Guides
Ten UK dives you might just manage
I wrote this article following on from the social media lists of 'must do' dives, I hope you enjoy reading it and look forward to your feedback on your favourite UK dives!
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Latest Photographs
A view of the sections of masts if you are heading towards the Hopper, they are in a section of sand filled gully at the base of the rock face
The gnomes garden......there are a few broken ones around too!
A Lions Mane Jellyfish (Cyanea capillata), when they are about deco stops are always interesting!
A more conventionally coloured Bloody Henry (Henerica oculata)
The Mistley has been a bit more exposed this year with areas of the bottom now visible after rocks and sand have been washed out.
Girders and bits and bats that have flattened onto the bed-rock in the main gully
Bear with me....its the port side hawse pipe and the two 'eyes' are where the flukles of the anchor located to sop them 'bashing about' when the ship was operating at high speed or inclement seas.
Near the end of the dive I was surrounded by a huge shoal of Saithe (Pollachius virens) unfortunately the silty water didn't do justice to the sheer amount of fish that were all around me, amazing!
Along part of the site there is a definite step of maybe a meter, a very good spot for picking up lost weights but note the general lack of life here in 10m of water!
This smaller donkey boiler is standing on one of the flate ends and large sections of the outer case have, over the years, come adrift meaning that you can look in on the various tubes and pipes. To find it when you get out from the cut through Knifestone follow the wall right.
You do need sharp eyes as frequently all that is visible, poking through tiny pockets of sand, are the stainless steel grip leads.
A plaice (Pleuronectes platessa), an unusal sight for the northern diver and if big enough most frequently seen impaled on a knife!
Sea Hare (aplysia punctata) you get loads and loads of them on the south side of the point feeding and breeding!
A Lions Mane Jellyfish (Cyanea capillata), when they are about deco stops are always interesting!
The Staple Sound side of the site is a wall smothered in Dead mans Fingers (Alcyonium digitatum) and is a great scenic dive!
Arty-farty shot of the wall with kelp waving in the current, I think that the cotrrect terminology is atmospheric?
A general topographical shot, there are several large stone pinnacles on the site, the largest rising maybe 4m from the seabed and with a circumference of 50m. They do degrade over time as they are formed from a softish rock and do receive a battering every year from Southerly and Easterly storms. They are however perfect lobster ground with their huge number of cracks and crevices!
And when you reach the 'bootlace' seaweed you know that the exit point is near, if in doubt stick your head up, the depth will be down to between one and two meters now depending on the tide.
I really struggled whilst looking for handles that 'spin or rotate' whilst you turn the reel, eventually I settled on machining a bit of brass with knurling for grip and mounting on a countersunk screw that wasn't tightened all of the way in
An arty fary half and half shot
I am somewhat adept at finding taps which are then cleaned and nailed onto the shed-wall! This one was on Yewglen and all that was showing was a small bit of the handle and outlet, it came out of the iron crud really easily.
As you get closer to the cliff then there is more sandstone bedrock and the doleritic limestone boulders get smaller.....there are also more edible sea-urchins, not that you would!
The lower mounting position where the pin would fit, from a little distance away
The lower mounting position where the pin would fit
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