Well, after a slightly shakey start, myself, Russ (rustuk), Helen (thewisestfish) Gary (Gunsentry) and Martin (Angus McNasty) had a stotting good time in St Abbs this weekend.
Saturday was blown out - windy as hell and onshore too. The combination of this and low water meant that we resorted to plan B - the bar
We ate in the Anchor pub in Coldingham which was excellent and our B&B was....well.........lets just say the place that taste forgot and it smelled a bit strange.
Several hours later, a pressure test on Helens drysuit, a lesson in nitrox blending, several pints and a taxi ride back to the B&B we fall into bed ready to dive the next day.
Sunday dawned bright and breezy, but breezy offshore so that is always a good thing. Down to the harbour to meet with the rest of the troops, consisting of Gary "dive whore" gunsentry and Rob a local guy who is a truly lovely bloke (i hope he is reading this and is going to join YD!). Paul the skippers face was a picture when he saw me trundling along with the trolley and the twins. He just LOVES to haul them on and off the boat
Onto the boat where we dived the Black carr (couldnt get around the head as it was too rough). A nice pootle through the rocks and boulders, but Helen (thewisestfish) had been having problems with the dump valve on her drysuit and these were made worse by faffing with the dump valve the previous day. A fairly short dive but it became obvious we had made the right decision when we got back helen could wring out her weezle (which Rob took home to tumble dry) and she was soaked through.
A lazy surface interval getting fills etc and back in to dive the Ebb carr which had calmed down loads. We saw a fantastic nudibranch
Aplysia punctata sitting on a rock and a fair few pretty anemonies, crabs etc.
Ian Smyth came over to say hi, always good to meet up with YD'ers on tour!
Off to the filling station to harass Amanda and go back through the finer points of nitrox blending (i now kind of know how to do it - scary huh) and then to the B&B for a shower and then to the pub. Strange pattern emerging here.
A couple of beers in the pub and then down to Scoutscroft to see Amanda in the bar. Think the height of chavdom, people in their white polyester tracksuits, the fruit of their loins "Wayne" and "Chelsea" running about demanding money for the arcade machines and sweeties. There was one very scary woman who necked a pint of cider and black in about 1 minute flat and sounded like Selma and Patty from the simpsons. There happened to be a singer strutting his stuff - he was described as "looking like John Wayne" and he sang with his hands in his pockets, taking his hand out to punch the air every minute or so.
After that we were subjected to "Robbie Gibb" a beegees tribute guy (hence night fever). He was scary. I have never, ever in all my life seen someone sit open mouthed looking so utterly stunned. Helen, your face was a picture. Myself and Amanda nearly lost bladder control watching. Deary Me.
A few more scoops and then a tax back to the B&B.
Monday was again bright and breezy, but with a fairly significant swell having built overnight. We had a late start with Paul having an angling charter booked in the morning. All very relaxed and easy going. Met up with Angus McNasty aka Martin but he missed the first dive due to a lack of wingnuts! Bums. A very surgey dive in Petticowick - sometimes the surge being over 3m in every direction! Everyone coped incredibly well, me making Russ and Helen dive together as a buddy pair with myself and Rob following them to make sure they were happy. No problems there whatsoever.
The afternoon dive was great too, again with loads of surge but probably one of the better sites to try and keep out of the worst of it. Pootling along at 12m and a bird flew past......... ok. Im narked at 12m. Stop. Breathe. Ok, there goes another one.
Im seeing things, but then Rob turns around with a big grin on his face pointing to them too, the guilimots were diving for our bubbles thinking they were sand eels. They would just look at you like "oh, hello, nice down here isnt it" and swim off! We were joined again on our safety stop by clouds of birds traced by streams of bubbles. Excellent dive!
Back to the harbour and then home via Scoutscroft for a fill.
Thanks for a great weekend guys!