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!
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!
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!
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