Sunny Start

What a glorious morning. Driving the short distance to the harbour at Seahouses gave the feeling that we were in for a great day. Sadly the weather didn't last quite as we may have hoped but we have had a good day of diving nevertheless. Rather than Andy we had Ron as skipper today and our party was joined by another six divers. My biggest challenge was finding a buddy that was prepared to dive with a breather.

In the end I was teamed up with Nikki and Paul but basically I was diving solo with an eye on the other two. It has nothing to do with wanting to solo dive by the way. Diving with three people never works, there should and can only ever be two in a diving buddy team. What happens is that one of the three races off, one wants to go slower and then the poor diver in the middle is in a real pickle. I hate being left behind and in this case more so because Nikki was the poor diver in the middle. I am convinced that Paul and Nikki saw very little of the abundant life on the sea floor as they raced past several Lobsters eventually Paul saw one that somebody else had seen and that was the highlight of Nikki's dive. Though it has to be said he also raced past the two boilers that we saw and really did warrant some investigation.

We did manage a small drama as Nikki hit a sticky patch as she was too lightly weighted but overall the first dive passed without incident.

By the time the fdive had finished the weather had turned worse and become colder, overcast and grey. The cup of hot tea on the boat was very welcome.

The second dive saw Nikki and I buddy up together in a site beside the Longstone Lighthouse. This was a much more pleasant though shorter dive with a highlight being a close encounter with a solitary seal at 15 metres. He came in and made good eye contact giving both of us what appeared to be a thorough inspection before hurtling off into the gloom. All too quick for me to get the camera ready for what could have been a fabulous shot.

Visibility was not great today and there was a lot of green in the water. I am told that this is largely thought to be due to land wash off pulling farming nitrates into the sea. All I can say is that as a diver it dos not look great.

Back on the boat we made our return into Seahouses in what had definitely become quite inclement weather.

On the good news front I at least remained dry, so the recent repairs by O Three seem to have worked.

Back on land we had the traditional post dive beverage and a very enjoyable meal at Links the local restaurant. I now have the most daunting prospect of sharing a room with Colin whose nocturnal noises defy description and that really isn't helpful as I am not sleeping at all well currently. At least we have a late start in the morning so even if I don't get much sleep I can pretend for a little longer.