Dive trip to Stein & Loch Dunvegan - Isle of Skye Sept 2009 - Day 1

A last minute opportunity came up to join the BSAC 21 dive trip to Skye, Sorrel had already organized a successful trip up there earlier in the year and I had always fancied diving the seas around the Outer Hebrides and a space was available. Derek and I agreed to car share and after a busy Thursday morning with work he picked me up from Perth and with mobiles switched off and we made our 4.5 hour drive up to the North West tip of Skye at at Village called Stein (Click this link for a map of the locations) where Gordon and Aileen run the Dive & Sea the Hebrides dive centre.   After having a week of relatively calm weather across Scotland the winds picked up and Skye lived up to it name, the great thing about this part of Skye is the protection from most of the prevailing winds allowing us to get into several dive sites in poor weather conditions.

We arrived at 6pm and after dumping kit headed off to the Stein Inn for some food and a Pint, On the Friday morning we were introduced to Skye Time and after a briefing at 9am agreed to meet at the boat for 10:30am very civilized, non of this crack of the dawn stuff! We headed across to the Pinnacles on far side of the Loch just next to Rubha Maol  on the lee shore to provide protection from the wind and waves.
 
After dropping down the shot to the top of the pinnacle at ~9m Dermot Nancy and I descended to the South Western side with a Vertical wall that dropped 12 metres to the Sea bead with lots of cup corals and a few Scallops on the Sea Bed we worked our way south east and then headed North over the Reef which had dropped to 2-3 metres where we found shoals of juvenile cod swimming amongst the rocks and kelp forest. After a leisurely dive backup the north east face of the pinnacle we swan up to the top and headed back up the shot. I spotted one or two small Sea Pens and the Yellow sponges were starting to come back to this Pinnacle after the Fish Farms had been moved 18 months previously.

Gordon our Skipper then took us across to the Island of Isay where we sat amongst the ruinshaving our packed lunches and chilling out for an hours or so.  The second dive of the day was just a few minutes from our lunch stop to the North of Clett island and was a gentle reef with possibilities for Scallops. Nancy and I paired off for this dive and headed North westerly at about 17m. The Fish life on this reef was excellent with lots of Wrasse including colourful male Cuckoo wrasse and cup corals on the rocks Nancy and I followed the reef for about 100m before heading up into the Kelp Forest and deploying my delayed SMB. What a great day.

BSAC 21 Trip to Ullapool and Loch Broom Day 2 June 2009

After having a leisurely breakfast in Ullapool we decided to head out to the summer Isles for better visibility we decided to drive round to Altandhu and launch at the slipway in Old Dornie Harbour leaving it a bit late and only 1 hour before low tide we managed to navigate the rocks and out into open water. It was flat calm conditions with no wind and we decided dive the Boston Stirling a trawler that was wrecked on the Southern Shore of Tanera More.

Not the Easiest wreck to find the mark on the Admiralty charts is in the wrong bay and it took a bit of finding as unless you are on a Spring low water you wont see the top of the wreck and it is covered in kelp and right in by the reef. If you look for this rock face with the rocks on the hill behind the wreck is here.

The Wreck is well worth diving is very shallow and intact and is ideal for novices with a maximum depth of ~ 12 metres the bow lies into the shore and ship lies on its Starboard side. The first picture is looking up into the Bridge, the Second Sea Hares - Aplysia punctata mating there were many on this wreck. The final two photos are of the stern section.

BSAC 21 Dive Trip to Ullapool, Summer Isles & Loch Broom - June 2009 Part 1

Finally after four years and several missed opportunities I managed to organise a Dive trip to Ullapool and the Summer Isles! I decided to plan this as a birthday treat for the midsummers solistice trip up on the North West of the Scottish Highlands.

After getting 4 other BSAC 21 Divers and Rob my friend from down south to make up the numbers I tested the limits of how much stuff you can pack into a Toyota RAV4 and tow a Rhib at the same time this included two Sets of dive kit My wife Tara, Rob and the three Scottie Dogs Molly, Hector and Fergus. After a 5 hour drive through a variety of weather conditions from Perth we made it safely to the Bunkhouse at the Ceilidh Place in Ullapool we popped around to meet Andy From the Ullapool Sub aqua Club who very kindly offered to fill our bottles on the Saturday Afternoon and their web site was very useful for dive planning. There are two main slips / beaches to launch from to access the Loch Broom / Summer Isles these are the Beach at Ullapool at the far end to the Harbour you can drive down onto the beach although only really suitable for a 4X4 and the Slip at Old Dornie Harbour near Altandhu which is closer for the Summer Isles but a good 40 minutes drive on narrow roads from Ullapool.

On the Saturday morning the weather was fantastic blue skys and after a quick breakfast of bacon rolls collected by Tara we left Ullapool at 9am for the trip out to the Wreck of the Fairweather V one of the most popular wrecks in the region. With flat calm sea conditions is only took us 20 or so minutes to get out to the Fairweather V and after 5 minutes we located the Wreck and dropped the shot so good so far :)

Nancy and I were the first to go in and realised how bad the Algal bloom was, normally up here you would expect to get 10 metres+ visibility but ours was 2-3 metres what a pity.

What a great intact wreck with plenty of Plumose Anemomes on it and the Bridge with the Bridge seats still there. The glass in the windows has now gone compared to a couple of years ago, I look forward to visiting this wreck again in better visibility.

We stopped at the old ruins at Achmore for Lunch just a few minutes drive from the Fairweather V and were greeted by the hungry and opportunistic horses. In the afternoon needing to get back to Ullapool to fill the tanks, we decided to dive at Cuckoo point at the entrance to Loch Broom unfortunately the algal bloom was denser here and the visibility dropped further.

UK DIVERS URGED TO SEARCH FOR CRAWFISH – but not for eating!

The Marine Conservation Society & Seasearch wants to raise awareness about Crawfish

Seasearch is urging divers throughout Britain and Ireland to be on the lookout for crawfish (sometimes known as crayfish or spiny lobster), on their dives. The crawfish is the largest crustacean in our waters and, whilst it used to be commonly seen in the waters around our coasts it has become increasingly rare due to overfishing.

Unlike the lobster, which is much better known and still relatively common, the crawfish does not have the protection of large claws. This has made it very easy for divers to take for the pot. It also is more active than lobster, and large numbers have been taken by tangle netting. Because it is now so rare it has been put on the UK’s Biodiversity Action Plan species list, making it a priority for conservation.

Seasearch wants divers to tell us where they are currently seeing crawfish, how many they see and what size they are. This will help to build up a picture of current populations in shallow waters and help us to identify hotspots where protection is needed. Recording is easy and results can be entered online at www.seasearch.org.uk

We will not be producing detailed maps for where to find crawfish, which would be counter-productive, and we are urging divers who see them to record their presence and leave them there. As what is now a relatively rare species, divers should not take crawfish even for their own consumption.

In addition to getting an up to date picture of where crawfish occur we are urging divers to look back though their old logbooks and tell us where they have seen them in the past. The information can be entered online in exactly the same way.

Seasearch is the largest organisation in Britain and Ireland for recreational divers who want to do their bit for the marine environment. It offers training in marine recording, organises surveys of species and habitats, and produces data and reports which are available for all to use.

Contact:

Chris Wood, National Seasearch Coordinator

Tel: 07776142096

Email chris@seasearch.org.uk

Website: www.seasearch.org.uk

The Sharkman - Documentary on channel 5 this evening.

"Programme about South African diver Mike Rutzen (see interview here) who has become famous world wide as a man who swims with great white sharks outside a diving cage. The film follows Mike as he attempts to get under the skin of these fearsome beasts and show that they are not the mindless killers of popular imagination. Along the way, he investigates a remarkable condition called 'tonic immobility', whereby a shark can fall into a hypnotic trance if it is turned upside down".

Was interesting to see how he interacted with the Sharks, managed to becalm Reef Sharks and then a 5oft descent with a female Tiger shark. The 8 Great whites were pretty full on, but to see a female great white show submissive behaviour and then allow him to hitch a lift on the back of her dorsal fin. Like all animals they can recognise whether you are in control or not he had spent six years working out how to understand sharks behaviour so he knew how to behave with the Sharks and minimise the risks. It will be interesting to see if we can get a better understanding of how these animals interact in the wild, do they act alone or in groups?

Jellyfish (Pelagia noctiluca) invasion has wiped out Northern Ireland's only salmon farm, killing more than 100,000 fish.

Billions of small jellyfish, known as Mauve Stingers (Pelagia noctiluca) , flooded into the cages about a mile into the Irish Sea, off Glenarm Bay and Cushendun.

The jellyfish covered an area of up to 10 square miles and a depth of 35 feet. Rescuers tried to reach the cages but the density of fish made it impossible.

It is rare that these species of jellyfish are in coastal waters this far north, but it is common to see blooms of different species of animals and algae in seas, in the natural environment the Salmon would have swam under the swarm to escape.

It would be difficult for the fish farmers have stopped the invasion I guess if given enough time they may have been able to surround the cages with a finer net to stop the jelly fish.

Watched a great programme tonight "River Cottage gone fishing" was showing sustainable ways of sourcing excellent quality seafood, how easy to cook and prepare this food. link to the website http://www.channel4.com/food/on-tv/river-cottage/ recorded the rest of the series in case I miss it!