Well me and Missus Janos have been off on holiday for a couple of weeks, and I'm back (as indeed is Missus Janos) and thought I'd write a quick report.
The Short Version
- We went diving in Lossiemouth, NE Scotland
- We used Bill Ruck and his boat Top Cat (
Moray Diving)
- Bill is an excellent skipper and the boat is good too, and come throughly recommended
- "Poor viz" in the Moray Firth = "good viz" in the Channel = 10m+
- The wrecks are pretty intact and brilliant dives
- Missus Janos tore her neckseal
- Bill lent her a drysuit that fitted like a glove
- I holed my drysuit boot
- I fixed my boot with Pippa's neckseal
- I set fire to my camera
- Diving over, we stayed up for another week for some walking and whisky
In summary, the Moray Firth is an excellent place to go diving, and thoroughly recommended. Bill is a top skipper, and there's plenty of non-diving (yes I know) stuff to see on the way back.
Long-ish version
An early (5am) start and Pippa and I were North of Manchester by 8am. Less than half way there. Poo. However the driving got easier and easier and the scenery more and more dramatic and around about 5pm we were in Lossiemouth, between Aberdeen and Inverness on the Moray Firth. We met up with the rest of our group, Clare, Richard, and Mike, three members of
my club and unpacked ourselves into the two static caravans where we were staying. The caravans had the advantage of being cheap, close to the town and the harbour, and had spectacular views of the Lossiemouth beach. Although I did worry that all that seemed to seperate us and the sea was a 2m high grass bank but the forecast was looking good so I didn't think we'd need our diving kits in the vans themselves!
Day 1
We turned up at the harbour not confident that we'd be going out. The wind was blowing a F4 to F5 and the sea was quite lumpy. I thought it was 50-50 but Bill canned it pretty much instantly. The forecast was dropping and he wanted the trip to get off to a good start. I think I could have talked him into going out but as Richard said "we're on holiday" and Missus Janos wasn't keen on going out either. In some ways the I was happy that Bill canned it. I'd much rather have a skipper who is more conservative than me than someone who insists in going out in all weathers!
Instead we wandered up to a pretty town inland and went for a bit of a hike. Where we got sort of lost. But not really.
Day 2
The weather was still up, but dropping rapidly, so Bill suggested that we do just the one dive that day, later in the evening at around 5pm. We went exploring and decided to do a shakedown dive in Loch Ness. After a fair bit of driving, including the last hundred yards down a small track, we found ourselves by the waters edge at a small harbour. The place was deserted, so we kitted up on a small shingle beach and I dived with Pippa.
Loch Ness itself is a bit like Wraysbury on a good day viewed through brown tinted glass. The viz was good - 5m to 10m, but if you put a fin wrong it was soon stirred up. I found some old bottles and a few new Tenants cans, and also an old chamber pot.
Back in Lossie for 4pm or so, we went down to the harbour and as Bill had promised the weather had dropped and we loaded our gear onto
Top Cat Formally of Weynouth, she is a good size boatwith a large central bench. Gear is stowed around the edges and you kit up on the middle bit. There's no lift, but there is a massive winch and a good ladder. More important than a lift (at least for the girls in our party) there's also a loo.
Our first sea dive was the Unity. A midsize trawler in 25m or so 20 minutes out from Lossie. We were soon on site and down the shot. The wreck was great - plenty of life on her and reasonably intact and ship shaped. Viz was excellent - a good 10m or so, but Bill apologised for this saying that it was ususally a lot better
I dived with Pippa and Mike, and we had time to do a couple of laps before ascending.
Day 2
This time we dived a bit further out - a couple of hours travel from Lossie. The first dive was the Moray - a well broken up wreck in around 30m. I was diving with Richard and we saw plenty of bits and bobs and something which looked suspiciously like the wheel, complete with boss. In retrospect I think it was more of a metal shut-off wheel than the steering wheel but I intend to go back one day and investiagte further if someone hasn't beaten me to it!
I saw several lobsters on this dive, but they were all to cunning for me, and several ling - which I don't think I'd seen before.
Second dive was the Fyla - a two masted schooner that went down 2.5 years ago. Bill says that when he first dived her, shortly after her sinking, both masts were erect and in full sail - she looked like a ghost ship! Both masts have been recovered now (they were a hazard to navigation) and the wooden structure is obviously deteriorating but it's nice to see a modern wreck. There's plenty of tat on her - including a well rusted spanner set and pots and pans, and again there was a huge amount of life
Sadly at the end of the day Missus Janos tore her neckseal and so spent a fretful evening.
Day 3
Good news is that Day 3 arrived with Bill and a spare suit that fitted Missus Janos like a glove
. So that's ok then. We were also joined by a few other people on the boat including
Mark Sydenham of YD who recognised my name and asked if I was on YD. Although I'd never met him before he turned out to be a lovely bloke and a very sound diver, and Mark, if you're ever down South then let me know and we can dive some of the wrecks down here, although be prepared for viz that's worse than you're used to.
The first dive was the San Tiburcio. Everyone had a great dive except me who realised when I jumped in that I'd holed a boot. At 6m, with the water washing around my nadgers, I realised that this wasn't a small hole and that I'd have to abort and did so. Missus Janos did the dive though with Mike and Clare and by all accounts it was a great dive. Some saying it was the best of the week.
Over lunch I had a go at fixing the leak with good old Silver Gaffa Tape and jumped in for the second dive on the Skerries - a local reef in 10m. We initially dived as a four in case I had to abort on the way down, but after a few minutes I found that the boot was leaking a little but not much so we continued as two pairs.
The Skerries are fantastic!
Although I'm more of a wreck than reef person, these rocks are brilliant. There's plenty of life, including 13 lobsters (that I saw), pipefish, ling, conger, and seals! I saw my first ever seal underwater and it was brilliant!
Despite a wet foot, I stayed down for 50 minutes or so before thumbing the dive and having a cup of almost boiling hot tea thrust into my hand on surfacing (Bill guessed I'd be a biut cold)
In the evening I used a tube of aquasure and Missus Janos's old ripped neckseal to patch my boot inside and out. Fingers crossed it would hold.
I had some more equipment problems in the evening- I changed the battery in my camera and it went "BANG" and a small pull of smoke came out. Bollocks.
Day 4
This was another far out wreck - the Verona. A war grave in 40m, she was a yagucht (or however you spell it) that had a couple of guns bolted on during the war. Local rumour has it that she was the fastest boat in the area, and diving her and seeing the huge boiler that was very out of character for a boat of this size you can see why. The wreck is also very jealously protected by the locals and so consequently there is plenty of her original fittings to be seen.
Fortunately my boot held together, but for some reason this was a very spooky dive for me.
Second dive of the day was Queen's Road Reed, another excellent scenic dive with plenty of life.
Day 5
We were down to four as Clare had now torn a neck seal and Missus Janos took the day off to go looking at old things and let Clare use the spare suit, which is clearly magic as it fitted Clare like a glove too. We decided to something close in and so dived the Fyla again followed by another local reef. The viz on the Fyla was stunning - at least 20m, although this soon dropped as I had a good old rummage at the stern and found some interesting tat, including a nice brass gimbal, I think it was for a lamp.
The second dive was good too. Lots of crabs and lobbies, and also the local seals. Sadly this was our last dive of the holiday but again it was a good 'un.
After a big night out (it was the last night after all) most of the party departed, but Missus Janos and I stayed up (in a flat in a tiny village an hour or so to the South) for some walking and whisky, touring a few of the distilleries. But as this isn't a whisky and walking holiday I won't write much about that.
All in all in was a fantastic couple of weeks and I would thoroughly recommend the Moray Firth as a diving destination. Despite a flooded suit I had a great time
Janos