St Abbs - Harbour East
Alternative Name(s):
Travel directions: A1, turn off for Eyemouth on the A1107, 2 miles at a roundabout turn right to the ’New Harbour’ at the Dive Shop either park and walk over to the sea or drive up the track and park A1, turn off for Eyemouth on the A1107, 2 miles at a roundabout turn right to the ’New Harbour’ at the Dive Shop either park and walk over to the sea or drive up the track and park
Parking directions: Harbour Masters area at back of Borders Council Car Park is cheaper
OS Map & Grid Ref: NT919673
Lat & Long: 55:53:56N 2:07:47W
OS Map: OS Landranger Map sheet 67
Site entry/exit: Walk all the way around the Harbour wall to the far North Easterly point and you will see a rocky decline
Underwater directions: The most popular shore-dives are at the east side of the harbour which is reached by walking around the stone jetties, the first-timer here just needs to follow the crowd and queue up at the entry point, the best entry is off the rocks where the three sections of wall meet, at high water it's a doddle but as the tide falls it becomes more tricky with the kelp posing particular problems at low water. The area around the entry point is gravel bottomed gullies which are easily followed depending on which tour you're undertaking.
The dives here generally consist of circumnavigating the rocky outcrops, Broad Craig, Big and Little Green Carrs and the renowned Cathedral Rock.
They can be dived separately or two or more can be combined which gives several permutations.
Once at the entry point, the big rock facing you is Broad Craig, this is an easy dive with no currents so long as you stay close to the rock, maximum depth about 10 metres. If circumnavigating this rock counter-clockwise, one of the first features is a very narrow gully near the entry point which has lots of kelp at the top, so it's quite an eerie start to the dive for novices.
Beyond this rock, to the north, is Big Green Carr, this is subject to
the main tidal stream on the seaward side, so it's best to stay close to the
rock face in which case the maximum depth will be 15 metres, although beyond
the rock itself the seabed falls away to 18+ metres. Big pollack abound here
and it's not uncommon to see groups of them hovering in the current This is a
colourful dive in mid to late summer, especially early morning when the
Amphitheatre (on the east side) is illuminated by direct sunlight.
A decent sized wolf-fish has taken up residence in a hole on the west side of
this rock and is always ready to entertain visitors!
Cathedral Rock is to the south-east, so named by divers because of the arched tunnel through it (actually there are two tunnels, a much smaller one lies above the main arch). A group of semi-tame wrasse live around Cathedral, and they're unafraid of divers, taking food from an outstretched hand. Often a current flows through the arch on the flood tide, but it isn't serious, in fact it helps to keep the vis' reasonable after the previous visitors have stirred it up.
On all the sites here, you'll see dead-men's-fingers and anemones adorning the quite impressive walls. Even if the vis is poor, there are so many smaller forms of life on the rocks, in crevices and on the weeds that you'll not be disappointed, nudibranchs in particular are numerous and very colourful.
Another interesting area is around the rocks lining the harbour entrance. Few people venture here as the harbour master gets annoyed if anyone dives in the fairway so be sure not to surface in this area.
Site Hazards: Current, surf, Surge, Slippery entry, Council parking charges if you don’t display a ticket
Suggested experience: Any
Nearest Public phone: Top of Hill I think
Mobile Network service: Need to walk to top of Hill for good service, only 1 or 2 bars in Harbour area
Other comments:
Pub: Plenty
Created by: Chris Reid
Date: 23/06/07
Land photos:
Underwater photos:
Underwater map/ Sketch:
