Our second diving trip, with our club from Newbury (Newbury Sub-Aqua Club), to the area of the English-Scottish border.
This time around - to Eyemouth (in Scotland).
All in all, dives similar to those near the Farne Islands,
just not that many seals (and those that did visit us were much less friendly).
Places:
Details:
The road there was exceptionally good - driving through most of England, but omitting, I think, most of the traffic jams.
And it was Friday before a long weekend!
But, after our last trip to the same area, we decided to leave Newbury much earlier - around noon.
And we got there just after 6 quick hours;
others, leaving even an hour later, had to add an hour or two to their "drive" time...
The road there was exceptionally good - driving through most of England, but omitting, I think, most of the traffic jams.
And it was Friday before a long weekend!
But, after our last trip to the same area, we decided to leave Newbury much earlier - around noon.
And we got there just after 6 quick hours;
others, leaving even an hour later, had to add an hour or two to their "drive" time...
Day 1 - getting there
[MJT] Eyemouth harbor
[MJT] Eyemouth harbor
[MJT] Town beach - we had a lovely BBQ there the other day
[MJT] Town beach - we had a lovely BBQ there the other day
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The Isle of May is located in the north of the outer Firth of Forth,
approximately 8 km off the coast of mainland Scotland. May Island is a
National Nature Reserve and home to many birds (puffins, guillemots), and seals.
So, we expected pretty good dives.
We chose that place because of the pretty choppy state of the sea Eastwards.
And instead of going there by boat (a pretty long trip), only the captain took that road.
The rest of the group took their cars and went to the harbor in Dumbar.
(BTW, the company: Marine Quest from Eyemouth (accommodation, air/gas fills), boat: Silver Star, with a lift).
A very convenient parking lot near the town swimming pool; with a good descent to the port.
Though the wind chilled us a bit while we were waiting for the boat...
The first dive was supposed to be on the Primrose trawler wreck.
The captain set down the shot and we had to wait some for the tide to slacken.
After a while, the first pair went in. And just as quickly came back up.
Turned out that it's not the tide that had slackened, but that the shot didn't even touch the ground.
So, effectively, it was floating in "zero" tide the whole time...
Ok, the next time the captain found the wreck.
We were one of the first pairs in the water.
But it turned out that the tide now is pretty strong - we were waiving on the shot line like flags.
And it was actually pretty difficult to get down to the wreck - hard work.
At the bottom, we decided that we don't really want to lose sight of the shot line.
Given the low visibility, that meant that we could "explore" all of 4 square meters of the wreck...
(Later we heard that the next day somebody did decide to have a drift dive,
and they had to look for the pair a mile off the wreck...)
Going back up wasn't any easier; some of the divers complained that by holding the shot so tightly,
their tendons in the arm would stick out so much that water would start pouring in through the seal!
Also, we got some jellyfish tentacles being swept into the shot line.
A couple of dives got stung by them - including my Marcia.
So, all in all, a totally unterrific dive...
The second one was near the island's wall and this one turned out to be much calmer
and even a bit interesting. A seal came to play with us briefly, trying to catch Sean by his butt. :-)
The Isle of May is located in the north of the outer Firth of Forth,
approximately 8 km off the coast of mainland Scotland. May Island is a
National Nature Reserve and home to many birds (puffins, guillemots), and seals.
So, we expected pretty good dives.
We chose that place because of the pretty choppy state of the sea Eastwards.
And instead of going there by boat (a pretty long trip), only the captain took that road.
The rest of the group took their cars and went to the harbor in Dumbar.
(BTW, the company: Marine Quest from Eyemouth (accommodation, air/gas fills), boat: Silver Star, with a lift).
A very convenient parking lot near the town swimming pool; with a good descent to the port.
Though the wind chilled us a bit while we were waiting for the boat...
The first dive was supposed to be on the Primrose trawler wreck.
The captain set down the shot and we had to wait some for the tide to slacken.
After a while, the first pair went in. And just as quickly came back up.
Turned out that it's not the tide that had slackened, but that the shot didn't even touch the ground.
So, effectively, it was floating in "zero" tide the whole time...
Ok, the next time the captain found the wreck.
We were one of the first pairs in the water.
But it turned out that the tide now is pretty strong - we were waiving on the shot line like flags.
And it was actually pretty difficult to get down to the wreck - hard work.
At the bottom, we decided that we don't really want to lose sight of the shot line.
Given the low visibility, that meant that we could "explore" all of 4 square meters of the wreck...
(Later we heard that the next day somebody did decide to have a drift dive,
and they had to look for the pair a mile off the wreck...)
Going back up wasn't any easier; some of the divers complained that by holding the shot so tightly,
their tendons in the arm would stick out so much that water would start pouring in through the seal!
Also, we got some jellyfish tentacles being swept into the shot line.
A couple of dives got stung by them - including my Marcia.
So, all in all, a totally unterrific dive...
The second one was near the island's wall and this one turned out to be much calmer
and even a bit interesting. A seal came to play with us briefly, trying to catch Sean by his butt. :-)
Day 2 - Isle of May: Primrose wreck (1904) and a dive near the island wall
[MJT] Dumbar harbor
[MJT] Dumbar harbor
[MJT] We're waiting for the tide to slacken...
[MJT] We're waiting for the tide to slacken...
[MJT] Islands very similar to the Farnes
[MJT] Islands very similar to the Farnes
[MJT] We had a couple of visitors then
[MJT] We had a couple of visitors then
[MJT] That's the second dive - no pictures from the wreck, unfortunately...
[MJT] That's the second dive - no pictures from the wreck, unfortunately...
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[MJT] A seal is trying to catch Sean
[MJT] A seal is trying to catch Sean
[MJT] Then it took an interest in the camera
[MJT] Then it took an interest in the camera
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[MJT] Nice mermaid, isn't it?
[MJT] Nice mermaid, isn't it?
[MJT] Got very interested in the camera...
[MJT] Got very interested in the camera...
[MJT] We should've had our helmets - as a shield against diving birds
[MJT] We should've had our helmets - as a shield against diving birds
[MJT] Edible crab (Cancer pagurus)
[MJT] Edible crab (Cancer pagurus)
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The weather deteriorated on the next day - so, we took to the road, to see a bit more of Scotland.
We went to (circumnavigated, actually) the Loch Lomond and the Trossachs National Park.
To see some Scottish mountains, waterfalls, and lochs.
And in the evening, we had a very nice barbeque at the town beach.
The weather deteriorated on the next day - so, we took to the road, to see a bit more of Scotland.
We went to (circumnavigated, actually) the Loch Lomond and the Trossachs National Park.
To see some Scottish mountains, waterfalls, and lochs.
And in the evening, we had a very nice barbeque at the town beach.
Day 3 - Loch Lomond and the Trossachs National Park
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[MJT] Loch Lubnaig
[MJT] Loch Lubnaig
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[MJT] River Dochart
[MJT] River Dochart
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[MJT] Falls of Falloch
[MJT] Falls of Falloch
[MJT] Back in Eyemouth
[MJT] Back in Eyemouth
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The weather wasn't really looking any better in the morning; however, it was supposed to get better later on.
So, for the first half of the day we decided to take another trip - on the way to the second starting port - in North Berwick.
First, the Tantallon castle - pretty high walls, right next to the sea (some of the castle has already ended up in the water).
Beautiful views, pretty cool architecture.
But we quickly ran out of time...
It's usually pretty hard to find a good parking place near the North Berwick harbor.
But we just went in there and took the first available spot.
It wasn't exactly a proper parking place, but then we asked the harbor master whether we can stay there.
The very nice man reparked his car and allowed us to park in his place.
So, we were the last ones there, but we got the best spot - to the envy of the rest of the group. :-)
Our first point of interest - the Phaeacian wreck, classified as steel steamship, was lost in 1943
(due to a collision with the super tanker San Zotico); lays at seabed at a depth of about 30m.
This time around, the dive started without any problems; though we still had a lot of current.
The wreck was split into two big parts, and the shot landed in between.
So, a great place to start the dive.
Unfortunately, only a couple of photos - low visibility.
And because of the current / wave action, it was really difficult to find a steady spot...
The second dive was near the Craileith island - when we got into the water, the current took us straight away.
No chance to take pictures, you even had to have pretty good reflexes to see anything among the rocks.
We started thinking that it's pretty much a lost dive, but then we got to the leeward side of the island.
And the currents just died. We could finally relax and take a close look at what's there (usually, these had a lot of legs).
And that was the end of our adventure; the rest of the group had one more diving day.
But because we didn't feel too well, and the dives were supposed to be quite deep, we decided to skip the dives.
We had a very calm trip home and finally could rest a bit.
Those diving trips are too much like sport camps... ;-)
The weather wasn't really looking any better in the morning; however, it was supposed to get better later on.
So, for the first half of the day we decided to take another trip - on the way to the second starting port - in North Berwick.
First, the Tantallon castle - pretty high walls, right next to the sea (some of the castle has already ended up in the water).
Beautiful views, pretty cool architecture.
But we quickly ran out of time...
It's usually pretty hard to find a good parking place near the North Berwick harbor.
But we just went in there and took the first available spot.
It wasn't exactly a proper parking place, but then we asked the harbor master whether we can stay there.
The very nice man reparked his car and allowed us to park in his place.
So, we were the last ones there, but we got the best spot - to the envy of the rest of the group. :-)
Our first point of interest - the Phaeacian wreck, classified as steel steamship, was lost in 1943
(due to a collision with the super tanker San Zotico); lays at seabed at a depth of about 30m.
This time around, the dive started without any problems; though we still had a lot of current.
The wreck was split into two big parts, and the shot landed in between.
So, a great place to start the dive.
Unfortunately, only a couple of photos - low visibility.
And because of the current / wave action, it was really difficult to find a steady spot...
The second dive was near the Craileith island - when we got into the water, the current took us straight away.
No chance to take pictures, you even had to have pretty good reflexes to see anything among the rocks.
We started thinking that it's pretty much a lost dive, but then we got to the leeward side of the island.
And the currents just died. We could finally relax and take a close look at what's there (usually, these had a lot of legs).
And that was the end of our adventure; the rest of the group had one more diving day.
But because we didn't feel too well, and the dives were supposed to be quite deep, we decided to skip the dives.
We had a very calm trip home and finally could rest a bit.
Those diving trips are too much like sport camps... ;-)
Day 4 - Firth of Forth: Phaeacian Wreck (1943) and Craigleith
[MJT] Tantallon Castle
[MJT] Tantallon Castle
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[MJT] Bass Rock, and, on the horizon - Isle of May
[MJT] Bass Rock, and, on the horizon - Isle of May
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[MJT] A shot from the top of castle walls - pretty high walls, actually
[MJT] A shot from the top of castle walls - pretty high walls, actually
[MJT] North Berwick Harbor
[MJT] North Berwick Harbor
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[MJT] Blue jellyfish - these were the ones that would sting us
[MJT] Blue jellyfish - these were the ones that would sting us
[MJT] Life on the Phaeacian
[MJT] Life on the Phaeacian
[MJT] Butterfish / rock gunnel (Pholis gunnellus) - named after its slippery skin
[MJT] Butterfish / rock gunnel (Pholis gunnellus) - named after its slippery skin
[MJT] Common lobster (Homarus gammarus) - on the second dive, after the currents got a bit calmer
[MJT] Common lobster (Homarus gammarus) - on the second dive, after the currents got a bit calmer
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[MJT] This jellyfish had small problems with orientation
[MJT] This jellyfish had small problems with orientation
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