Duo-Divers

The divers favourite a Tompot Blenny (Parablennius gattorugine) this one was busy 'ripping' bits of food from a childs drop-net that you can just see in the background, so more than happy to pose for pictures as there was food about!

Until you reach the bottom 'proper' in about 25m of water which is gravel and sand for ever....

Ta-daaaah, the bow shot!

Moving down the slope it starts 'easing off' and the boulders become a bit smaller....

Despite the apparent lack of food there are large shoals of Perch

The general topography...... the rocks are not as smooth as you may expect considering the considerable tidal forces but the surfaces are smothered with various filter feeders which thrive in the oft moving flow!

A Spiny Spider Crab (Maja squinado) common enough down south on on the West Coast of Scotland but not so many around the Farne Islands.

A general 'look' at the topography, in this case shallow troughs and loads of kelp

A hatch with the actual cut-out still 'envisionable', is there such a word? There should be!

A European Flounder (Platichthys flesus) quite commonly seen on dives, well ok quite often there on dives, due to their camouflage and passive nature you can get pretty close, just no sudden moves or they will zoom off.

More dulse covered iron-work, this time a Ballan Wrasse is heading off at a rate of knots!

A substantial coupling!

You do need sharp eyes as frequently all that is visible, poking through tiny pockets of sand, are the stainless steel grip leads.

A windlass, bow gear, hanging on the deck at ninety degrees to where it should be, if the wreck is on it's side it can be so disconcerting with good vis!

Compare and contrast a real cannon with the claimed cannon on the Hopper!

Cascabels, trunions and the taper of the barrel!

The same guys swimming through a line of structure, torches just 'pin-pricks' in the gloom!

A very scenic dip with dead mans fingers (Alcyonium digitatum) covering hard rock with boulders in some of the larger gullies.

A Crawfish or should that be Spiny Lobster, doesn't matter as it's the same thing (Palinurus elephas) I did half heartedly attempt and extraction but it was 'so-so' size and without implements I wouldn't have been able to extract a lobster and crab, hey-ho!

And the associated rudder post, looking at the height of this bit I don't think that the boat was especially large but stand to be corrected when I do a bit more research.

A smaller meshed net also hangs into the top deck on the port side, it's really obvious and easy to navigate around.

A pile of coins! From a modern 20p piece to some very old stuff it collects and stays there until such a time as the sand is moved by a storm

Fan worms, (Bispira volutacornis) loads on this site and many others but getting close enough for a reasonable shot without having them snap shut can be a bit of a chore

Until we were lens to nose, so to speak!

A bit odd, most of the time when you see Velvet Swimming Crabs (Necora puber) they are on their legs and very agile in getting out of the way. This particular animal was hunkered down like the edible crabs.