to play with. I spent a couple of minutes trying to complete this task but then decided that the best course of action was to head up the slope: after all, Max shouldn't need to pump air into his suit if we were ascending. I stopped us again at 25m and completed the task quite quickly and easily.



I can only assume that there were a few factors that conspired to make me unsuccessful with my first attempt at reattaching Max's hose.

1. Max is a recently qualified diver so I thought it would be better to rectify the problem sooner rather than later to avoid any stress: this put some psychological pressure on me.
2. We were at depth meaning that I felt under time pressure due to air consumption & deco limits.
3. The viz was almost zero.
   
4. Although I didn't feel mentally impaired, I was obviously not as dexterous as normal. This is backed up by the fact that upon ascending slightly up the slope, the task was completed easily.
   
5. I therefore conclude that I was affected by nitrogen narcosis brought on by physiological & psychological factors.
   

This is interesting as I didn't perceive any signs of being narked. I didn't feel tipsy or euphoric & I have a good recollection of events. I guess it's a level of narcosis that could be compared to one or two Martinis on an empty stomach!

Anyway, once Max's hose was sorted out he informed me that he was down to 100 bar. So no time to linger. We followed the slope, hitting the regular reef en route including the hiding spots of a couple of conger eels. I'd promised Max some congers, so at least that part went to plan!

I deployed my new yellow Kent Tooling CO2 dSMB from about 8m. It was an absolute doddle. The finger spool was also easy to use by means of a double-ended bolt snap for reeling in the line. Should be great as a back-up on boat dives.



The 2nd dive was a typical Conger Alley one. Found the regular reef without any bother. Headed to the north margin of it and decided to go down the slope in search of the deeper reef. Went to 26.5m but no sign of it. Were we too far north? Will need to explore this again some other time.

Saw some nice congers and the ubiquitous group of friendly ballan wrasse. Max had his first chance at deploying a dSMB and completed it well. He dealt with the reel adeptly. I practised firing up my yellow one using bubble inflation this time. Not quite as quick as the CO2 canister method but still fine.


All together it was a useful day's diving. We also got back to Stirling at about 15:00 which is probably a SUSAC record!

Just incredible that the site was so quiet on such a beautiful day.

easy access to island diving

Sarah & I had a couple of fantastic dives at the weekend in the Firth of Forth. It was maybe just as well that we weren't fully aware in advance of the accidental sewage discharge from Seafield. Upon discussing the issue on the boat, nobody seemed too concerned. Certainly, Sarah and I have probably built up an efficient specific immune response to many of the nasty coliform pathogens through our veterinary work over the years.

We were booked on a trip organised by Chris on congeralley.com. The charter boat was the Pegasus of Dive Safari Scotland with Brian as our skipper. We arrived in Dunbar at 9am and made our way to the harbour, unloading our kit on the quayside. The access to the boat was the easiest that I've had recently: all that was involved was carrying the kit down some stone steps to the boat's deck. Everyone got their kit loaded in good time to allow ropes off at 10am. It was interesting to be on the water in Dunbar harbour rather than within it as on our last visit there!

The cruise to the Isle of May took about an hour & was a pleasant calm trip with little swell. The boat seemed to skim along at a good rate of knots. Upon arrival, we pitched up at the scene of the sinking of the SS Island. There's little of the wreck to see under water - just a few plates & boilers - much of the wreckage has actually made its way onto the rocky shore! Sarah & I buddied up and made our stride entries, descending in about 15m depth. I led the dive & we immediately happened upon a couple of the metal plates that were easy to spot in the visibility of approx 10m. They weren't very spectacular with little or no colonisation so I decided to take us away from the shore to get some depth so that we could get a reasonable 2nd dive without worrying about a reverse profile. Moving away from the shore, the rocks became covered in a carpet of brittlestars somewhat reminiscent of our dive 2 weeks ago in Loch Melfort. However, periodically there were little oases within this desert usually in the form of beautiful multicoloured anemones. Having missed out on photographing the anemones at Diver's Hole the weekend before, I resolved to redeem myself and became a compulsive anemone photographer on this diving day!


Our planned max depth was 25m so on reaching 23.1m I decided to return towards the island. The water temperature varied from 6.8-9°C. There was a mild drift which dragged us to and fro and we made our way back in a leisurely fashion, spotting one of the largest starfish that I've seen, with a puny brittlestar perched on its back.


Eventually we got back to the rocky walls and gullies marking the shoreline. There was some colonisation here with deadmen's fingers. I led us through some of the gullies and managed to lose sight of Sarah at one point which wasn't a pleasant experience. I think that she was slightly above me at the time making it hard to spot her. She got a bit cold so we headed up to the top of the gullies & I inflated my dSMB. I used my new Buddy Blast air horn which also acts as an air nozzle under water. It was really easy to use as I could stick the whole apparatus within the baffle of the bag and activate it by squeezing it within the material. We surfaced very close to shore so had to swim out towards open water for the boat to pick us up. The diver lift was an absolute joy: what an easy way to get onto a boat (especially with twin 12s)!

After the dive we cruised alongside the island with the local populations of puffins and seals proving captivating. It was then full steam ahead towards the Bass Rock with lunch eaten en route.

The Bass Rock offers spectacular wall diving. We approached the north cliff face and dropped in to free fall alongside the cliff. There was a shelf at about 17m which we swam along to our max depth of 20m. The visibility was about 8m, the dive being a bit darker than the morning's (hopefully not due to sewage!). However, there was much more life on offer. Some beautiful spiny squat lobsters, large velvet swimming crabs and multiple anemones were on tap. I spotted a butterfish & the toothy mouth of a fish that I couldn't identify unfortunately before it receded into its crack. From the shelf, we returned to the wall and drifted along it. Sarah was fortunate enough to see a free-swimming octopus; I only saw its ink trail - she must have scared it! The profusion of life on the wall was glorious. This was a first class dive & one that I would like to repeat soon, maybe heading a bit further down the wall next time (it goes down to 46m apparently).

Once everyone was safely back onboard, we made our way back to port. Everyone seemed elated with the day's diving. We all seemed to agree that visiting the Isle of May was highly prized but the Bass Rock took the biscuit (actually, a whole box of Twixes that the skipper kindly supplied for our delectation)!

more photos
stewart's video (watch out for Sarah on the diver hoist at the very end: smiley!)

diving the wreck of the Akka

Oops... haven't really been updating this blog very regularly have I? At least it's not quite a full year between postings (just)! I've been doing lots of scuba diving over the last year: 111 logged dives since my last blog! Been getting into instructing (to Sport Diver & Master Diver level) as well as moving towards a more technical set up with my kit. Had a great dive in the Firth of Clyde yesterday on board the Clutha skippered by Elaine. We dived the wreck of the Akka.

I collected Stewart en route and we travelled together. Was great to finally meet him after much correspondence on congeralley.com and finstrokes.com over the last few months. We arrived in good time at Inverkip Marina and spotted the dive boat. Unfortunately, we had turned left on entering the marina whereas we should have turned right. So we had to dart round to the correct car park & load all of our kit along the lengthy pontoons (limited trolleys were available). Once everything was loaded, we introduced ourselves & left port to head for the wreck of the Akka near Dunoon.

I buddied up with Stuart aka Lizardland who was using a KISS rebreather. I was using twin independent 12 litre 230 bar cylinders (air). We jumped in, swam to the white buoy and headed down the shotline to the wreck. On reaching the wreck there was a noticeable current running. Stuart led the dive during which we covered a fair distance around the wreck but still only saw a tiny proportion of it (it's a BIG ship). We spent all of our dive touring around the deck which is relatively intact with various protruding struts and ropes attached to multiple points. The rusting metal structure is covered with masses of brightly coloured anemones with a particular preponderance of the orange plumose variety. It was a very dark dive with no ambient light penetrating the water at the depth of the wreck. The horizontal visibility of 4-5 metres was about as good as it gets by all accounts for Clyde wreck diving. Most of the dive was spent at depths of 20-25 m with my maximum depth being 25.9 m. This profile incurred 4 minutes of decompression at 3 m.

At the end of the dive we both deployed our delayed surface marker buoys without problem and ascended fulfilling our decompression requirements hanging on our blobs. After the stop at 6 m, the deco was completed but another stop at 3 m was carried out to add a margin of safety. Upon surfacing, I had to wait a few minutes to be plucked from the water. The swell was quite strong so I just bobbed about with my reg in mouth and dSMB pointing up as the waves crashed over my head. Was helped back onto the boat (a very easy ladder to mount) and given a mug of warm delicious soup. Most welcome as I'd got quite chilled on the deco stops. A great dive!

Very poor weather conditions (gusting Force 6) meant that the second dive of the day had to be cancelled. Elaine said that the forecast was for the storm to increase to a Force 9: sometimes discretion is the better part of valour. No-one was in any doubt that the skipper knew best in this scenario. A real shame for the main group on the boat who had travelled all the way from Huddersfield. Apparently, the next day's diving was also cancelled due to the weather meaning that it was a long trip for the Yorkshire divers who only got the one dive all weekend.

Davie (thehappychappy) has posted a thorough blog of the event here.