Random Jottings
A video of the wreckage of MV Yewglen
The Yewglen is a bit of a scrap-yard dive but still very enjoyable!
And of course there have been quite a few losses over the years so always the chance of some pretty trinkets!
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This is the 'type' of bottom which I was talking about, formed from loads of worm tubes, it's quite soft and sandy so can feel crunchy if your buoyancy control is poor.
A rather bedraggled Sqaut Lobster (Galathea squamifera) sitting within a Dead-mans finger (Alcyonium digitatum) this one had no claws hence it had lost it's hole and was hiding away in a filter feeder, judging by it's general appearance and barnacle covered carapice I would think, not long of this world.
A view into the propellor shaft, simply taking a bearing along the shaft and follow over the sand and you will reach the other part of the wreck
You will find this particular sponge all over 'shallow' sites around the Northumbrian coast, not being an expert I can only guess that it is Stelletta lactea and if someone wishes to correct me then great!
The back end of a shaggy mouse slug, or sea mouse or more accurately Aeolidia papillosa, this one was spotted quite early in the season.
Scenic stuff with Poor Cod, Pout and other small baitfish amoung the ribs and spars
Kelp (Family laminariales) does tend to be quite a long lived plant with the stem above say the first twenty centimeters quite a safe place for a plant to grow without the risk of sea-urchins 'browsing' you away. In this case dulse and other sea-weed encases the stem, making an eco-system up in the water column!
View two of a bilge sieve, these were fitted to the open ends of bilge pipes to make sure that no large crud which may block the pump could be drawn into the system.
Not sure what this is......a mechanism with a brass ring on one side......could be some sort of mounting and rotational device for a searchlight?
Sea Hare (aplysia punctata) you get loads and loads of them on the south side of the point feeding and breeding!
Arty-farty shot of a pinnacle
Dropping into the main gully one of the first things that you notice is the rust stained sand and then larger pieces of wreckage start to appear.
A typical north east wreck dive, plates, boilers n bits. In this case probably Jan Van Ryswyck although a few vessels have foundered so the bits are somehwhat mixed!
I do get carried away with Starfish photographs, in this case a Common Starfish (Asterias rubens), mainly because you can get damned close for macro shots of all the parts!
Not a good shot but one of the rebreather chaps next to the rudders, these stand about 6m proud of the bottom of the vessel and are intact despite the explosive forces used to remove the phosphor bronze propellors which were located very, very close.
The 'hump' of anchor chain
A rather large Sea-Squirt
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