St Abbs - May 2006
Well, I decided to organise a trip to St Abbs again. Last year I had organised one and despite really bad weather we went out! The vis wasn’t so good but I really wanted to get back there this year! We were diving with Paul Crowe, Skipper of MV Topline (www.divestabbs.co.uk). Really nice big spacious boat, good ladders, après dive tea/coffee too! And an advantage of this boat is that you can book as little or as many spaces as you like!
The morning of the 7th of May….. I decide that just before we leave ill check my emails – just typical, one from the skipper saying its really bad fog and a bit of a swell – “give him a bell before we leave”. AAARRRRGGGGHHHH! Phoned him – the balls in our court, it could clear by the time we get there, on the other hand there could be no diving due to the fog (don’t want lost divers!). And it’s up to me to decide! I checked the met office inshore waters forecast – it says ‘vis poor early on but becoming good later’. Right, let’s go for it!!! Glad that was the decision – the two dives were worth it! There was 7 divers – My dad (Ian) & Sandie, Campbell & Sharon, Alex & Martin & myself. Fog had cleared by the time we got there, but there was still a bit of a swell. Can’t have everything I suppose!
Dive 1 – East Side of West Hurker.
Nice dive, we travelled around the 12-15m mark for the majority of the dive. Big huge boulders covered in dead men’s fingers. Also loads of nudibranchs - Tritonia hombergi I believe. They were around the bases of the dead men’s fingers on the rocks.
Near the end of the dive we dropped down over a shelf to about 19m. Here the seabed was covered in brittle stars. Millions of them! Down here there were also a lot more plumose anemones and big sunstars.
The end of our dive appeared – up with the SMB!
Sharon and Campbell saw a wolf fish sitting out curled around the dead men’s fingers. Im jealous! Campbell managed to get a photo of it though!
My Dad saw a bizarre looking fish on this dive – big, orange fins, not a wrasse, kind of rounded looking from the sides…. Turns out to be a lumpsucker! Magic! They come in to shallow water in May to breed in the North England/South Scotland on the East. Fantastic!
We were joined on our 1min safety stop by birds diving around our bubbles. Although I was flapping my arms like a bird and pointing behind martin he failed to turn around and look for quite some time. He thought I was ‘just trying to keep warm’…….
Dive 2 – West side of the Skells
There were lots of gullies to swim up and down on this dive. More varied life than West Hurker I would think. I saw an Octopus! I was well chuffed – it was stuck on the side of a boulder pretending not to be there!
In the holes at the bottom of the cliff there were a good few lobsters.
The swell present on this dive was huge – especially close in to the cliffs. It was two fins forward, one fin back! Go with the flow!
It was nice to swim among the kelp and through the gullies! A nice big wrasse hung about us for a minute too.
On this dive we also managed to get Alex’s 100th hour underwater!
Really good dives, would love to go back here soon! Sharon had a great time too – it was her first outing in a hardboat! Maybe I’ll be lucky the next time and organise a trip when it’s sunny and calm!
Happy diving! Lynsey.
Photos were taken by Campbell and Myself (Lynsey).