Duo Divers - Boat dives around Dunstanburgh Castle

This is a head on shot of a Greater Spotted Dogfish, or Bull Huss or catshark or Nursehound (Scyliorhinus stellaris) they are becoming a more common visitor every year.

This is the top of the sternpost

Wreckage from SS Loch Leven which foundered without the loss of life, not an oft dived site but very nice scenery plus rust!

A selection of handmade nails.

It's easy to see that these are not machine made as the top of the shaft is round whilst the 'point' is square section and the head is simply a piece of shaft 'peened' over.

Again in dating terms nails were machine made from the start of the nineteenth centrury so a useful dating aid providing that you find 'lots'. If you only locate one or two it may be that teh ships carpenter made them for a specific job.

Oh, lots of nails also implies that the ship was copper sheathed, again useful in dating terms.

Treasure!

In this case a small herringbone silver chain, it'll go nice as a necklace on the silver 'art deco' figure that I blagged from SS Breda!

Fun and games for us and the White Beaked dolphins, Lagernorhynchus albirastris!

A stowed tangle net, complete with part decayed guillimot.

Having extracted this common lobster (Hommarus gammarus) I found it was berried, grrrrh!

A Devonshire Cup Coral (Caryophyllia smithii) on the deck of HMS Scylla

A common star-fish (Asterias rubens) if you want to get rid of a feral cat a sliced up arm gives them terrible indigestion!

Head up the slope from the boilers in a south westerly direction and you will find a jumble of winches and machinery

You get two colours of Plumose Anemone (Metridium senile) white and orange, both look like cold willies when closed up but very pretty when open and feeding!

Manta Ray (manta birostris) on a swim past

The barrels just 'go off' into the gloom, wow!

A white german fire brick, the engine area has been heavily salvaged so there are a few bricks dotted about

Serpula vermicularis, actually worms rather than a plant, now there is a thing.

A Bloody Henry (Henricia oculata), a nice easy subject!

The Staple Sound side of the site is a wall smothered in Dead mans Fingers (Alcyonium digitatum) and is a great scenic dive!

A soft coral that is very 'skull' shaped.

A 'random wreckage' shot, you can see the rope and shattered pot, so go steady on these dives as there are trapping hazards about.

The upper mounting position where the pin would fit with a wrist mounted compass to give some sort of scale

Fins are a particular favourite of Grey seals (Halichoerus grypus) and they especially like soft split fins, that's why I don't wear them!

Sea Hare (aplysia punctata) vary greatly in colour, as can be seen from this 'stack of four'

Some brief dive details!

Dead-mans fingers Alcyonium digitatum all out and feeding, always pretty!

Looking through the bowsprit hole of Carnatic, Abu Nuhas Reef

Even in the middle of nowhere doing a deco stop a sea-lion would pop up for a fin-munch...super!

Ideas? Possibly a Bigeye of some description.....

A Plaice (Pleoronectidae platessa)

The business end of a Titan Triggerfish (balistoides viridescens), you stad more chance of being bitten by one of these beggars than virually anthing else!

Every little helps....... these guys set up shop in 1879 so that is the earliest date for the mystery wreck

A free-swimming conger eel (conger conger) in an internal corridor of HMS Scylla

Inside the wheelhouse of Hokoyu Maru

Stack markings and house flag of Mitsui Bussan Kaisha from a cup on Amagisan Maru

An Edible Crab (Cancer pagurus), there a few of these critters about but most if not all are of a size that would mean little or no meat, that said technically they would be legal...

I think that its a Sand Mason (Lanice conchilaya) but not sure......

A pair of nudibranchs (risbecia tryoni) tailgating

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Boat dives around Dunstanburgh Castle

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