As
a wimpy diver who gets very cold very quickly and only did one dive last year,
Scotland on the May Bank Holiday was not the most obvious of dive trips for me
to agree to go to. I dive in a
semi-dry (having recently bought my own ill-fitting number rather than
hiring/borrowing even more ill-fitting suits) and 10°C to me feels negatively
Arctic.
On Caroline’s promise of good weather and after scrutiny of several weather reports, I finally agreed to go to St. Abbs. After an exhausting journey up, asleep in the car, I was cruelly awakened by The Carpenters at 3am when Alistair arrived saying “does anyone know who I’m sleeping with tonight?” and wasn’t feeling that chippy the next morning. As it was, I had to abandon my first dive as upon entry we discovered that I had a hole in my hose (not the kind easily fixible with a bit of nailpolish). Everyone else came up and raved about how fantastic and clear it was; I tried not to be jealous.
So,
the next dive … feeling quite toasty, ‘hot’ even, after the boat trip out
to the dive site, I jumped in. After
the initial shock of jumping into water 8°C and feeling like my face was being
pricked by a million pins (which, to be fair, everyone must have felt), I
didn’t feel too bad until I actually moved and had that rush of cold water
running down my neck and spine which, though expected, still came as a shock.
The dive was fab, I managed about 25 minutes and it was wicked.
Back up on the boat I felt really really cold.
During
subsequent dives my tolerance to the cold increased slightly (last dive 36
minutes) but maybe that was because I was determined to see those octopus that
everyone else had seen and thought “I’m not leaving here ‘til I do”.
Luckily I was with Paul Chambers, who appears to attract aquatic life the
way most men would like to attract women. The
“so cold I’m going to die” feeling once on the surface didn’t change on
the trip, so if you’re planning on going, I’d advise that you get in the
water last to minimise (as much as possible) hanging around waiting for those
boys with twinsets while you’re freezing your bits off.
Apart
from octopus, the delights on offer included walls and walls and walls covered
in dead man’s fingers, carpets of brittle fish, squat lobsters, THE (now
famous) Wolfe fish that nearly
everyone saw, sun stars, angler fish, gorgeous anemones and loads of stuff I
didn’t see. The water was clear,
and when the sun shone it really was gorgeous – and I would swear blind it was
warmer too.
If
you can dive Stoney Cove for training purposes in a semi-dry, you have to
dive St. Abbs in a semi-dry for fun. This
was the nicest diving I’ve done in this country and gave me the diving bug
back. I’d decided I could do one
dive a day as I get so cold – in the 3 days I ended up doing 7 dives as I
couldn’t not go and see more. Next
time a trip to St. Abbs comes up, I’m on – no questions (providing its not
in January). Go!
And
for anyone that’s missing the music of St. Abbs – follow this link on your
web brouser and crank up the volume: http://www.geocities.com/sunsetstrip/1628/midi.htm.
Ah, memories … ;-)
Vanessa
Hansen
Last Edited 29/08/2002