Bass Rock 25th March 2007

[chris]

PeterM and myself headed down to join PlugDivers on the DiveSafari boat - Corvette Bullet and were joined by Mogwai. Sea looked extremely wild as we drove up to harbour, but knew that Gary wouldnt let us down. Ropes were off at 1000, however someone (who shall remain nameless) forgot to change his clocks :rolleyes: We hung around and eventually we were ready to rock.
Loads of space on the boat, large dry area inside wheelhouse and tons of space on the deck. Gary also has all the toys up front for locating those dive sites and wrecks.
Brian was at the wheel with Gary teaching, and the boat was only 7 divers and 2 crew so we could spread about a bit. There was plenty of kitting up space and Gary is experimenting with the bottle rack storage but it was adequate and we didnt lose anything even with the huge swells we had to deal with on the way to Bass Rock.
We dived the West Side both dives due to the swell and currents and viz was reasonably poor at 1-2m. Not a lot of life obviously, but the squat lobsters didnt scurry away the minute your torch was on them, plenty of prawns, velvet swimming crabs and edible crabs and one or two large lobsters (none for the pot though, Gary did take home his dinner by way of two edible crabs).
After our dives we headed for U74 site so Gary could get a sounder on it and GPS marker and that was a pretty rough ride, with a few people looking rather green. Headed back in to a pretty quick dekit and head home.
Missed Stewart for a beer in the volunteer arms, maybe next time.

Although someone forgot to change their clocks, I might as well owning up to causing some trouble too. Regs free flowed as soon as I switched them on and had to borrow a set from Gary, then snapped a finstrap...oh the joys:D

A good day and looking forward to going out with Gary again.

If anyone wants to join Gary or PlugDivers, PM for details.

[stew]

glad you had a good day out, i saw you comming into the harbour, but a fresh pint of stela awaited me while you got your kit up the 10 meter high harbour wall.
quite a feat for a knackered dive team im sure.
catch you next time.

p.s. i had your pint, thanks :)

[Mogwai]

Ok, My Bad, and am a doofus for forgetting about changing the clocks, apologies (again) to all for making you wait. Luckily eough left early enough to 'almost' make it on time, thanks for hanging on and for the opportunity for the dive Chris. Like you said not much in the way of viz but still a good day out (apart from the green face making swells on the way back in) Really fancy having a crack at the sub later on in the year and looking forward to getting back to Bass Rock again.

:)

[PeterM]

Not the greatest dive, but always fun to get out. Not alot to see this time, although there were loads of prawns and the biggest edible crab I have ever seen underwater. Not sure if its the one Gary got, or whether it is still down there. If you go back in the summer you will see dive bombing birds off the Bass Rock which is pretty neat. If it's as rough as Sunday I might put out some bird food (albeit pertly digested) to attract them! Also saw the odd seal out at Bass Rock, and three more in Dunbar harbour.

[stew]

Really fancy having a crack at the sub later on in the year
i plan to run another trip, let me know if your interested.
perhaps around the end of May start of June after the algy bloom has been & gone.

[chris]

Not only Did Mogwai forget to change his clocks, he also managed to acquire the skippers bag complete with boat key in his box. (I beleive it was an honest mistake :rolleyes: ). Mogwai is returning it this week for an excuse to go visit Gary's shop in North Berwick.:cool:
We might get a whole new Mogwai's box this week as I believe a new suit is on its way too.