St Abbs Trip, September 2003
I think this must be our 6th or 7th annual St Abbs trip and as is now usual, we had an excellent weekend's diving. The weather was good and the sea reasonably calm - just a bit of a hangover from a northerly gale. There were no incidents, no serious problems, and no close calls. In all our team of 18 divers did 79 dives giving over 51 hours of underwater exploration.
The Dive party consisted mainly of Sport Divers, a few Dive Leaders and Advanced Divers plus two others, Keith and Mike, who were there to take that giant leap into the unknown, their first ever sea dive. This was done under the watchful eye of Tony and Ian, their Instructors. Keith and Mike both performed well and gained valuable experience. They picked up loads of useful tips, the kind of things that aren't so easy to convey in the classroom or during training. Both expressed thanks to Tony and Ian, and said they really enjoyed the experience which makes it all that more worth while from an instructors point of view.
Our charter boat developed a serious engine problem before we arrived (the oil in the bilge should have been in the engine). We were lucky enough to get a replacement, as another party of divers did not turn up on Friday as booked. Shame that they turned up too late on Saturday. In this case possession became ten parts of the law. Anyway, Donny, the skipper, seemed to like our lot! Nothing to do with plying him with a constant flow of free drinks in the Anchor. Must say the local beer in Coldingham was absolute utter bilgewash and that is being polite! Food was OK though.
We dived most of the usual relatively safe sites between Pettico Wick and the Cathedral Rock. Ideal for anyone who is not an out and out wreckie or techie. Unfortunately tide times made diving the wreck of the Glanmire difficult so this was missed.
On one occasion we were returning to St Abbs Harbour when Donny stopped the boat and said 'look over the edge and you will see fish' and he was right. A few moments later a shoal of small Pollock, leaping from the water, surrounded the boat. They were chasing sand eels to the surface in a feeding frenzy. It looked like the sea was literally boiling with fish. It was quite amazing.
One thing was noticeable regarding marine life. Lots of Wolf fish sightings, more Lobsters and larger specimens reported than on previous trips and a few people saw Octopus and one Conger Eel.
Also there were a good selection of beautiful anemone's and other marine life reported. Is the voluntary Marine Reserve status of the area working? Oh yes, and we all saw one or two thousand Brittle Stars. The damned things were everywhere.
The previous dive shop at Scoutscroft has been closed. There is a new (very small) dive shop operating temporarily from nearby premises on the Scoutscroft site. The new shop holds a selection of gear and hopes to move into the previous premises in the future.
A new compressor has been installed at Scoutscroft with a new metered dispensing system. It is cheaper for small top up fills, more expensive for twin sets. This improves on the dirty fills from a clapped out compressor we experienced last year. Use of the system is during shop opening hours only however we were told that we could phone up and they would come in and open up outside those hours. Payment is either by prepaid "Smart" key system or use of the shop's key, which is charged for at a higher rate. Individuals intending to go on future trips should ask around to borrow a key as a non returnable lifetime deposit (£10) must be paid for an electronic key.
St Abbs trips by our branch are always characterised by the friendly loose knit group of divers and this trip was no exception. It was excellent. Credit again to Phil Frecknall for all the hard work he put in organising it, and a great pity that he could not be with us.
Paul Field, Tony Hodge and Peter Houlton.
The Dive party consisted mainly of Sport Divers, a few Dive Leaders and Advanced Divers plus two others, Keith and Mike, who were there to take that giant leap into the unknown, their first ever sea dive. This was done under the watchful eye of Tony and Ian, their Instructors. Keith and Mike both performed well and gained valuable experience. They picked up loads of useful tips, the kind of things that aren't so easy to convey in the classroom or during training. Both expressed thanks to Tony and Ian, and said they really enjoyed the experience which makes it all that more worth while from an instructors point of view.
Our charter boat developed a serious engine problem before we arrived (the oil in the bilge should have been in the engine). We were lucky enough to get a replacement, as another party of divers did not turn up on Friday as booked. Shame that they turned up too late on Saturday. In this case possession became ten parts of the law. Anyway, Donny, the skipper, seemed to like our lot! Nothing to do with plying him with a constant flow of free drinks in the Anchor. Must say the local beer in Coldingham was absolute utter bilgewash and that is being polite! Food was OK though.
We dived most of the usual relatively safe sites between Pettico Wick and the Cathedral Rock. Ideal for anyone who is not an out and out wreckie or techie. Unfortunately tide times made diving the wreck of the Glanmire difficult so this was missed.
On one occasion we were returning to St Abbs Harbour when Donny stopped the boat and said 'look over the edge and you will see fish' and he was right. A few moments later a shoal of small Pollock, leaping from the water, surrounded the boat. They were chasing sand eels to the surface in a feeding frenzy. It looked like the sea was literally boiling with fish. It was quite amazing.
One thing was noticeable regarding marine life. Lots of Wolf fish sightings, more Lobsters and larger specimens reported than on previous trips and a few people saw Octopus and one Conger Eel.
Also there were a good selection of beautiful anemone's and other marine life reported. Is the voluntary Marine Reserve status of the area working? Oh yes, and we all saw one or two thousand Brittle Stars. The damned things were everywhere.
The previous dive shop at Scoutscroft has been closed. There is a new (very small) dive shop operating temporarily from nearby premises on the Scoutscroft site. The new shop holds a selection of gear and hopes to move into the previous premises in the future.
A new compressor has been installed at Scoutscroft with a new metered dispensing system. It is cheaper for small top up fills, more expensive for twin sets. This improves on the dirty fills from a clapped out compressor we experienced last year. Use of the system is during shop opening hours only however we were told that we could phone up and they would come in and open up outside those hours. Payment is either by prepaid "Smart" key system or use of the shop's key, which is charged for at a higher rate. Individuals intending to go on future trips should ask around to borrow a key as a non returnable lifetime deposit (£10) must be paid for an electronic key.
St Abbs trips by our branch are always characterised by the friendly loose knit group of divers and this trip was no exception. It was excellent. Credit again to Phil Frecknall for all the hard work he put in organising it, and a great pity that he could not be with us.
Paul Field, Tony Hodge and Peter Houlton.