St. Abbs, North East
Coast, Sept 2005, Julia Clark
 Once
again it was Friday evening and we were getting
ready to set off for St. Abbs. This is one of my
favourite diving locations in the UK and having
just got over the trauma of drowning my
treasured camera there a month ago, I was raring
to go.
 Frankie
arrived and, after once again marvelling at how
much kit one small woman can take for a
weekend’s diving, we loaded the car and set off.
We had a pleasant drive up listening to a
wonderful variety of music and arrived in St
Abbs in time to have a couple of glasses of wine
in the cottage before bed (well it would be rude
not to).
 Saturday
morning we had the later dive booked on Billy’s
boat. This was not exactly to time since this
weekend was super springs, as far as tides go,
and the low tide was very low indeed, in fact I
have never seen the harbour so devoid of water.
 Anyhow
we set off on our first dive after a relaxing
breakfast and dog walking. Dive one was Ebb
Carr; A pleasant drift with lots of wildlife
around. Huge crabs and lobsters of all sizes, a
variety of fish and every crack you looked in
seemed to be teaming with life, squat lobsters
of all sizes, shrimps, and even an octopus
(probably waiting for Diane the octopus charmer,
who normally finds dozens on every dive here).
It was really a bit
odd for me to see so much life and be diving
without a camera in my hand. I felt quite
bereft. Diane had said 60 minutes maximum so at
52 minutes and 70 bar I set off my dSMB and we
made our way to the surface. On surfacing
Billy’s boat was waiting alongside. :o) That’s
my sort of skipper, especially as he then hands
out the tea and chocolate.
After lunch (ham
sandwiches and Heinz tomato soup) we went out
for dive two. Maybe I didn’t hear the briefing
too well or maybe Simon (my rebreather buddy)
and I had taken too long to get underwater and
had drifted a little… whatever … the result was
a desert dive. We saw sand, more sand, gritty
sand, sand in banks and undulations, oh, and the
occasional hermit crab. We did see several
abandoned lobster pots, one of which had a dead
octopus half in as though it had tried to get in
got stuck and died. Weird.
 Another
had a huge crab in it and after checking that it
wasn’t buoyed and therefore properly abandoned I
set about freeing the crab by cutting the net.
Sometime during this operation the crab actually
scarpered through the large whole at the back
that I had failed to spot. I found this
hilarious, I must be the only person who gets
narked at 20 when breathing nitrox!
We did eventually
find some rocks but by then we were up to 40
minutes and on our way up.
 After
showering and dog walking we all met up at
Creels restaurant at scoutscroft for a meal. The
quality of the conversation made up for the
quality of the food and a good time was had by
all. It was
 at
this time that I discovered that several of BSAC
18 also climb as well as dive and recruited
myself some new climbing buddies! What a lovely
group of people.
 Next
morning there was even less water in the harbour
than the day previously but again once Billy got
the boat in we set off for a dive to Ebb Carrs.
This is another lovely Scenic and yet again we
met up with an octopus who posed and played. I
never get this when I have a camera in my hand
(except in Tenerife) but it was fun. Again the
whole place was alive with critters everywhere,
and we saw some of the hugest Dahlia anemones I
have ever seen.
Dive two was one of
my favourite St Abbs dives; Tyes Tunnel. We all
got in together and it was a bit like rush hour
at Kings Cross station all trying to get into
the hole against the swell. I love this tunnel
and you can often find little scorpion fish in
the corners. We worked our way through the
tunnel and Damian and his buddy, the pair in
front of us, pointed back into the corner where
there was the largest lobster I have ever seen.
It was nearly as big as me, no kidding! Covered
in barnacles and looking like the old man of the
sea. What a pleasure to see such as ancient
creature and imagine how old it might have been.
The viz was bit murky for the rest of this dive
but it was very chilled and again lots of life
to see and admire.
This is probably the
first weekend in two years I have dived without
a camera. Really odd at first and took some
adjusting to but maybe it’s good to just dive
occasionally and I certainly found myself
looking at stuff more for it’s own sake rather
than from the photographers eye view.
 The
new camera housing arrived this week so next
trip I will be back in photographer mode.
Thanks to Diane for
again organising a great trip, and to Frankie
for the transport and fantastic musical
education.
Jules |
