Night Dive at The Caves 24/11/06

[alexmaclennan]

Night dive with Stewart Russell (thanks to Stewart who agreed to my PM). Terrible silty viz in the first 10 m - I could only just see Stewart's big bright Clyde wreck diving torch 2m away - presumably due to all the recent rain. Better viz of 3 to 5m below this. Temp 11 degrees at 30m. Highlight of the dive was Beryl the seal who I just saw towards the end of the dive, but Stewart assured me spent quite a long time around us. Eventually she got close enough for him to touch her.........but was it a thrill for Beryl :rolleyes: ?

The Young's Winter Warmer in the Village is delicious.

On the way there, there were two policemen speedtrapping between Arrochar and Tarbet :eek: . Be warned.

alex

[stew]

After having been invited out for a dive by Alex to the caves, I must admit I was in two minds whether or not to go due to the recent side slanted rain we have had of lately.
I predicted poor viz; we got that upon the entry, almost guaranteed.
Dropping below some 10 meters the viz picked up to around perhaps 7 meters or so with a big bright Clyde wreck diving torch, only dulled slightly by the darkness of such a gloomy rain swept night.
As it’s winter I guessed the fish life would be sparse, I was proved right as we swam along for 19 minutes at 25-30 meter range.
Upon hitting the scree slope I saw a small sprat of a fish in my torch beam wriggle aimlessly then shoot like it’s life depended upon it.
We turned the dive one minute earlier than planned due to the introduction of ‘Beryl’ the seal who in turn was now chasing that ‘sprat’
Entering from stage right; some 25 stone of unmovable blubber on land, she shot past in a torpedo like manner.
For the next 20 minutes on the return leg she thoroughly entertained us with her poetic poise & balance. At one stage she did a face plant between two rocks; assumable angling out a fish. She stayed there for around 10 seconds, head down, backside up, not one meter away before departing.
Still sporting her visible scar from the summer upon her ‘shoulder’ she stopped in front of me & for reasons beyond me, something I would normally never do, I reached out & stroked her.
Acting like any female when a strange man touches her ‘ass’; in a similar manner she responded by slapping my face, no only kidding, she flinched dramatically then bolted away.
At that point I realised just how vulnerable we were, should she have taken more offence things could have been different.
After all, this is a wild animal & should be treated with the respect she deserves.
The remainder of the dive saw her become more comfortable with us; perhaps too comfortable, as she got closer using our torch beams to locate the sparse food supply the caves had to offer.
The Village Inn supplied the second treat of the evening; cunningly disguised in a Stella pint glass.
I enjoyed the evening immensely & would like to thank Alex for the invite.
Perhaps we can do it again some time?

Regards,

Stewart

[charlie]

Sounds like a great night out: thanks for sharing the details, guys :)

[stew]

First dive was at the Caves today.
Very poor viz made this dive a bit of an effort.
Less than 2 meter’s at times, the best perhaps being around 4 meters.
A group of divers from Edinburgh surfaced & told us of their encounter with an octopus at 20 meters.
I naturally assumed they had a kit problem, as any self-respecting octopus that could be spotted in such poor viz should have been a fish.

The 2nd dive we actually went to Conger Alley.
I have not dived there for such a long time but was pleasantly surprised with the abundance of marine life.
Saw 2 large cuddly congers, shoals of cod, strange looking large Wrasse?
& all the usual hard backs normally on offer from Loch Long.
The viz was changeable but averaged around 5 meters.
There was lots of freshwater run off visibly mixing close to the surface, which in turn made the safety stop a little chilly at 9 degrees.