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.
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 AlleyLast 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 AbbsI'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!
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