The Great Scottish Diving

This summer in Scotland we've had some spectacular weather with some days hitting over 30 degrees.  Usually the Scottish summers are very hit or miss, sometimes just having a summer of rain.  With the weather being so good it meant I had to benefit from it, that meant getting back into Scottish diving in a wetsuit! 

Portknockie Harbour

North East Dive's Boat

Conger Eel,

I've spent many an evening this summer diving in the North Sea with some great dives.  I think the weekend just past has been my best day of Scottish diving.  I was on a day dive trip with North East Dive out of Portknockie Harbour, which is near Banff in North East Scotland.  It was another stunning day and as we arrived at 10am there was children playing on the beach, this is

Scotland at the start of September!

Standard Lobster

Gearing up into my wetsuit we headed out of the harbour to the Moray Wreck, which is a scattered wreck lying at around 29 metres depending on the tide.  There isn't a huge amount left of the wreck but that didn't stop there being a lot of marine life around the wreck, especially in the boiler room.  As we went down the shot line hardly being able to see a thing I wasn't convinced this was going to be a good dive but at about 20 metres it just open out to about 5-10 metres visibility, a true Scottish dive.  We saw giant lobsters, conger eels, giant crabs and plenty of fish.

Giant Lobster

 During the lunch interval we went back into Portknockie harbour.  It was so warm my wetsuit managed to dry off during the 2 hours we spent back onshore.  Tanks changed over it was time to head out for the second time, this time we were diving Caple Rock.  Gently cruising out the harbour we came across 7 dolphins just playing around in the bay, another example of how vast Scottish wildlife can be! 

Caple Rock is a gentle reef/rock dive with plenty of life about.  The current was up so there was a slight drift which is always good fun.  Overall the day was a great success and I never felt cold in my 5mm wetsuit!  I urge those who are qualified divers who haven't tried cold water diving to give it a shot, it's defiantly worth while!  North East Dive in Banff run weekly diving days from their boat, all excellent value and excellent fun! 

More cold water diving, Boddam Quarry, Peterhead

Boddam Quarry, near Peterhead, Scotland

Geared up ready for the dive

I did my first ever cold water dive in Boddam Quarry back in May 2009, while I was doing my PADI Dry Suit course.  I'd only done a handful of dives in the quarry since then.  So I thought it was time to head back and have another explore of the quarry.  I rounded up two friends who were keen to dive the quarry.  We were all going to be diving in wetsuits after recently diving other local dive sites with the water being 14 degrees, there isn't a huge amount to see in the quarry but it is good for getting used to diving in lower visibility waters and cold water.

We all geared up and did our buddy checks before jumping in.  Initially jumping in the water didn't feel too bad.  So we descended down too around 12 metres, the visibility to start with was terrible but after about 8 metres it started too clear up.  On the bottom there was loads of interesting things including a game of noughts and crosses and a television.  After we explored that area we swam further into the quarry, finally finding the famous burger van that Boddam quarry has!  Having a play around the burger van was good fun.  The burger van was at around 14metres and the water temperature was still around 12 degrees so defiantly bare-able.  Afterwards we decided to find the bottom, swimming into the middle we found 21 metres but didn't stay around for long as at 21 metres it was 6 degrees and in wetsuits wasn't all that fun!  So we ascended up slowly along the side of the quarry to go find the noughts and crosses again.  Little play around and then it was time to find a spot to do a safety stop, as after 25 minutes everyone was starting to feel a little cold.  Safely stop completed we ascended up to the surface, the surface water felt like a hot bath compared to the water at 21 metres deep!

I really recommend Boddam Quarry for getting yourself used to diving again, testing out new equipment or just a place for some dives when the local seas are too rough.  We had a good day out but maybe should use 7mm wetsuits next time!

The view from Boddam Quarry