From wrecks to wolf fish and Belgium beers to Middlesbrough Parmo’s, all the delights of a week diving off the coast of St Abbs, Scotland. We had a beautiful house for the week with a scramble on Saturday night to pick the best bedrooms. We went our separate ways that evening, with some exploring, others taking in the sun on the harbour walls, while a few exploring the local drinking spots.

We started off our dives on the Monday with two dives planned. Stingray, the dive boat operated by St Abbs Charters, departed the harbour swiftly at 0900, with our first dive of the trip at Burnmouth Cave, a fairly shallow dive with lots to see including an array of lobsters, crabs, a dogfish, flat fish, grey gurnard and so on. After the dive, we had a lunch break, some had packed lunches while the ones who wanted the extra time in bed opted for the local bakery who produced fresh cakes and sandwiches every morning (I don’t call it lazy, I call it supporting local businesses!). The second dive was to Thrummie Carr. We couldn’t believe our luck with the weather and visibility, something that continues throughout the trip with the exception of the last day, but we will touch on that later.

The second day was another 0900 departure, so an early start for the group, but with great views and a nice morning warmth we were not complaining. The first dive of the day was to Black Carr, a renowned spot for the infamous wolf-fish, we all got into our buddy pairs and each came up with plans to spot this rare fish, some were to go deep, others shallower warmer water, some to head to the darker eerie spots, while others headed to lighter spots. After the dive, we all regrouped on the boat waiting to hear if anyone had seen one, sadly the group had no luck.

After lunch we dived a site called West Hurker, I can’t talk for the group, but for me this was an experience. Myself and my buddy, Howard, were finning along when we came across a large rock, I was behind Howard investigating and this is where I spotted the celebrity of the trip, the wolf fish. I was trying to get Howard’s attention but I had noticed he stopped, he was pointing under the opposite side of the rock to me and I was also pointing to my side. I finned over to Howard’s area and noticed that he had seen one also, two wolf fish under the same rock. I signalled that I had also seen one and we joked about who had seen the first one and as us men do, whose was bigger. The evening was filled with laughs and myself and Howard talking about our find with, maybe, a bit of exaggeration added….

Wednesday was a later start of 1000 with the weather not as great, the swell was greater today with someone’s sea legs giving way (myself *cough cough). We still managed two dives, but visibility had gone down slightly due to the swell. We ticked off yet another new site today, Anemones Gully, an amazing swim through with a big shoal of mackerel as far as the eye could see. The second dive in the afternoon was West Hurker again with the brilliant swim through at the beginning.

The penultimate day was the deepest yet, the weather gods were on our side, and we were able to dive a 30 metre wreck, the Glanmire, which is weather dependent. The wreck was beautiful, with both boilers still intact and the prop vertically on the ground where it hasn’t moved since the vessel ran aground in 1918. This was followed by a site called Ringholm (Odense)/Pettico Wick. A nice shallow dive after our 30 metre with yet another wreck, although to add, most of the group couldn’t find the wreck but we didn’t mind. The weather was great with perfect visibility and lots of marine life.

Howard had booked a special treat for us all that evening, a craft beer pub, with over 176 different beers from American IPA’s, Belgium blondes and a beer costing over £60, and that is not a spelling mistake. After a few beers it was food time, the delicacy is a Middlesbrough parmo, which is a chicken schnitzel topped with béchamel sauce, cheddar and a choice of toppings from mushrooms to chorizo and chilli honey. Something no one in the group had tried before but something we will all be making again at home.

The weather had taken a downwards spiral on Friday with the fog taking over and a pretty nasty cold wind picking up. Today was a special day, as we got to witness the release of some baby lobsters as part of a conservation project in the local area. There were some further spotting of the infamous wolf fish today with most of the group having seen them. (There’s always next year, Chris, Trevor, Mike and Paul!) The second dive was called off due to very low clouds descending along the coast. We didn’t mind as we all had an amazing week’s diving, and to tick off nine out of the ten dives in the UK is almost unheard of.

Friday’s dinner was an Argonauts tradition, Trevor’s pizza night. Trevor had tirelessly prepared enough dough for ten allowing it to sit for 24 hours making for an amazing pizza, it was toppings galore with enough food to feed the whole street. We all went to bed feeling very full dreaming of pizza, wolf fish and Belgium beers.

This was my first long trip with the Argonauts and I can firmly say it was amazing. I was able to pass my Sports Diver training there and almost doubled the amount of dives in my log book. A big thank you to Akiko for organising the trip, Danny our amazing skipper, Charlotte the deckhand and all-round tour guide, Trevor for putting up with me as a roommate, Chris, Howard, Ian, Mike and Paul for sharing your knowledge and makings the trip an amazing experience for all. Here’s to the next one!

Reported by Cameron, Photos by Charlotte, Cameron and Paul

Warm water diving, bright sunshine, gentle breeze to cool down after a beautiful days diving in the clear waters off the coast of Puerto del Carmen, Lanzarote. What could be better we asked yourselves.

Warmer sea temperature for starters say Akiko and Emily. Less wind we all say. It’s fair to say we were taken aback by the cool water which managed to penetrate our ( mostly) hired 7 mm wet suits , including hoods.

When I say “we” were taken aback after the first dive, I don’t include myself, as I was left high and dry and warm by the jetty as everyone else boarded the rib ( see below) and set sail to the nearby dive site. Due to an equipment malfunction I tried the coffee n cake of a local cafe.

Poor Akiko was colder than Claude van Dam in the Coors Lite advert and later looked like ET during his famous bike ride scene returning from some dives. Getting in and out of the rib to steep, stone steps was not for the faint hearted or those weak at the knees. By the end of day one it was clear Katerina was in for a tough time with our dive guides, what also became clear was she was not in the mood to take any nonsense from them, although the offer of their octopus did come in handy from time to time.

It should be noted that the visibility was great, the rays were plentiful as we’re the barracuda, sardines, the volcanic rock formations gave a lovely contrast to the beautiful sea bed. This theme continued throughout the 3 days x 6 dives.

We were given good guidance not to disturb the resting female rays as they had come to give birth. Likewise an unwritten rule is don’t assault your fellow divers, trying telling Akiko this after Trevor battered her head with his fins repeatedly at 25m. With Trevor’s antics, the sea temperature, relatively strong current poor Akiko must have felt like she was being punished for some unknown misdemeanours.

Meanwhile back on shore Gareth had hired a sleek cycle and was hurtling up and down the hilly roads gaining his normal t shirt and shorts tan, which to the untrained eye looked very red indeed.

Following our local dives we headed off in the minibus to Playa Blanca, suddenly familiar to those who had been to Lanzarote several years ago. Only this time we were treated, Mmmmm, to the Italian Sardine magician. A well known local celeb who was pulling Sardines out of a tin, like a magician with a hatful of rabbits. He showed us his skills by as one witness said “yanking that Moray from beneath the rock” and feeding it MasterChef prepared Sardines. Once would have been enough, but oh no, Super Mario was not content until he had fed every Moray and Grouper within a 5 mile radius.

The return journey to the dive centre saw the wet pant duo of Trevor and myself banished to the small van driven by Guy the guide and former international fashion sales icon.

Our final meal was no more than 20 paces from our apartments, which was handy for the Eurovision party thoughtfully arranged by our Croatian representative Katrina afterwards. In fact the sight of the Croatian group in white Y fronts was one of the standout performances. Chris was probably the most enthusiastic viewer demonstrating his self confessed eclectic task in music by calling out a Sugababes number being covered by a previous winner, i feel Popmaster is awaiting your presence Chris !

Following a good night’s rest, sorry Trevor your illness was Akiko’s pay back, most of us made our weary way back to Blighty to resume the daily grind.

Many thanks to Chris for organizing a great trip and of course all Argonauts for making it another memorable Spring dive.

Reported by Phil J, Photos by Katarina and Alex

After two years of postponements (thanks to you-know-what), twelve Argonauts and two honorary Argonauts finally jetted off to the Maldives in late April 2022!

We spent a week with Emperor Divers, on board the Emperor Leo. It was a great boat and team – and we managed to pack in 17 dives along with some snorkelling too.

Starting and ending in the capital Male we journeyed through the turquoise waters of Alifu Dhaalu Atoll, Vaavu Atoll and South Male Atoll. We were lucky with good weather and water conditions throughout, but of course the Maldives is known for its strong currents! 

 

We had a real range of different dives from reefs to pinnacles and even a small wreck site (the Kuda Giro) on the final dive. Our dive on Fishhead Reef had particularly strong current and all we could do was hook in next to the butterfly fish, emperor angels and shoals of oriental sweet lips. On the Kuda Giro our searching in the fan corals was rewarded with a Longnose Hawkfish.

We saw at least four species of sharks, manta, mobula and eagle rays, leaf fish, morays and more. One day we were surrounded thousands of fusiliers being harried by jacks, clouds of cardinals and damsels floating above branching corals and friendly unicorn fish playing with our bubbles.  

 

We particularly enjoyed hooking in on the reef edges and watching sharks saunter past in the blue, oblivious to a dozen Argonauts watching in awe. We had a more up close and personal dive with a number of nurse sharks who were so curious and placid that they swam close enough to be fin-slapped!

One of the highlights was a night dive, where we dropped down to about twelve metres next to the boat and knelt still on the sand, torches held high above our heads. After about 15 minutes of waiting in anticipation the manta rays came to feed on all of the plankton attracted in our torchlight. Swooping, gliding and barrelling, just centimetres from our outstretched torches it was an incredible experience.

Aside from the diving we also enjoyed a beach BBQ and bonfire on a deserted island, watching the sun set and all of the stars come out. It was a wonderful trip, with a great bunch of friends and many laughs were shared – it really was well worth the long wait! 

Reported by Jess, Photo by Amanda and Sarah A, Video by Trevor

Uploaded in May 2022

One small positive of lockdown meant I had the funds to replace some of my aging dive kit and my ill-fitting dry suit. Having spent an unexpected fortune getting regulators and cylinders serviced (tip: put your　transmitter on a short hose to prevent people breaking it by using it as a handle!) and following a brief test at Wraysbury it was finally time for our annual pilgrimage to Swanage.

Leaving home slightly earlier than normal didn’t make my journey any quicker as most of southern England also seemed to be heading towards the south coast, but I arrived just in time to join the rest of the gang for supper in the pub.

I’ve not needed to get up particularly early since we’ve been in lockdown and getting up on a Saturday morning to get a place on the pier at 7am was a slight shock for the system but worth the effort. We didn’t have a really early dive that morning so this allowed plenty of time for assembling the remaining parts on my camera, a wander round Swanage to see what had changed and a breakfast in the cafe.

The first dive was under the Pier; it was high tide so that made getting in the water down the steps a little easier, no needing to stagger/crawl painfully along the rocks battered by the waves which is even more challenging with a bulky camera. We had a good pootle under the pier. The visibility wasn’t good but we found things to look at – mostly admittedly crabs – and I had fun trying to use a new flash and snoot that I had only tested previously at the kitchen table. It proved to be an excellent opportunity to take photos worthy of the Crap Fish Photography group – getting the snoot pointing in the right place was definitely an art I had yet to master and in poor visibility the backscatter was lit up beautifully!

Our first boat dive was Old Harry’s Drift. This will always be memorable site for me as it was where I did my first sea dive back in 1996; I saw one crab and as I had only dived inland lakes before I was starting to wonder why people dived in the UK. As I hadn’t dived off a boat in the UK for about eighteen months I was slightly nervous but there was nothing to worry about. Having put the DSMB up, clipped on with a buddy line (even though my buddy and I have done hundreds of dives each we do it for convenience) we continued to fly along the bottom in a cracking 2 knot drift. The visibility was two metres at best but there was still lots to see including dog fish, crabs (of course), dover sole, a variety of anemones, lots of leathery sea squirts, even more slipper limpets, sponges, queen scallops and deadmen’s fingers some with baby sea slugs on them. At the end of the dive we ascended back up to the safety stop then out … eventually, whilst we were barely at 15m the DSMB line was reeled out such a long way with a small reel it took a few minutes to reel the line in again. Whilst you could argue that I shouldn’t have let the line out so far, I also decided that whilst its more fashionable to use a smaller reel nowadays and they are less bulky they are also more fiddly and I decided to switch back to my larger reel when diving in the UK.

On day two we did the Fleur de Lys and the barge. Whilst its broken up considerably more now the Fleur was a bigger boat than I had remembered. It was still too small a dive site for a boat of ten (and the second boat not long behind us) and the bottom quickly got kicked up so having circulated it a couple of times once my buddy and I had found the line to the barge we headed off there where the visibility was better. If only I had brought my camera! We saw so many nudibranchs including yellow-edged polycera, orange clubbed sea slug, thorny doris, and the violet seaslug, plus lots of eggs and a sea hare. There was lots to see and we didn’t need to drift off the boat.

Our second dive that day was on the Valentine Tanks. We were dropped in just before slack so when we first went down my buddy and I needed to swim quite hard against the current as we headed along the line to the second tank but before long the current eased. After what seemed like a long swim without much to see (they have changed the position of the line between the two tanks so now you have to follow a V underwater to get to the second tank) we were rewarded with conger eels, starfish, more nudis, wrasse, a crystal sea slug (see photo). I was also unsuccessfully trying to get my snoot to point at a topshell at until another buddy pair (not from our club) crashed straight through my site and we decided it was time to go back to the first tank. There we saw another conger under the rock plus lobster and a double spiral worm (photo) in crevices of the tank. Another good dive.

As most UK divers are painfully aware, when we go on dive trips we often end up having to do something else instead. This means we regularly end up going walking and the more adventurous of us have even tried our hands at kite surfing. Whilst the weather was glorious and the club had two more dives organised for the Monday (the first being the Kyarra) I decided to go stand up paddleboarding off the pier instead. Having only done it a handful of times on a lake I realised once I was on the board that it was quite a bit harder doing it on the sea. Fortunately all those with a Go Pro on the trip were on the dive boat so there is no recorded evidence that I spent the first thirty minutes just trying to stand up and remain standing for more than ten seconds … by the time the dive boats came back in I was up and making it look like I knew what I was doing.

Whilst it was a smaller group than our usual Swanage trips, all in all it was another successful trip, I have got my UK diving legs back on and am looking forward to diving again with the seals in Farnes in September.

Reported by Sarah A, Photos from Sarah A and Preeda

On Monday 3rd May Alex, Sarah A, Emily, James and Jessica headed to Wraysbury Diving Lake for the first ‘warm’ up dive of the year.

It was a good opportunity to dust off kit and check everything was in full working order. Sarah got to try out her brand-new dry suit, and Alex his new pony. It was also great to see some friendly diving faces in real life as opposed to on Zoom!

The water temperature was a balmy 11 degrees, and we spent around 45 minutes exploring the bottom of the lake. Not too much wildlife spotted, but we did see a couple of very large pike and many crayfish.

Despite the typically poor Wraysbury vis, we actually managed to find more sunken objects than we have on previous visits: a submarine, multiple boats, set of traffic lights, part of a Jet2.com fuselage (toilet cubical still intact) and a large plastic Ganesh?!

After the dive, it was back on dry land to tuck into a tin of infamous Veys’ ginger flapjacks, and some hot bacon butties. Both well earned!

Thanks very much to Alex for organising, it was a fun morning and we all look forward to more water time in 2021!

Reported by Jess

On Saturday 12^th September seven of us (Alex, Chris, Sarah B, Ollie, Julia, James B and Jess) met at Mercers Country Park Inland Diving Lake, in Redhill, Surrey.

This was a new location for all of us, and having read good things online, we were excited to see what was in store for us.  A former sand quarry, now turned into a watersports and diving lake, meant that the area was a hive of activity when we arrived at 10am, with a number of divers alongside windsurfers, kayakers and SUPers.  Despite the buzz, we all agreed that there was lots of space for easy kitting up and parking, and it didn’t feel too hectic. With different areas of the lake partitioned for sailors and divers, it all seemed quite organised!

The lake is surrounded by an underwater forest and is home to freshwater species such as pike, perch, roach and giant carp. Unsurprisingly, James was very enthusiastic by the fish spotting opportunities, and along with safety of course, which underwater hand signal to use for each fish became an important part of the dive briefing.

After kitting up in the sunshine we headed into the water. With an average depth of around 8m, we all enjoyed a long dive. While the visibility was maybe not quite as good as claimed on the website (we’ll blame the large group of divers who entered the water just before us), it was certainly better than we have experienced at other inland sites! We had fun exploring around the twisted tree trunks and between us, spotted a pike, rudd, a large shoal of young perch, a couple of carp and even some freshwater mussels. Perhaps Sarah had the catch of the day, finding an intact mug and old Nokia mobile (possibly intact – who knows!) on the bottom of the lake.

After, it was time for a sandwich and a socially distant catch up in the sun, before we headed home. Thanks to James for organising, and a big shout-out to new member Julia, for completing her first UK dive, and first dive with the Argonauts!  It’s great to have you!

Reported by Jess

With meticulous forecasting, our Swanage trip coincided with the worst August storm in living memory. We were joined by Steve W, an ex-club member and Howard, a friend of the club and our link to the Scuba Trust.

Our first day, in true dive trip style, was spent walking along the Dorset clifftops leaning into 60mph winds. A further walk in the afternoon included a stint of abseiling down a muddy slope to the beach and shopping for nick-knacks that were doomed to join a large existing collection of nick-knacks.

Day two was exceptionally successful from the diving perspective. We had arranged a dive at 3:30, which would follow a leisurely walk in the morning to Old Harry Rock. Due to a shortcoming in communication, we discovered, after queueing 20 mins for pasties, and upon arriving at the head of the queue, that we had to be on the pier NOW!!! Stomachs rumbling, we scrambled to load the boat, ready to head out to uncertain visibility at Peveril Ledges.

The dive did not disappoint. As expected, the visibility was about a metre. With startled wildlife caught in our torch beams as we passed, we narrowly avoided hitting the ledges. Despite the gloom, we spotted an undulate ray and some decorator crabs.

The Second dive, on the Valentine Tanks, was very good. The visibility was much better and the tanks full of wildlife. The tanks housed some huge conger eels, lobsters, large edible and spider crabs, lumpsuckers, pipefish and a lot of bib. A very memorable dive.

Our next day’s diving started with perfect weather and a drift dive below Old Harry. The visibility on this dive wasn’t what we had hoped, but we saw a gurnard, a ray and lots of ordnance as this area had previously been used as a firing range.

During the long surface interval, we made up for the previous day’s missing pasties then cowered in our cars from the torrential rain. Finally, we set off for the last dive of the trip: Peveril Ledges once more. This time, the visibility had improved and we spotted an undulate ray, dogfish, a baby conger eel and a shoal of bib. During the dive, the wind had picked up, making the sea rough, so it was good to be back on the boat.

Reported by Trevor, Akiko, Sarah B and Boggie

 

The 8^th August saw our first club dive near Shoreham-by-Sea on Widewater Beach. It was going to be a scorcher with temperatures in the mid-30’s but calm seas, no wind and favourable tides (more on this later).

Six divers fought for parking space (Jess, James, Akiko, Chris, Trevor and Ollie) with four support crew (Sarah – DO, Alex DL training, Emma and Riley – the mascot for the day).

There were several firsts in the dive, Ollies kit, Alex’s training and Riley’s first time on the beach. We set up our stall on the busy beach and got the SEEDS briefing done before the divers inserted themselves into their dry suits. Risks we considered over and above the usual were jet-skis (deploy DSMB’s), fishing lines (take a line cutter) and getting lost (take a compass). Entry was down a shallow shingle beach with the dive being due south until a small ledge was found followed by a swim East until 1/3 air used and then a return. The dive was limited to 60 mins max…what do they say about plans never surviving first contact? It was noted that the yellow buoy should not be reached during the dive.

We tried to get divers in the water ASAP as sitting in a dry suit with temperatures in the 30’s is no fun. Jess and James were efficient as usual and in the water and diving but 12:50. Trevor and Chris got in next and were off 10 mins later with Ollie and Akiko getting in at 13:10.

With the divers out of the way, Sarah then went through planning with me (Alex) whilst Riley (12 weeks old) bravely went to the shore to see if he could eat the sea water.

 

Sarah and Alex then kept a watchful eye for DSMB’s to be deployed and sure enough after 60 mins one came around the corner of the groyne (the beach version) as James and Jess returned bang on time (a prize is on its way). Shortly after, Ollie arrived without kit from the path at the top of the beach. He and Akiko had drifted four groynes down so now had to bring their kit back. Finally, we saw the last DSMB deployed but way out past the yellow buoy. Binoculars suggested that this might be the Trevor/ Chris pair but this wasn’t certain. They did seem to have found a couple of paddle borders who stuck with them as the drifted further West. At about 14:40, Ollie, who had been dispatched to find the lost boys, found the errant divers way down the beach.

Everyone had a good time including divers, shore cover and of course the day’s mascot. Viz was about 5m and a variety of flora and fauna spotted including baby cuttlefish and long straight seaweed. It was a good shake out for equipment with also a couple of lessons for the dive brief. First, even a 0.1 knot current will push you the best part of 200m down a beach over an hour (a considerable distance with full dive kit on) and second if you cannot find an objective ensure that there is a plan in place.

 

By Alex

Photos&Video: ‘Riley’ by Alex, ‘Divers’ by Sarah A, Video by Trevor