Halloween Ghouls! Long Long October 2012

Wendy Northway

We loaded up the van friday afternoon and soon we were Loch Long bound, with a quick detour via Northern Diver to pick up Stella's drysuit.  She'd managed to rip her wrist seal during last weekend's trip to Capernwray and needed a speedy repair.  Suit collected we headed off, keeping a steady pace to allow the van to catch up with us.  The van had also taken a detour via DaveW's garage - we'd forgotten the O2 set, or more accurately, it was thought it would be in Winsford.  We finally met up at a service station where we had tea then carried on, arriving in Arrochar at about 9.30 - well in time for last orders and I only changed rooms once this year.

The following morning arrived with none of the predicted snow just clear blue skies - and dry!  No rain!  We piled into the van and drove to a nearby carpark to kit up.  The parking at The Caves is very restricted and there just wouldn't be the room to do it on site.  I think we did LL a little later in the year last time and the frost had set in.  However this year although it was fresh, it wasn't freezing which was a boon as the culvert was treacherous at the best of times.  Ariel usually carried my kit down but he was back in Cheshire suffering man flu so I had to man up and get on with it and prove myself to be a rufty tufty diver!  On past occasions here, i had only dived with Ocean Divers and thus keeping to their 20m depth limit so I was looking forward to this year whence we had all qualified divers and no such restrictions and i could see the Caves in their full glory.

I was buddied with Ginger Jim.  I shuffled down the loch side and donned my fins to demonstrate how to kit up in these conditions then allowed Jim to do likewise before a swift OK and our heads were under.  A lack of rain was apparent with the absence of the usual peat layer and thus we were diving in gin clear waters.  We headed off, wall on our left and at about 20m the large boulders such that were the Caves came upon us!  Beautifully daubed with sea loch anemones.  Jim had his camera and was busily snapping anything that moved, or not as then case may be.  Female cuckoo wrasse flitted about, leopard spotted gobies darted beneath crevices whilst long legged squat ties held court and fiestily defended their patch.  As we went deeper, we saw the long tubes of peacock worms and at one point there must have been 10 -12 such specimens all out in full bloom.  No stop time was running out so we turned and headed back up the gravelly slope.  This too was interesting - plenty of sand gobies, burrowing anemones and dragonets.  Stopping at 6m we had a little poke about -  strawberry worms spun their sticky threads which littered the seabed like a seamstress's cutting room, yellow fluted squirts filtered the already clear water for tasty morsels and Jim, why Jim just kept snapping away with his new toy!   

After refuelling at he Pitstop Diner in Arrochar we head off to Conger Alley.  This was another dive I was looking forward to  as I hadn't been able to get to the reef on previous occasions.  It was Team Ginger again as I lead Jim with Steve also in tow.  As soon as our heads were down, Jim had spied lots of things to photograph but then his camera decided it had had enough for one day and promptly went into sleep mode!  We descended the pebbly bank to about 24m, turned left, keeping a steady depth over a muddy bottom for about 2 minutes until we beheld the reef!  It started out as low lying rocks which gave way to boulders standing proud of the sea bed.  These were highly decorated with sea loch anemones - their tentacles gracefully lolling about in the current collecting any passing plankton.  We weaved our way up the boulders - devil crabs and edible crabs abound then we came across a wall of what looked like tiny white anemones completely covering the side of a rock.  I indicated to jim to take a picture, and this was where I discovered his camera had failed - typical!  Later when I got back I scoured my book of anemones for these cnidarians to discover they were moon jelly scyphistoma - the stage in a jelly fish's life where he is attached to a rock!  I was blown away by this - to see something that I thought I knew, but now in a different life phase!  After 44 minutes we emerged and staggered back to the van.  Others had also had good dives - Stella and Andy managed to find the eponymous conger!  Heading back to the hotel we stopped at a roadside cafe to enjoy a delicious carrot cake courtesy of DaveW.  It was still only 3pm - plenty of time to relax before tea.

The evening meal at The Village Inn was booked for 7.15.   Good  job we got there early - mains didn't arrive til 9pm!  After eating, it was well past my bedtime so I left the boys in the bar and headed back to the hotel to refresh and get ready of the following day.  The Hotel was in full Halloween swing if Jim's photies are anything to go by.  However, what happens in Arrochar, stays in Arrochar!

Final dive as we headed home Sunday morning was The A Frames.  Being adventurous I managed to talk Lesley into doing an adjacent site the 29 Steps which was just a short walk up the hill.  This was probably a good call as despite being the first and only cars there, the car park quickly filled up and with high tide early, the beach was none existent so I can imagine the site would be packed.  We buddy checked and as the pool was open we got our heads wet.  Heading out towards a metal platform, we briefly flitted over it, spying a large grey sea slug - Aeolidia papillosa - quite magnificent and the largest nudibranch in our waters.  We descended the muddy/shell bank to about 24m.  I was hoping to spot some firework anemones as the description had promised, however it was not to be but I wasn't disappointed - I like a bit of mud to play in!  Lots of long legged squatties, large whelks and sand stars!  A couple of queenies danced a tango whereas a small flatfish stuck to the foxtrot.  We made our way back to the platform which was really interesting.  It was slightly elevated off the sea bed and underneath translucent squirts hung down amidst peacock worms.  2 spot gobies hovered over the top of the scaffolding.  Time up we headed back to shore over feathery red sea weeds, sugar kelp and serrated wrack.  In between all of this, we kept seeing lights going out.  Keel worms had encrusted all manner of substrate and as we approached, their ultra light sensitive reactions withdrew their feeding radioles.  The water was cloudless - -a good 10m or so visibility.

Wending our way up the eponymous steps I reflected upon the weekend.  Some of the sites were quite gruelling to get to   The culvert down to The Caves was challenging, The 29 Steps were steep especially with the aqualung yet it was crossing the road at Conger Alley which was probably the hairiest but sometimes you have to work for your fun and the dives were well worth that trek.  A humungous  thanks to DaveW and Ron for providing shore cover and to Steve for organising yet another fun packed weekend - roll on next year!

Oceans II - Capernwray October 2012

Wendy Northway

As it was getting towards the end of the season I thought I’d better organise a last official training day for 2012.  I put a plea out to the OWI and they responded well.  I had a zillion and one lessons I wanted to tie off, a similar number of trainees and 4 instructors – no problem!  However, a slight glitch happened Friday lunch time – the ordering system at Hurtsy’s work had unearthed a gremlin which meant Dave had to drop out otherwise Santa would not be able to deliver Christmas this year.  Not even I could stand in the way of Santa Claus supplying Noeltide – go Dave, go!  Rescue the Yule,  so long as the kiddies have a smile on their faces come December,  we can cope!  Thus I gathered the crowd and we set about the tasks for the day.

Dive 1 – I took Gareth in for OO3 with Dave (AKA John - it’s a long story….) Humpreys acting as buddy.  Nice big step entry then descent to about 5m and we were bound for the 6m platform.  Bit of mask clearing then AS.  I demo-ed on Dave (good job I only had to point to him, otherwise I would have been confussled with his name.  I think it would be a lot easier all round if everyone was called John).  Over to Gareth and he expertly acted the hero as Dave was ‘out of air’.  Nice steady climb to the surface and support for Dave as he inflated his jacket.  We went down again and the roles were reversed.  Again a good solid rise to the top.  One last time to get our heads under the water to complete the drill – a pleasure dive.  We went over to The Answer, had a little swim around when a large shoal of rudd came over – really quite magical.  As much as I enjoy instructing, it’s great to be reminded of what the end point of it all is – to see the wildlife under water!

Back at base, Stella had to do a bit of thinking on her fins – she’d taken in Dan for OO4 with John Sweetman as buddy.  However, on entering the water, John suffered a classic ‘ice cream’ headache.  After leading him out, she changed her lesson to OO5 (such would be the order of the day, last minute changes, nothing was set in stone, more like one of those meals you prepare from left overs from the pantry, adding a bit of something else and not really knowing what the end result was going to be but anticipating all along it would be good as you know you have a mix of all your favourite ingredients.)

Ariel had taken Sarah and Katy in for OO2.  Again most drills completed to the satisfaction of Commander Northway.  However Katy also surfaced with a slight headache and opted not to dive again that day.

After a quick cylinder change and cup of hot chocolate (getting to that time of the year again) I sorted out the next wave.  Today would be very intense as I want to offer a maximum of 3 dives to those who wanted them.  In order to do that, I requested an hour’s surface interval between dives.  As I juggled air runs/comfort breaks/buddy pairings and chasing after Sally, I was fast under the impression that this was oh so easy on paper!  Thankfully, as I went up to collect my cylinder, I saw Alan returning with a pink netted bottle.  I could have hugged him!

Buddy pairings sorted for dive 2, I started to kit up, only to be approached by Stella – she’d ripped her wrist seal.  OK, at this moment I think we were on plan G.  I had to bump Sarah, whom I’d planned to dive with as my priorities today were signing off a couple of Ocean Divers.  I took in Gareth and Dan to complete OO4 and Ariel carried on with Zoe for SO4 – compass work.  OK, OK putting a compass in Ariel’s hands can be likened to laying breadcrumb trails in the woods, but times were hard!  Unfair!  Ariel’s underwater navigational skills are good.  Up down – what more is there to know!  Dan, Gareth and I settled down on the 6m platform and we went about CBLs.  True BSAC style, this was broken down – self lift, mini lift then to the surface.  Nice bit of towing from Daniel then we went down for Gareth to repeat.  Where did all those divers come from!  The whole podium had now been swathed with a school of divers.  Neatly packed and all similarly attired, they stretched the length with no room to squeeze a salmon between them!  I felt very much like the poor relations as the 3 of us crouched to the side on the quarry bed.  No problem however – my students were stars and coped well.  In the real world, should an emergency happen, chances are it would not happen at such a convenient spot as the 6m stage.

Whilst we were down VRSAC managed to embarrass ourselves with respect to the emergency services.  Alan had opted to have a little swim around the quarry (that is surface swim, no kit.  Let me rephrase that, he did have his dry suit on).  This was all legit  – he paid £5 for the privilege.  However he got a little enthusiastic with his butterfly stroke which surface cover mistook for a distress signal and duly launched the rescue vessel.

Back at base, Zoe had expertly navigated her way back to her mum’s car (which incidentally, it was lovely seeing Karen Hursthouse on dive site again!) and we prepared for round 3. 

I’d explained beforehand to Zoe that she would have quite an intense day as in between dives, she would have surface lessons.  I wish someone had reminded me the same!  Now for Zoe’s final dive – simulated deco and laying a distance line (I love teaching this lesson which is weird as I am probably the last person in the branch who would ever make use of this skill as I have no interest in wreck diving and the thought of caving gives me the heebee jeebeeies!)  Dan joined us for the experience of the dive.  Well having been first in the queue this morning, he wasn’t going to let another opportunity go by!  Zoe expertly laid the distance line then gathered it up and we headed back to the shot line to ‘decompress’.  Zoe very nicely managed the stop then we emerged from the water with a long surface swim back to the shore.  I chuckled to myself – I reckon with all this hard slog both teenagers would be sleeping on the way home in their respective cars – Hursty can you confirm, cos I know Dan managed a short nap!)  Ariel mean time had taken in Gareth for his final Ocean Diver drill and had opted to include Sarah and Alan for good numbers.  Why have one Farnworth if you can have 3!

After tidying the kit away, the café was calling us and round a couple of bowls of chips I sat back and assessed the day.  2 new Ocean Divers – well done to Gareth and Dan.  Several Sport’s Diver drills carried out (I omitted to mention, Zoe also got SP1 signed off – assistant Dive Marshal.  It would have been churlish not to, after all she’s been doing the log sheets since before she could crawl.)  A couple of Ocean Diver drills for Katy and Sarah were also realised.  It was a challenging day for me, the organiser, I constantly had to update the plan, down to the last second, yet in my eyes, it all seemed to run smoothly and everyone understood what was happening and was happy to adapt.  A big thank you to Alan who helped with Sally, I couldn’t have managed without him walking her for me, but most of all – thank you team VRSAC for all pulling together without so much a moan when the plan changed yet again!

The Llyn Peninsular and a man with a tractor! September 2012

Wendy Northway

Lesley arrived at mine and we loaded up the car.  The plan was to meet in the National Trust car park at 8.30 at Porth Dinllaen to load up the boat and await the friendly man with a tractor to facilitate our launch.  Keeping a reasonable pace (Ariel, please note!) we overtook the Rib being towed by Mark, the saw Andy S overtake us.  No need to bust a gut I said to Lesley and we plodded along.  Arriving in the  car park, we got to grips with assembling our kit and eagerly awaited the others.  Andy first, yes he had overtaken us, but only so he could grab a McDo’s en route.  As the minutes ticked by we wondered where the rest of the gang were, then JohnA tore into the car park.  Mark and Steve had turned too early and headed off towards the beach.  Lesson number 1 – very soft sand and thus why we needed a man with a tractor to launch us.  Now we needed a man with a tractor to rescue us from the sinking sand!

A quick phone call was made, we rearranged our launch time to being ASAP then we started to kit up the boat in situ – what else was there to do!  When we sorted ourselves out, we were finally reef bound in the general direction of Porth Ysgaden.  I was very eagerly looking forward to this dive.  It is one of my all-time top ten dives – a thrilling turbo charged drift dive over sponge and hydroid covered mussel beds – bring it on baby!

I buddied up with Jamie first dive and we rolled over.  Newly qualified Sport’s Diver Jamie meant that I didn’t need to worry about going below 20m thus I also relaxed and enjoyed a dive for the sheer pleasure of the experience – no leading/instructing.  I also left my video and slate at home so I could indulge in just diving!  Jamie made me chuckle.  This was the initial outing of his new camera and as we arrived at the sea bed, he proceeded to set up the appliance.  No real stopping I’m afraid, this is a roller coaster drift dive we’re on here!  First sighting was a large common spider crab.  He angrily bared his claws but we were long gone before he could make a move.  I pointed out another and another and another!  The bed was crawling with them.  The reef was in full bloom – fine lacy bryozoans – crisia and cellaria, cat sharks came and went and edible crabs with the odd devil crab thrown in for good measure.  Jamie at this point had given up trying to frame critters in holes – he had no time, it was a case of point and shoot!  We happened across a posse of boulders the size of my corsa in which a gaggle of codlings were swirling around.  Several ballan wrasse flitted across and just as I thought the dive couldn’t get any better, it did!  The reef at 20m blossomed with pale lilac volcano sponges, snow white didendum sea squirts, sulphurous yellow boring sponges and the largest colonies I’d seen of my favourite ascidian, botrylus schlosseri.  The clear posy like structures stood proud against the rocks in blues and greens.  Jamie was approaching 50 bar therefore time to go. 

Lunch time we popped into the bay at Porth Ysgaden and enjoyed the last rays that this summer was giving us.  We ate our sandwiches on the beach then headed back out again. 

This time I was buddied with Andy, again now qualified as a Sport’s Diver and thus I could relax.  As I prepared to roll over the tubes, I asked what depth I was in.  27m Steve shouted.  Lol I thought – very amusing.  As we descended to 15m I thought I’d see the bottom soon.  At 20m I felt sure we the seabed would be in view.  At 25m I realised that Steve wasn’t joking!  We were in 27m!  Hey ho!  Good job Andy was qualified!  The drift was gentler this afternoon but it still swept us away.  This afternoon we were treated to smaller stuff – small spindly sponge encrusted spider crabs were the order of the day, vivid orange sun stars and then, is it?  Yes it is – an octopus, just sitting on top of the reef.  ANDY!  I shouted through my regulator.  I managed to grip hold of the reef as he caught up with me and was able to have a close look at the little fellow.  We fought the current in order to get back onto reef and a shallower depth but we were thwarted with no stop time – such is the penalty one pays for depth on 2 successive dives and we had to quit with loads of air to spare.  Back on board Mark and Lesley managed to stay together on their dive thanks to a buddy line, and Steve also had Jamie attached so he could snap away merrily with his camera.  We headed back to the beach in brught sunlight.  The dying summer had come up trumps providing us with a heady glow.  Many thanks to JohnA who cox’ed for us allowing for a smooth as silk day.

Northern Ireland August 2012 - A Sizzler of a Weekend!

Wendy Northway

Steve arrived round ours at 7.30pm to load up the car and we were Birkenhead bound for the overnight ferry.  I’d researched umpteen ways of getting to the emerald isle and this one suited our needs best – no need to take any days off work yet we were still able to do the 3 days diving over the Bank Holiday.  After finding our cabins, which were incredibly spacious, we headed off to the bar for a wee sample of Irish champagne then back to our berths for an early night – we needed to be up in less than 7 hours’ time.

We docked about 6:30 Saturday morning and headed for the dive lodge in Ballycastle.  Arriving just before 8 we had time for a quick cuppa and change before heading out for our first dive, the wreck of the Lough Gary.  This was a former passenger ferry requisitioned during WWII as a government transport ship but struck rocks and lay to rest in 33m on the east coast of Raithlin Island in 1944.  As we descended the shot line, there was a tremendous pull – it took 5 minutes to overcome the current and on the decks, our bottom time was vastly diminished.  However we were treated to a colourful array of life.  Pollack of immense proportions patrolled the decks.  Solitary cup corals, caryophyllia smithii, aggregated together in gangs that belied their common names and hydroids did that thing that only cnidarians at 27m can do!   Red weeds were abundant but as I am fast becoming a seaweed geek, I won’t dwell on that too much as I don’t wish to saturate you out on sea weeds in the first paragraph.  Plenty of time for that later!  All too fast we ran out of bottom time so we started our ascent up the shot line and on surfacing, we mounted the lift – quite a treat but we were unaware that this would be the first and last time we enjoyed the luxury of an assisted entry to get us back on board.   On our return to port, we heard that dreaded sound akin to the engines going over a submerged hazard.  The crew knew these waters well so it couldn’t have been.  No the engine was kaput!  Luckily they had another RIB available and although this had a cabin, it didn’t have the extravagance of an elevator!   It could have been worse – at least it had a ladder!

After refuelling our tummies on the dockside, we headed west towards Carrick a Rede, made famous by Coast as the rope bridge which crosses to a tall pinnacle which brings me onto topography.  Looking at the dramatic cliffs surrounding the coastline one could be sure (to be sure) of the scenery unwater!  We dropped into 18m of kelp and navigated out to 24ish metres where we picked up a drift over sunstars (crossater papposus) , stag horn bryozoans (porella compressa), powder blue crystal sea slugs (janolus cristatus) and some of the largest velvety grey elephant hide sponges I’ve ever seen – nearly 1 metre wide.  Turning the corner at 18m as per the brief we happened on a spectacular wall which was in the lee of the current and we were able to explore at leisure.  This was probably my favourite dive of the weekend.  The life was so tightly packed – striped anemones (actinothoe spyrodeta), white claw sea moss (crisia), sea beech (oops, slipped in another seaweed!) embellished with frosty sea matt and  small edible crabs packed into crevices.  We veered off the wall and into the kelp but again we were scuppered on the no stop time front.  As we surfaced,the wind had picked up and we had a rather challenging re-entry onto the boat!

Back in port for 2:30pm which gave us the afternoon off and time to catch up on some zeds then out for tea.  Our evening repast came with a choice of 15 different sides.  I never knew there were so many ways with potatoes (Solanum tuberosum)!  We also passed the fair (tis the annual horse fair in Ballycastle that w/e) and Lesley couldn’t contain her excitement as we approached the Big Dipper and insisted we had a ride! 

Sunday morning we awoke to bright blue skies.  A pleasant lie in with a 9.30 start saw us heading off to the North side of Raithlin Island diving The Arches.  Steve and Lesley dived together on this one and found the spectacular archway at 28m.  Steve reckoned this was his favourite dive – the ceiling was plastered with fried egg anemones, more sponges, some white stuff and some squishy and squiggly stuff to use his descriptions!  Me and Ariel dived together and were delighted with deadmen’s fingers, feathery hydroids, Devonshire cup corals, encrusting bryozoans and the odd jewel anemone (corynactis viridis) thrown in to make up the numbers.  Both of us were thrilled as we had our respective cameras – a veritable palette fit for the photographer!   Once again we were limited by no stop time and thus it was time to ascend.  Back on board, we motored towards the harbour in Raithlin Island where we decamped for lunch in scorching sunshine.

Sunday afternoon we were offered a drift dive at Church Bay Scallop Bed.  Knowing my fascination for all things algal, Ariel stayed in the shallows (12-15m give or take) and we concentrated on the kelp.  Vast beards of kelp fir shrouded the leafy fronds; those that weren’t subject to these hirsute hydroids were buried under thick layers of sea matt.  My favourite, frosty sea matt, electra pilosa, was in evidence as it looked like a teacher had liberally scattered her box of gold stars onto the behaviour chart.  Between the thick forests we found the eponymous scallops and overhead, shoals of large and small fish flitted by.

Once again we finished early – the joys of hard boat diving and we were back for 3pm.  Time for tea followed by a snooze before heading out for another 50 ways with potatoes.  Passing the fair on the way back, Lesley insisted on riding the fair again.  I went with her to keep her quiet!

Our final day dawned to much rain and wind.  Such was the strength of the rain; we elected to walk down to the quayside in our drysuits – fully zipped!  The beauty of Raithlin is that she is protected one side should the wind be disagreeable to diving.  The only downside is that we wouldn’t necessarily be on slack water.  First dive we headed of towards the North Wall again in order to dive The Pinnacle at Farganlack Point.  Today I dived with Lesley and as we navigated to the edge of the kelp, we descended to a beautiful wall swathed in a myriad of life – white and yellow anemones, deadmens fingers and orange encrusting bryozoans plus small posies of red sea beech.  Being on the north wall, the light levels were a tad diminished at 28m, plus the overnight storm had churned up the plankton rich waters giving an overall gloomy ambience to the dive.  We followed the drift round till we got to large boulders, seeing Steve and Ariel en route, alerted by the flashing of Ariel’s strobe.  Chasing no stop time we ascended to the kelp line where visibility reduced even further to a fine mist and thus gave up.

Lunch time we headed for a final time at Church Bay on Raithlin, this time it wasn’t quite as warm as the previous day but at least it was dry.  Our last dive we headed towards Sronlea point and were treated to more of a drift dive than the previous day!  Dropping onto furbelows and cuvie, we navigated out to a gentle slope of small rocks.  Unable to stop we went with it and found an octopus sitting on a small boulder!  Lots of cushion stars, in fact these seemed more common than common starfish.  I had wanted to survey these last 2 dives, but the current was too strong – I’d be well passed the species as I tried to scribble them down on my slate.  I did however collect some seaweeds for pressing.  Quite a few double spiral worms, bispira voluptocornis were evident.  We found a lovely buttonhole of a collection, which Lesley managed to get a finger wagging as she slowly circled the beam of her torch around each blossom causing individuals to retract sequentially!  Caught a glimpse of a leopard spotted goby under a rock splashed with pink paint weed.   No stop time tagged our tail and so we made our final ascent.  We grabbed some take away pizzas before showering and heading off for the overnight ferry back to Birkenhead.   It was a lovely way to travel as we settled down in the bar on the Stena Line cruiser leaving the Captain to take the helm and chauffeur us back to the mainland.  I commend Aquaholics as fantastic dive operator.  They listened to us as to where we wished to dive, they handled our cameras correctly and they also recognised me, a woman, as being the expedition leader which is rare in this male dominated sport.  Hopefully we will get a few more takers next year!

 

A Midsummer Knight's Dream

Wendy Northway

The British weather thwarted our intended trip to Ysgaden – this will be the second year on the trot that I have missed out on my favourite Welsh dive site.  Enough bemoaning and back to the blog.  Our backup plan would be old faithful – Capernwray.  One by one, my numbers for the Lleyn Peninsular dwindled as I communicated the new location, but one name persisted – Dan.  Dan had finished his pool training some months back and was gagging to get his head under the water and put all his hard work to use.  He’d tried for a few weekends previously but for one reason or another, he didn’t manage to dive.  This weekend, wild horses wouldn’t keep him away.

Dan and family eagerly arrived at the entrance gates as the lark was rising.  We quickly went up to the office to register, just in time as other enthusiastic first timers joined the queue.  I gave Dan and his father an overview of the quarry from the café then we went back to the vehicles to kit up.  There were only 3 divers – me, Ariel and Dan.  Ariel opted to lead the dive and instruct Dan for his first drill.  We had a couple of kit malfunctions (all good learning points!) – the hose on Dan’s jacket burst, which led to a few hiccups as Ariel tried to get a new one, then just as Dan finally got into his dry suit, he couldn’t do up the zip.

Dan’s father showed immense restraint as I piped up that I had seen a discarded candle on the floor.  What must have gone through his head ‘what does she think she’s going to do?  Light a candle and pray to the god of mechanical closures!’  No, it acted as emergency lubricant!

Once zipped in and ready to roll, we headed off to the water’s edge.  The pool looked very inviting, and for all our faffing about it was still early - there were few divers in there yet to stir up the bottom and we could see the large trout swimming about.  Tentatively adding weights to Dan, we adjusted his weight and once happy, we set off to the platforms.  Dan executed his tasks with confidence and ease – mask clearing and DV removal, not at all perturbed by the trout that flitted about in front of him.  Once these were out the way we headed towards the horses.  Buoyancy control was good as he finned effortlessly around the Red Devil.  We headed back to the shallows and spent a few moments watching the fish then up and out. 

After replenishing our cylinders and tums, we headed out for a second dive.  This time we did a massive step entry from the jetty, descended and followed the contours round to the 6m platform on the left hand side.  More drills were carried out for OO2, this time without quite so many fish.  Once completed to Ariel’s satisfaction we headed off to the Cessna on the 12m stage.  Dan had a slight problem with his ears but I showed him how to ascend a tad then slowly descend which relieved the problem.  Heading back to base passing the African Queen we made our way around the contours and surfaced in the shallows.  Awesome was Dan’s expression for this.

It was still early so I asked if Dan was up for a third dive.  I don’t think I got all my words out before he started kitting up!  This final dive would be purely pleasure.  Ariel handed over the navigation gauntlet to me and instructed me to ‘find the Dive Bell!’  No pressure there then, as there is no bearing listed for this!  Having dived Capers more times than I care to remember, what could possibly go wrong!  OK – headed out to the helicopter platform with a mid water swim – third dive of the day we didn’t want to go progressively deeper.  I also didn’t want to have to explain to my DO why I took a novice to 18m on his 3^rd OW dive.  Finding the platform we then headed towards the dive bell.  Finning over the undulating terrain I felt all eyes on me – would I find the target with a bull’s eye or would it be the black outer ring?  Suddenly I saw it loom in the distance; I cocked a snook in Ariel’s direction and confidently led my student to the delights of the saturation chamber and carried on back to the horses and home.  For one last time, we settled and watched the fish go by – the pint sized brown trout aggregated together in small mobs whilst the larger rainbow variety skimmed passed us in loose gangs.

Contented with today’s proceedings, we returned to the cars and the shore crowd – Dan’s family and friends had turned out to watch him – such dedication given the rain.  It was a very successful and rewarding day.  Dan completed 2 drills and his enjoyment made gave me much satisfaction – it’s times like this that make being an instructor worthwhile.  We waved them goodbye whist we nipped up to the café for a bowl of chips and a slice of chocolate and banana cake.  Well we had to somehow occupy ourselves as the cylinders were being filled!

Rhoscolyn May 2012 – The Lost and Found Department!

Wendy Northway

Lesley and I were busy catching up on the gossip as we headed out of Winsford when we saw a familiar convoy in the layby.  DaveG’s car its bonnet up with 5 persons surrounding it, all sleeves rolled up, ready to get down and dirty!  Not a good sign!  We turned round at our earliest, only to see the convoy starting out – problem solved we reckoned!  Oh well, as we passed the RIB again on the 55, no need to speed (Ariel, pls note!) as we can’t do anything till the boat gets there.

We got as much of our kit together as we could and waited in the car park for the boat to arrive.  I phoned Steve to find out what was going on – Dave had had a problem with his new tow vehicle and Steve had now bizarrely found himself with a large orange object on the back of his! 

‘We’ll be there before 10’ he said with much confidence

As we gazed out at the empty car park we remarked we could have had an extra hour or so in bed!  Then the rumble of cars was upon us – is this the boat?  No, a cavalcade of a dozen or more wrinkly walkers!  Would they leave us enough room for us to prep the boat?

The boat arrived and we quickly got to work and we were Beacons bound in no time flat.  I was down to dive with Sarah, but she had a problem with her kit, losing a fin, which to cut a long story short, found me clinging onto the side of the RIB as Steve dropped Lesley from his intended threesome and thus I dived with Lesley.  We had a most peculiar dive.  It started well, descending onto kelp then a drift took us down into a very pretty gulley, plastered with fine and fluffy red seaweeds, deadmens fingers and tiny yellow and white spyrodeta anemones.  The current drifted us onto a reef with a large sulphurous yellow boring sponge flanked by more feathery red sea weeds, then down onto a pebbly bottom where we met a rather lazy cat shark.  To our left was a wall which we drifted by, then onto a reef with a yellow sponge - -hadn’t we just seen that?  Onto the pebbles we met the same cat shark again then hit the wall!   This circuit continued 3 or 4 more times – the current washed us around!  It wasn’t just us – Dave and Alan also experienced the same, as did Ernie and Steve.

Returning to the boat, Mark handsomely displayed the booty he’d found – a pink SMB reel

‘I’ll have it’ I eagerly squealed, until DaveG confirmed it was actually orange – not interested.  However Alan’s ears pricked up.

‘That’s mine!’  He cried.  It had fallen out of his BCD pocket on his descent.

‘Finders Keepers!’  Mark retorted – a remark he would regret later on – stay tuned reader!

Last pair up, Steve and Ernie also had booty to share – Sarah’s pink fin which not only brought a smile to her face, but also to her dad’s as he didn’t need to splash out on lost kit.  We sped back to base stopping for a quick sandwich and toilet stop (only with special permission….) and we headed out again.  Dave Humphries succumbed to the cold and stood down; his buddy Mark also declined a second dive as both wanted to further their boat handling experience.

Lesley and I descended on the nearside of the Beacons to about 10m onto a rocky reef splattered with Deadmens’ fingers and a large common spider crab.  A slight current took us over rocks and reef covered with red algaes, lilac nudibranchs, tufts of hornwrack and vases of dahlia anemones.  A sizable lobster was spied under a crevice, several cat sharks were happily swimming – it was lovely to see them meandering rather than swimming away from us.  We drifted over barnacle encrusted rocks, all with their legs out capturing food, a splendid bunch of Indian feather hydroids which added to the plumes of antennae hydroids, plus lots of fluffy small stuff that at my age I’m finding increasing difficult to hone in on!  The majority of our dive had been at 12m but towards the end, we found ourselves approaching 20m and decided that this wasn’t a very sensible profile so the call was made to curtail.  Shame it was such a fantastic dive but live to dive another day is one of my mottos.

We got back into the boat; Mark was eating his words from earlier.  Steve and Ernie had sent up a lifting bag. 

‘What could possibly be on the end of it?’ the bemused crew had thought.

This was a thought that ran through Steve’s mind as he saw a regulator sitting in the sand.  The lost and found team started to dig away at the buried hose.  It was only Mark’s pony complete with flag that he’d lost this time last year!

With his own words ringing in his ears from earlier, Mark valiantly decided that he’d return the SMB reel to Alan and dutifully accepted the kind return of his reserve gas supply!

We headed back to the car park with the sun in our eyes, most of us dry but all of us having had a lovely day’s diving in one of our favourite spots.  Roll on Ireland!

Loch Fyne at Easter - 70 years young!

Wendy Northway

VRSAC usually kick start the dive season with their annual expedition up to Loch Fyne and this year was no exception.  But as we rolled into the car park on Good Friday morning, the numbers started to dwindle straight away.  Stella had laringytis and could barely croak directives.  Ron felt a shade under the weather and stepped down.  Me,  Ariel and Andy bravely battled on after a night in the caravan without heating – the Calor had run out leaving us without warmth, but more crucially, no gas to cook breakfast!  As I pulled the neck seal down on my dry suit, a flurry of talcum powder hit me and I looked across the Loch to the snow in the hills.  How cold was it going to be I wondered?

First dive was Pennymore Point – a particular favourite of mine and I was not disappointed.  I was buddied with Andy and as we rolled off the back of the RIB, the cool water hit us.  We descended to about 15m and drifted with the gentle current taking us back towards Inveraray.  Squat lobsters were out doing that menacing quick jerk of their large claws.   Leopard spotted gobies darted back under the shelter of their fluted seasquirts and Sea Loch Anemones erupted out of the shadows.  Temperature dictated us to go up.  After a night without heating, my core was lowered and could only manage 25 minutes.  Back on the boat Steve swore he heard whale song, John A was drenched as a finger sized hole manifested in his cuff and Mark, well Mark had put his computer on his wrong arm and was a tad disorientated.  Banter was jolly and he was given the nick-name Sergei which stuck for the rest of the trip.

An early start and a dedicated cox’n meant we were back at base for 11.30 – a quick bite to eat, the obligatory 40 winks and then we were out again in good time.  This time we ventured a little further down the loch to Furness Point.  Last year on their way home, the lads had popped into the Loch Fyne Whisky Shop and got chatting to the manager.  He mentioned a mooring he had which he wanted checking out.  With the promise of a bottle of his finest malt on offer, Steve and DaveG were up for the challenge.  They located the mooring from a vague description (an orange buoy in front of the house flying the Scottish flag – how hard can that be!) and descended.  A quick visual for wear and tear coupled with dislodging (or was that releasing) a few squatties from their cave undernerath, they ascended.  Steve pealed with laughter as he surfaced!  He could clearly see bubbles emerging from Dave’s wrist seal.  No not the hand end, the sleeve end.  Poor Dave.  His seal had gone the way of John’s this morning.  He wouldn’t be doing another dive today!  We headed in towards Furness Point for the remaining divers.  I again dived with Andy and we had spectacular scenery.  We were quite close into the wall which was tumbling boulders splattered with sea loch anemones, then amidst the flock, a rather inaptly named deeplet sea anemone.  It had been named by a biologist who had only gathered specimens from the deep.  We were at about 15m – hardly the abyss!  This was the first time I’d seen one of these magnificent creatures and it was truly amazing.  A large white cnidarian with long fat tentacles.  Mark had put his computer on his usual wrist and had a better dive with Ariel going down to 35m where the boulders petered out giving way to soft substrate with Dublin bay prawns, spiny starfish and gobies.

Back on the boat we headed home.  The new engines did a fine job and almost fully laden with 6 divers and kit, they were able to get us up on the plane.  The boat handled quite differently with these new babies.  Putting the engine into gear gave a sharp forward thrust.  The pointy end lifted considerably before reaching the plane and the vehicle was still sensitive to weight distribution.  Or was that just Ariel and Steve mucking about!

Saturday morning dawned with the crew improving.  Stella’s voice was returning, Ron felt well enough to dive, Dave had replaced his wrist seals and John had dried out and warmed up.  We were almost a full complement again.  Ariel had requested Loch Shira as a morning dive.  The spectacular Fireworks anemones that inhabit this end of the Loch are found most profusely beyond 25m thus a candidate for the first dive of the day.  I was buddied with my husband and eagerly looked forward to this.  We descended through the amber coloured water to 20m where the light had gone.  Torches, or in my case, video strobes, were a must.  We quickly caught a glimpse of our first, then another and another as the garden of fireworks exploded into bloom!  Large balls of fine white tentacles burst before our eyes providing a dizzying array of entertainment on the soft substrate.  All too soon no stop time curtailed our enjoyment and we ascended.  What of the other divers?  Mark and Steve had opted to go round the corner and ended up on scallop beds – starters for the evening supper!  Chris, who had joined us for the day whilst visiting his uncle, enjoyed his first boat dive with DaveG.

We quickly whizzed back to the caravan park in glorious sunshine.  Such was the weather; we could easily see the park from Loch Shira, just 5 minutes away.  After lunch, the party split into 2 halves.  I opted to take Andy in the bay on a shore dive for compass navigation, whilst the boat guys went off to Stallion Rock.  Dave and Steve went to the bottom, some 35m I think, which was haven to the long papery tubes of peacock worms.  Ariel took Chris in for his second boat dive – he was getting used to the drill now and it was rewarding to see his confidence increase.  Andy successfully completed his orientation of the bay and we surfaced pretty much the same time as the RIB returned from its trek up the Loch.  We waved goodbye to Chris and returned to the vans for some warm tea and tiffin!

Sunday morning arrived as did the Easter Bunny and the rain.   Another trip to Stallion Rock.  This time I dived with Ron.  I’d not dived with him for a few years so relished the chance to buddy him.  As we kitted up, Mark kept himself busy by feeding the fish.  Taking a Stugeron in the car park might have been cutting it a bit fine!  For a smooth run, Ariel opted to stand down and man the boat whilst Steve and Andy dived together.  Ariel had already prep’d Andy in the use of a permanent SMB for his Sport’s Diver lesson, so Steve handsomely observed.   Andy coped expertly – even managing a full mask removal and refit as a poor seal was leaving him with no other choice! 

Returning to base for hearty soup for those whose cockles needed warming then we were out heading south again, this time between Stallion and Kenmore.  I buddied up with Ron for a second time, and had a very pretty dive on a tumbling wall – the usual suspects were out - squatties, squirts and tube worms, then we meandered over loose scree, finding brittle stars, nomadic hermits and dragonets.  Andy and Ariel had a lovely dive – lumpsucker (still on my wish list – not seen one yet) and found an abandoned mooring chain positively teeming with life.  This was very reminiscent of several years ago when Ariel found the ropes to the abandoned fish farm, before they were removed.  Scallops, elegant anemones, mussels, feathery hydroids tightly packed on every inch (2.5cm in new money).  We sped back to the vans as The George had been booked for 7.30.  Scrumptious food and fine wine were had, but no puddings – we’d organised a surprise for John back at the caravans.  We’d opted to give John a lift there and back and with Ariel’s notorious navigational skills, there was no suspecting anything untoward as we overshot the junction for the caravan park.  We even managed to role play a slight domestic to add flavour as those back at base gathered to celebrate John’s milestone birthday.  70 years young and still diving!  We quaffed fizzy wine, ate delicious cake and played balloon fights with little Mia!  The whisky earned from the mooring inspection was cracked open and a glass was raised in memory of absent friends.  We all knew how special a place Loch Fyne was to those always present in our thoughts.

Monday morning came round with the intention of going down beyond Kenmore for our last dive; however a quick change of plan as Ariel was determined to show those who had not seen the fireworks anemones just how stunning they were.  So with me and Ariel acting as guides for Steve and Dave respectively, we headed once more Loch Shira bound.  Although I had offered to guide Steve on this dive, I felt pressure on me to succeed.  What would happen if I didn’t find them – my name would be deeper than the mud in which they were found!  I felt nervous anticipation as I so much wanted to do good by Steve.  My heart was pounding louder than Little Vince’s bass drum as we descended the dark waters.  The previous night’s rain had washed much peat down from the surrounding Bens.  We hit the bottom in pitch blackness, not even the whites of our eyes could illuminate the murkiness.  Steve flashed his torch and there we saw our first one – curled up in tight corkscrew curls – the eagle had landed!  Houston, we have NO problem!  After that we encountered more and more, each one more resplendent than the last.  A perfect little garden then just as it couldn’t get any better, a long spined scorpion fish hiding under the last!  A very pretty end to an extended diving break.  Steve admitted that these creatures were worth the dive and that he hadn’t seen them before – it was more likely the deeplet sea anemone he’s spied in Loch Long.  The mud is not everyone’s cup of tea but I believe it to be worth one dive in order to see these very rare and beautiful critters – as an endangered species it could be your last chance!