8th July
A blisteringly hot day in July saw us change plans and head to the relatively easy to get to coastal town of St Abbs. A few of us from the club (myself, Alistair, Torsten, Laura and Kimon) wanted to check out the Marine Reserve; the first dive of the season there for two of us, and the first dive there ever for three others.
We were out with the effervescent skipper Paul Crowe and his fab boat shore diver. As ever, loading the boat meant hooking all the kit on to the small crane and lowering in into the boat. We wanted to look for diving birds that swim underwater, but were told that we had actually missed the end of that action by just a few days!
In water the visibility didn’t entirely match the topside conditions, and the water was a bit murky. This did not deter us atall, and as St Abbs is so rich in Marine Life due to it’s reserve status, there was plenty for the first time Abbers to see. Much of the life is small, and you do have to look quite hard in amongst the rich plant life, but you are rewarded with a high variation of wee critters.
Even with not so stunning visibility, Laura still felt there was much more life than the warmer climes she had dived in.
12th July
This was a midweek trip that involved two other clubs (Perth and Cumbria), but was opened up to DSAC members to join if they wished. However the Wednesday timing meant that it was only myself and Les that were able to go.
Even though there was only four days inbetween this trip and the previous trip, the underwater conditions had improved dramatically with at least 10m horizontal visibility. Topside we were rewarded again with a stunning sunny day.
Les had to put up with two slow movers with CCRs, going around the long ways rather than over, but we were rewarded on the last dive with an octopus sitting quite the thing on a rock. Its patience with me however only had a short shelf life, and with an annoyed flush of red, it backed away from us and back to its own space.
A great couple of days all round with club mates and old buddies from around the UK. We are hopefully heading back to St Abbs before the year is out, so watch the club calendar for updates on trips.
