Random Jottings
Well it was forecast!
The weather on Saturday was splendid, flat calm and the sea looking like it would be diveable within a day or so but it was forecast as bad weather......
And it did certainly blow up overnight!
In this shot, taken from my favoured early season spot on the South Side of Beadnell Point you can just see Dunstanburgh Castle through the spray, yup it was wild and whilst I reckon that the swell was certainly in the twelve feet range it certainly wasn't the eighteen feet that we had been promised.
I went around the corner to Knacker Hole and things were worse! Here you can see the spray coming over the top of Black Rock, it was at the bottom of the tide so I would say that the top of Black Rock would be maybe nine feet above sea level so yup it was bashing about, and for those in the know this particular reef is relatively protected from Northerlies by the reef directly to the North, the Dell Point and then the islands!
I had planned a splash on Sunday and a start up of my standard vis record but this weather has removed any chance of starting that particular work, although with the Glad Tidings boat going out occasionally and boasting nearly 1.5m vis maybe I should start up and just put down 'NIL' and in the comments 'DON'T WASTE YOUR MONEY'.
There are a few places where you can get in and dive when the vis is poor and most are inland quarries, be that Hodge Close for those who want to do a little cave diving or one of the commercial operations up and down the country. Alternatively there is always good shore diving from Oban and Arrochar, again a bit of a drive but with two sharing a car and zero boat fees it is a comparable cost. In general my recommendation would be to give the islands a miss until March or thereabouts as sitting on a cold uncovered boat waiting to jump into soup isn't a good Sunday, it really isn't, trust me I spent large portions of my younger days shivering on a RIB and then lobstering in zero vis. Was it fun at the time.....nope!
So guys and gals if it's rough and crap vis give the North Sea a miss and head elsewhere and make sure that you.....
Dive safe
RichW
Latest Photographs


A gun sticking out from the side of the wreck, along with a few 'blurry' coalfish
A part view of the plans of SS Somali! Showing the 'special cargo' area which is relevant on a few fronts.
The bows of SS Breda, or at least the very front of the cut down bow section after she was wire cut to 28ft.
Bits of MV Yewglen wedged and jammed into the Little Rock
A pair of Long Clawed Squat Lobster (Munida rugosa) scrapping, not the best of shots because they fled after the first photograph.
The sternpost of the Mistley is maybe 20 yards away next to a large pinnacle, I guess that she hit the pinnacle before foundering closer to land
A view over the broken 'bottom' with a random diver. At times the site does resemble diver soup usually when prevailing conditions are poor limiting access to other areas or when the seals are in residence.
A common hermit crab (Pagurus bernhardus), I just couldn't get it to stay still to get a shot of it's back end!
An arty fary half and half shot
Girders and bits and bats that have flattened onto the bed-rock in the main gully
Lost fishing line, sometimes obvious, other times not so. Always take some cutting gear and never try to snap braid using fingers or hands!
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.
In common with most southern sites there were loads of Snale locks anemones (Anemonia viridis) on surfaces where there was sun and water movement.
Into Staple Sound and providing there is no current its just coarse sand and fist sized stones with some Dead mans fingers (Alcyonium digitatum) and other small creatures, not worth the swim guys!
A Red Cushion Star (Porania pulvillus) this one was half on/half off a hatch so made quite a nice subject as there was access to the top as per this shot.
Typical geology, the surfaces are covered in Dead mans fingers (Alcyonium digitatum), the bottom being small vertical faces, rocks and large boulders....all very scenic and pretty in good vis!
A very large, well the largest that I have ever seen Common Octopus (Octopus vulgaris), if hunting occies look for the eyes, they cannot change their 'slitted' eyes which look at you as an equal rather than some other sea creatures which appear not to have the intellegence of this species.
If you want to head into the wreck this is one of the access points!
Huzzah, I do like finding a tosheroon, in this case where tide and rock formation have caused a build up of lost fishing weights. You can rapidly find a huge amount of weights if you are scouring a virgin area as there tends to be quite a few of these on any length of reef