charlie
20-12-06, 23:20
My pal Gus and I met up with Alex Mac last night at the A-Frames car park & he led us to the 29 Steps car park. Torches in hand we headed down to the shore for a recce: the tide was a looooonnnnng way out. :eek:
It was a delight to get kitted up on such a beautiful clear night and we cheerily made our way back down to the water (a bit more cannily though with the kit on our backs). Having dived the site previously, Alex acted as our guide & dive leader. We headed out over the strewn remains of old cylinders to find the training platform at about 7m depth. We continued down to about 12m before taking a left along that contour. After a few minutes we came across the remains of an old dolphin (I'll allow Alex or someone else with nautical knowledge to describe what it is :eek:). After a poke about we continued to find the rather impressive "anemone city" comprising a good number of large isolated boulders heavily populated by various cnidarians. When we were all satisfied, Alex led us on our return leg & we surfaced just a few yards from the entry point. A very enjoyable laid-back dive. Max depth 12.4 m, dive time 33 min, temp 6.0-12.4°C.
After a satisfying surface interval (thanks for the sandwich, Alex), we headed back in for a repeat performance but with me having a go at leading. Pretty much the same drill and again very sedate. Shallow water was exceptionally cold with a very marked thermocline so we didn't hang about too long for any stops. Wee bit more of a surface swim back this time. Max depth 14.8 m, dive time 34 min, temp 7.2-12.0°C.
Headed to a nice pub in Balloch (Coachman's, Coach House??) for a pint preceding the drive home. Was absolutely knackered this morning but it was well worth it. Thanks to Alex for showing us the site: it'll be a very suitable venue for trainees.
It was a delight to get kitted up on such a beautiful clear night and we cheerily made our way back down to the water (a bit more cannily though with the kit on our backs). Having dived the site previously, Alex acted as our guide & dive leader. We headed out over the strewn remains of old cylinders to find the training platform at about 7m depth. We continued down to about 12m before taking a left along that contour. After a few minutes we came across the remains of an old dolphin (I'll allow Alex or someone else with nautical knowledge to describe what it is :eek:). After a poke about we continued to find the rather impressive "anemone city" comprising a good number of large isolated boulders heavily populated by various cnidarians. When we were all satisfied, Alex led us on our return leg & we surfaced just a few yards from the entry point. A very enjoyable laid-back dive. Max depth 12.4 m, dive time 33 min, temp 6.0-12.4°C.
After a satisfying surface interval (thanks for the sandwich, Alex), we headed back in for a repeat performance but with me having a go at leading. Pretty much the same drill and again very sedate. Shallow water was exceptionally cold with a very marked thermocline so we didn't hang about too long for any stops. Wee bit more of a surface swim back this time. Max depth 14.8 m, dive time 34 min, temp 7.2-12.0°C.
Headed to a nice pub in Balloch (Coachman's, Coach House??) for a pint preceding the drive home. Was absolutely knackered this morning but it was well worth it. Thanks to Alex for showing us the site: it'll be a very suitable venue for trainees.