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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.
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Pollock leap from the water.
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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.
Article by: Paul Field, Tony Hodge and Peter Houlton.
3/10/2003
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