Diving 2006:

Nov 18th~19th 2006, Loch Fyne: The last sea dive of the year at Loch Fyne took place this weekend with 11 divers. Chartering Little Blue out of Tarbert, we found the skipper to be excellent, but the boat quite slow, hence limited in range. Against the odds we managed 4 sea dives, but with the weather blowing up on the last dive we never managed to reach any of the puffer wrecks. Thus the dives were scenic, the emphasis on keeping to the rocks, as the silty seabed affords little sea life. Conger eels, octupus, crabs, lobsters and plenty of scallops were observed.

Sept 30th-Oct 1st 2006 Farne Islands, Northumberland.

An excellent weekend at Seahouses, with Farne Islands. Two days diving from a local hard boat, over to the excellent Farne Islands, to dive with seals, scenic and shallow wreck dives. 12 divers completed 48 long dives on: Hopper Wall, North Wamses, Blue Caps and North Hares. Plenty of friendly seals, fish life, calm seas but poor viz.

Glad Tidings III	Anenome	Shrimp
Jeff	Jeff and Seal	Seal Closeup

Sept 26th~27th 2006 Farne Islands, Northumberland.

Mid-week trip to the Farnes, on Stan Halls boat Farne Diving. 6 divers got face to face with seals and enjoyed 4 dives.

Liz and Malcolm	Liz	Seal

Sept 3rd, Newcastle.

Blown out again owing to bad weather.

Aug 19th/20th, Eyemouth, Scottish Borders.

Back in the North East where two Aquastar RIBs were chartered for the weekend for 4 dives: Conger Reef and Weasel Loch, the Cauldrons ( thru the arch ), Seal Island, plenty of seals on the surface though none spotted underwater, followed by Burnmouth Caves. The Cauldrons and the caves, south of Eyemouth, below the folded Burnmouth cliffs afforded the best scenic diving. The ever keen John Cooke led an evening shore dive around Ness End reef, an easy shore dive to 15m, from the green by Aquastars, before the full group reunited in the Chinese for a £9 buffet and beers. A subset of divers then stopped off at the Farnes on Monday to dive the Somalia. Unfortunately salvage work was happening on the wreck, so dives on the Brittania and Hoppen Wall to play with the seals ensued. Check out Dive Eyemouth.

Seal at Hoppen wall	Eyemouth Reef	Eyemouth - Lee

July 23rd-28th 2006 Cumbrae, Clyde, Scotland.

Perfect weather, excellent value in self hiring a RIB, saw 17 divers enjoy a varied scheduled set of dives over 4 days on this small island in the Clyde. Shore dives gave way to RIB dives on 3 days, with Tony and Malcolm bringing out the best of the newly qualified Ocean divers.

July 10th-11th 2006 Weymouth, Dorset.

A two day midweek break, with 20-35m wreck diving off Dorset. Live aboard for two days on a converted fishing vessel White Horse. Cost £100 for two days diving including breakfast and lunch. Monday was a tad rough with an initial deep dive on the wreck, Aeolian Sky at 31 meters, max depth, in average viz. 10 divers including our guests, Chris and Val from Dunstable BSAC enjoyed this 40 minute dive, whereas the afternoon drift dive on the British Inventor, at 22 meters, saw only 7 divers, and Dave although diving missed the obligatory cig break owing to being off-colour. Tuesday saw a perfect diving day, calm, hot and sunny. Thus the 30 meter dive on the submarine, the M2, went well with good viz and loads of sea life on the wreck: shoals of fish, conger eels and the odd lobster. The final dive was a drift at 18 meters around the east coast of Portland, with Lee obviously aiming for the 60 minute dive! A very capable skipper and assistant, but could do more to assist their divers. The ladder was initially a bit awkward, though I never got chance to use the recommended lift. Weymouth was a good night spot. Check out White Horse Charters.

July 8th-9th, Eyemouth, North East, Scottish Borders

John Cooke and Mick Brown, on the spur of the momemnt went up to Eyemouth, and undertook four dives, two Saturday shore dives and two Sunday RIB dives, camping in between. Calm water, good viz and enjoyable diving prevailed, a good omen for our next trip to join AquaStars, though Tony may disagree!

June 17th-18th 2006 St. Abbs, North East, Scottish Borders

Excellent diving on both days. 12 club divers enjoyed excellent visibility, scenery and sea life at The Skells, in St. Abbs head marine reserve. for the first dive. Second dive was on Cathedral rock and 2 more dives on the Sunday for the 8 divers who stayed up, around St. Abbs head. Paul Crowe is an excellent skipper, with plenty of room to kit up on his boat Topline, all in all good value for money. Charter at Dive St. Abbs.

May 20th 2006 St. Abbs, North East, Scottish Borders

Blown out on the Saturday with strong Northerly winds. Stu and 4 divers did two dives on the Sunday morning.