Imported post
SATURDAY morning…….
I awoke feeling like I’d been kicked in the ribs all night…. Mark???
Pulling out the earplugs that I’d so cleverly remembered to bring
(knowing that I’d be surrounded by snoring\talking\humping campers) I could hear the sounds of the YD encampment moving about so figured I might get myself up, plus the bladder had reached a new level of pain not previously experienced….. Giving our Mark a nudge on the way past and smirking at the verbal abuse that emerged from inside a crumpled sleeping bag, I opened the tent zip to see that it was a glorious morning and realised that things were looking good already…. Nice one… :biggrin:
A quick trip down to the shower block for my morning ablutions, followed by 3 Weetabix covered in lashings of milk had me sorted for the day, Mark finally emerged complaining of not getting any sleep cos he’d had to listen to some Geordie neighbours chatting till 4 am….
“Why didn’t you just use the earplugs I brought?” I inquired….
“Couldn’t get them to stay in” he mumbled…
Well they ARE a technical bit of kit... :thinking:
Fortunately we didn’t have to get down to the harbour too early as we were booked onto the boat for mid morning..
Good move Jay! so it was a nice lazy getting together of the kit with the sun hot on our backs and lots of light hearted banter bouncing back and forth. Ammers tried on Jay's OMS wing and posed for piccies.. we all fell about laughing at the thought of this Halcyon drumbeater posted all over the internet wearing OMS, there followed a multitude of ideas and captions that could be used with some of the best one’s coming from the girl herself….
Getting six divers plus kit into one tiny parking space in Abbs was gonna be a chew at the best of times, so was decided that the easiest way of transporting everyone and their gear was by loading it into the trailer and we’d all pile into our kids car… well nearly everyone, Eddie had to travel on the trailer cos Andy’s arse took up so much space
(I’m still not sure if eddies recovered yet, his smile looked kinda strained whilst he hung on for dear life at a steady 40 or so mph to Abbs)
When we arrived at the harbour, you couldn’t swing a cat, it was chocka… we carefully threaded our way past everyone’s cars, vans, bottles, crates and other misc. kit to finally park next to Billy’s house where we were swapping car parking spaces with Andy’s Mam and Dad, who had joined the troop north but who were just there sightseeing and fortunately for us, staying in Billy’s B&B.
The atmosphere around the harbour was electric, it was hot and sultry and there wasn’t a breath of wind so all of the sounds of laughter and chat, the sounds of ribs starting up, engines revving, people shouting, seagulls screeching all drifted in the air adding to the anticipation and general level of happiness I was experiencing…
I was so up for this trip that it was ridiculous, I was excited to the point of....
(Whoops another shit was needed… WHAT on earth had I eaten that could be so offensive??..) so off to the bog I ran, after spending a good 10 minutes musing on life in general I unlocked the door and was delighted to find that Jay was waiting to take my place…. Excellent!! :rofl:
(For those that know Abbs harbour toilet you’ll know that there is no window, its like a sealed coffin.... Jay’s face was an absolute picture of horror…… I threw in some passing comment to add to his dismay and left giggling like a schoolgirl mentally picturing his writhing face as he tried to shite without breathing…..)
While we were dropping our gear onto the boat, Jay had returned all ashen faced and calling me all of sorts of dirty b*stards… not too sure why tho… heheh
The first dive according to our captain was going to be the Skellies, apparently a nice little pootle amongst some life infested gully's... we weren't to be dissapointed...
I couldn’t believe the weather and conditions as we left the harbour, the sun shone and the sea was flat calm, everything was absolutely perfect
(wasn't it supposed to be p*ssing down??) Not complaining though... I was filled with the usual excitement mixed with apprehension that I get before every dive, but things just felt really really good, nothing or nobody could spoil it today....
Once we arrived and dropped the shot, Billy gave a quick briefing of the site, I was gagging now, the water looked so bloody inviting that I couldn't wait for the briefing to end...we already had our buddy pairs arranged, There was Mark and myself, then Jay and Andy together then Ammers and Eddie.
It had been agreed that we’d gather on the bottom and try and get some group pictures and then probably split into our respective pairs for the dive.
Hitting the water we swam over to the line and Mark and I gave each other a last check, the others were already down so we gave the ok signal and then dumped air to at last start sinking into the glorious Scottish waters I'd waited so long for...... As I slowly sank down through a mass of rising bubbles from the first four down I was grinning into my mask like a man on drugs, it was fantastic, but to then see the ocean floor and the rest of the group come into view while I was still high above them just blew me away... the whole area just opened up and I could see for miles.... well quite a way's
While still metres above I could see people shuffling into position for pictures and others pointing and giving directions, the viz was excellent, absolutely excellent.. or is it that i'm so used to crap viz?.... nah... this was good..
Being well chuffed with the siutation I dropped into position and threw some of my best poses.. smile!! :biggrin:
After a few minutes of everyone getting in everyones way trying to get infront of the lense we decide it was time to move on... I reached down to my air integrated computer to check on things only to find it had given up the ghost…. It was a complete blank…. something like the stare I was giving it as I tried to take in what was happening right then and there… This wasn't happening... I pressed the button and watched it run thru it's cycle and then go blank again.....
No!!!!!!!!! I’d waited so long…… did my dive have to end before it started???
Did it bollox!!!!
Ok… I figured…. time for a calculated risk…. now knowing that it had just worked on the boat and it had given me a reading of 220 bar on a 15ltr and knowing that I was in clear viz with a load of experienced divers, mostly with twins, and at an average depth of about 14m I decided I’d go for it, so I let everyone know my dilemma, and with a few signals from one or two people indicating that they were aware and were watching we set off as a group (thanks to the great viz).
(BTW I was wearing an Aladin Pro as backup, I’d just lost the ability to read my contents… that was all..) lol!
Wow!! what a fantastic dive, it reminded me very much of swimming in a group on a warm water holiday type dive. There was Andy in front, sticking his head into every nook and cranny and then waving us over to see what he’d found, items including a big octopus (nice one Andy, the first I’ve ever seen in the UK) followed by THE biggest crab I’ve ever had the good fortune to come across… I reckon this thing was born around the time of the dinosaurs demise… we all hung in a large circle, first looking at this table top with claws and then back at each other, gesticulating and shaking heads in amazement..
I think everyone one of us wanted to pick this beast up and pose for Eddies camera but nobody was gonna handle this thing, it looked like getting a finger trapped under one of its legs could of resulted in the loss of a digit....
(Note: Author is allowed to exaggerate slightly)
After a while we grudgingly moved on and left the behemoth behind...
Thank god for Marine reserves otherwise we as divers might not ever see anything that mature in the wild...
(I’d decided that TwoTanks was now gonna be called RockFerret in my mind… As he was doing great so far….)
I got to see a large wrasse or two, jelly fish of the sort I hadn't come across before.. flat topped beasts with blue and white bodies that glowed and pulsated when a torch beam was placed close to them, their long stingers trailing behind, too long actually cos I kept swimming into the bloody things... I saw and enjoyed many many other wonderful things before it was time to end what for me was a glorious dive.
We rose up using Jay's DSMB and line while Ammers circled continuously like a shark waiting for an opportunity, back on the surface the shone shone, the sea was still flat and I didn't want to get out.... it had all been too quick, although we'd been down for 44 minutes
Back on the boat we all rabbited on excitedly about what we’d seen and experienced as Billy handed out coffee’s and Milkyway's.... So far so bloody good, this weekend was turning out much better than I could ever of hoped for…..
So it was back to the harbour for air and bacon butties, with an even better but rather arse nipping dive to follow in the afternoon... :thumb:
(Edited by Dave Williamson at 8:04 pm on June 5, 2002)