I have been trying to see a ray for some years without success. I heard tales that they were in Loch Fyne but was beginning to think this was an urban diving myth. However, finally, today I came across one at a site I've dived many, many times before.
It was sitting snoozing at the edge of a boulder reef at 17m, wedged in between some rocks in a most inconvenient position for photography purposes and partially covered in sand. I spotted its tail first and was initially confused as I couldn't see anything attached. However, as my eyes adjusted to its camoflage (in dim light), the shape came into view. I initially identified it as a thornback ray but it is actually a cuckoo ray. Here it is:
It was very wet today, though also very calm. A little rain doesn't spoil a dive but it does make the drive to the dive site quite interesting. Here is a short video of the journey - as you can see, the water was roaring down from the hills good style! Rainforests, waterfalls, wildlife ..... we've got them all in Scotland!
Another first for me - cuttlefish in Scottish waters. Loch Fyne to be exact. The only time I had seen cuttlefish before was in Malta on a night dive (one of my images of that cuttlefish appeared in a Diver article about favourite night dives).The one spotted today looked like a juvenile and had obvously been burying in the sand prior to us coming across it (you can see the sand on top of it) though it was sitting out in the open when we discovered it.
Cuttlefish are amazing creatures and can change colour to match their surroundings or if threatened. This one seemed quite relaxed. We kept our distance, it sat still, we photographed, it sat still, we swam on. All in all, a very satisfacctory encounter!
We were at Capernwray a couple of months ago and took some video footage of the site and its sights. It's a bit like an underwater scrapyard with lots of boats, planes and helicopters. Marine life is sparse but the trout are full of attitude. Nonetheless, Capernwray is an excellent site for training and practising skills, especially navigation.
PADI International are using one of my images on one of five postcards being distributed to dive centres to promote UK diving. The campaign is called, Go Diving - Go British.A photo of the postcard, which features a seal on union jack background, is below.
Observational skills are sometimes overlooked in diving but they are fundamental to the enjoyment of a dive and to successful underwater photography. The more you dive, the better your observational skills become as you start to anticipate what you might see and you increasingly know where to look for critters.
A habit I have developed is always to look (at least) twice at a scene because often you spot something second time round that you miss on initial glance. If I hadn't looked twice at the plumose anemones in the photo below, I wouldn't have noticed the little painted goby whose head was sticking out of a hole beside them.
In case you've ever wondered what dry suit squeeze looks like .... voila.
I had been having problems with the valve inflating so I removed the hose. Of course, as you go deeper you have to put air in to prevent squeeze. I did reattach the hose and did put air in but not before I got a nice squeeze. Because of undergarments you don't really feel the squeeze and I had no pain - despite what the marks on the skin might suggest! However, serves as a good warning.
Skin bends need medical treatment - oxygen and possibly decompression. So if you or your buddy have that kind of rash which may also itch and hurt, seek treatment immediately.
I saw more edible crabs today at one of our regular dive sites than I have ever seen. And they were all bruisers! Edible crabs are very large crabs, have massive front pincers - real muscle men - and make easy work of their prey. The one below was tucking into a whelk (bottom picture).
There are good reasons why divers shouldn't touch or prod the marine life and one of them is so that you keep all your fingers!
A DSMB (Delayed Surface Marker Buoy) is a vital part of dive kit in the UK and essential when boat diving at places like St Abbs. Basically, you send up a buoy so that the boat can see you when you surface. Buoys also allow traffic to see that divers are below. These pics show a Master Instructor inflating an SMB and then reeling it in. Look and learn!
There are octopus in Scotland's waters though I have only ever seen two in several years of diving. The first I saw about 5 years ago, the second a couple of days ago. I saw both at the same St Abbs dive site, Black Carr.
This is the most recent one and we came across it sitting out in the open in a patch of sand in about 10m. It was quite small so we think it was a juvenile. The one below is the one from 5 years ago, which was curled up among some boulders.
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