‘Unknown Wreck’, Moray Firth – July 2013

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Yet another of this years dives that was a first for me, on a wreck this time and one whose identity is unknown. This is fairly unusual as most of the wrecks dived by recreational divers have been identified and it is usually possible with a bit of Googling to find out how the vessel met its fate. Not so for this particular wreck which consists of a good sized boiler and a collection of other wreckage strewn across the bottom at a depth of approximately 26m not far from Cullen.

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Rosehearty and Millshore – June 2013

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A dull, drizzling morning developed into an afternoon of blue sky and blazing sunshine when we dived Rosehearty and Millshore recently. Contrary to the report we received from a surfacing diver, the visibility was actually very good (as can be seen from some of the photos). All the usual life was present and I even met my first Duck underwater whilst leading the group round the corner of one of the rocks at Millshore. I’m not sure which of the two of us got the bigger fright but the Duck decided to end his dive shortly afterwards! A Duck was preferable to the dead Badger that we met there last year, which has to be the oddest thing I’ve ever encountered on a dive. Having commented recently about how I didn’t think I had seen a Lumpsucker before, I saw the third one in as many weeks.

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El Cabron, Gran Canaria – December 2012

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I was lucky enough to finish off my diving for the year in warmer waters than of late with some diving at El Cabron, Gran Canaria. At 20 degrees C, the water was a whole 10 degrees warmer than it was in the Clyde a couple of weeks ago when we were diving the wreck of the Akka amongst other things, but it was still good to be wearing a fairly thick wetsuit with hood!
 
As well as a nice little shoal of Bastard Grunt (that’s what they’re called, not a sudden bout of profanity), there was a lot of the usual life you see when diving around the Canaries. A Tiger Moray was hiding in a crevice, a cluster of Squid eggs were hanging from the underside of another and there were a pair of Cleaner Shrimps who had set up their cleaning station next to a Giant Anemone (there was no cleaning going on, possibly due to the Christmas holiday 😉 ) I also spotted a Canarian Lobster, which is a species endemic to the area but doesn’t bare too much of a resemblance to the Lobsters we are used to seeing whilst diving in the UK. Continue reading “El Cabron, Gran Canaria – December 2012”