alexmaclennan
10-03-07, 19:56
Travelled down on the Friday night hearing that Forth road bridge was shut to high sided vehicles because of high winds. Stayed ovenight in licenced Castle Rock guesthouse. Good breakfast. £30 for the night.
Weather was calm sea, light wind and occasional bright sun all day - perfect.
Met Dave Tomlin who organised the trip and the 5 others with us on the trip. They had stayed at The Rock House. We were diving with Billy Aitchison from Rockhousediving on his boat the Alikai, a red, twin hulled dive boat with a divers hoist on the stern. Big kitting up area. Both trips took only 10 to 15 mins from St Abbs harbour so our travel time on the boat was short. Bit of a climb up and down the pier ladders as it was around low water for both dives.
Dive 1. West Hurker towards Skelly Hole drift.
Jumped in and kept rock face to right shoulder. Rock faces and boulders covered in corals, dead mans fingers, and urchins. Felt like going through a garden. Found the cave, described by the skipper, a lobster and some edible crab but saw no fish. Skipper says that this is the best dive of all the St Abbs dives for fish, during the summer. Safety stop was in a kelp forest which starts at 8m. Viz 4 to 5m. Temp 7 degrees. 13m for 35mins.
Panini from Rock House for lunch £2.50, and an air fill of my 15l tank £2.50.
Dive 2 North of Wuddy Rocks
Jumped in and we were on a pinacle to 12m at the base with coral garden walls similar to the first dive. Followed round anticlockwise but reversed as it started to become shallower. Skipper had warned us that <8m could mean that we drifted off the reef into shallows. Had to fin hard against current. Them through a shallow, 8m, kelp field with a lot of surge. Past several lobsterpots but with no lobsters. Best bit of the dive was next. A long slit like ravine with lovely dahlia anemones and some form of folded white seafans. Finally, got some depth and back into more coral garden walls before surfacing. Again, safety stop in kelp and not a single fish during the dive. Viz 3 to 4m. Temp 7 degrees. 16m for 35mins.
The group before us had seen several wolf fish on this dive at about 22m.
A good day and only 1hr 45 back home which is roughly the same time as going into south Loch Fyne. I would definitely go back to shore or boat dive.
www.rockhousediving.com/ The website of Rockhouse
http://www.dcordes.freeuk.com/abbs.htm This is an excellent description of shore dives
Dave Tomlin does PADI OW, AOW, Rescue Diver and a few of the PADI Specialities training.
alex
Weather was calm sea, light wind and occasional bright sun all day - perfect.
Met Dave Tomlin who organised the trip and the 5 others with us on the trip. They had stayed at The Rock House. We were diving with Billy Aitchison from Rockhousediving on his boat the Alikai, a red, twin hulled dive boat with a divers hoist on the stern. Big kitting up area. Both trips took only 10 to 15 mins from St Abbs harbour so our travel time on the boat was short. Bit of a climb up and down the pier ladders as it was around low water for both dives.
Dive 1. West Hurker towards Skelly Hole drift.
Jumped in and kept rock face to right shoulder. Rock faces and boulders covered in corals, dead mans fingers, and urchins. Felt like going through a garden. Found the cave, described by the skipper, a lobster and some edible crab but saw no fish. Skipper says that this is the best dive of all the St Abbs dives for fish, during the summer. Safety stop was in a kelp forest which starts at 8m. Viz 4 to 5m. Temp 7 degrees. 13m for 35mins.
Panini from Rock House for lunch £2.50, and an air fill of my 15l tank £2.50.
Dive 2 North of Wuddy Rocks
Jumped in and we were on a pinacle to 12m at the base with coral garden walls similar to the first dive. Followed round anticlockwise but reversed as it started to become shallower. Skipper had warned us that <8m could mean that we drifted off the reef into shallows. Had to fin hard against current. Them through a shallow, 8m, kelp field with a lot of surge. Past several lobsterpots but with no lobsters. Best bit of the dive was next. A long slit like ravine with lovely dahlia anemones and some form of folded white seafans. Finally, got some depth and back into more coral garden walls before surfacing. Again, safety stop in kelp and not a single fish during the dive. Viz 3 to 4m. Temp 7 degrees. 16m for 35mins.
The group before us had seen several wolf fish on this dive at about 22m.
A good day and only 1hr 45 back home which is roughly the same time as going into south Loch Fyne. I would definitely go back to shore or boat dive.
www.rockhousediving.com/ The website of Rockhouse
http://www.dcordes.freeuk.com/abbs.htm This is an excellent description of shore dives
Dave Tomlin does PADI OW, AOW, Rescue Diver and a few of the PADI Specialities training.
alex