| Archive for SUSAC forum Stirling University Sub-Aqua Club |
| prydain55 |
28/4 Conger AlleyWell, it was just Charlie and I today. A bright and early start saw us at Loch Long at about 9.15 am. The weather was beautiful and there were only two other divers there! Seemingly perfect conditions.Our first dive of the day started off at 9.40 (no fannying about for us  ). We planned to head to the deeper reef that some of the divers found last weekend and then zig-zag our way back up the reef to the shore. Fate, however, conspired against us, in the form of equipment failure. We hit 31 m and my drysuit hose came off (apparently Buddy hoses on Apex drysuits don't work  ). For some reason, I had been breathing really heavily on the way down and the depth didn't help (ie, my air consuption went through the roof). We were also both a bit narced and the vis at 25 m went from 5 m to almost nil. Eeep! After a few failed attempts to reattach the hose, we ascended to 25 m and tried again, this time successfully. We made our way slowly back up the reef, stopping to look at the odd critter (including a very nice specimen of a fireworks anemone) from time to time but with my rapidly decreasing air ever present in mind. However, joy of joys, I did find two conger eels.
Thus, while not the greatest dive of all time there were several landmarks. It was my 25th dive, it was the first time I've ever seen a conger, and, at 31 meters, was my deepest dive so far. 
After a short break for lunch and fiddling about with hoses, we reentered for the next dive. This one went much better We made our way down to about 26.5 m (so as not to reverse our profile), missed the deeper reef again (we think it might have been further south), and so turned back to the base of the shallower reef. Swimming up it we saw a lot of life, including 3 friendly ballan wrasses (one of which followed us for a while), a conger eel, a few gobys, and a fish yet to be identified (I did a google search but "black and white stripey fish with barbels" isn't a good place to start). Hopefully Charlie will be able to find the ID in one of his books, it was pretty distinctive. I also saw a tiny butterfish but lost it again when trying to attract Charlies attention. Oh well. At least the vis was decent (about 5 m). We brought the club's dSMB down with us and I got to play with sending it up at our 6m stop. Charlie was playing with his new dSMB too (complete with a small, single use CO2 cylinder) so for once we were well and truly marked in the water. Too bad there wasn't any shore cover to notice. 
I didn't take and pictures because the car was a bit away from the entry point and it got left inside but Charlie got a few of the wrasses and I think one of a nice plumose anemone. If they turn out well hopefully they will be online soon. Fingers crossed. We got back in to Stirling just after three. I don't think I've ever gotten back from a dive trip that early. There's not much to look after when you've got only two people.
I wasn't impressed with our newly serviced regs though. They didn't fit either the suit or the BCD (though that was just oversight on my part) and they were leaking slightly around the gages. 
I would give the day a thumbs up. The second dive especially was pretty good and we saw some cool stuff. Highlight of the day: following a ballan wrasse around the reef. That was just too cool. It stayed within arms reach most of the time. The congers were cool too. Hey! That's why they call it Conger Alley!
Max |
| charlie |
Good dive, good blog: cheers, Max!
First dive wasn't a classic but still useful. I'm really chuffed with the CO2 dSMB: a skoosh to deploy... must have taken me 5 sec to send it up. Also was fun using the finger spool instead of my usual reel. Was valuable practice to hone the technique with the back-up dSMB. Quite happy that I could do it quickly if I had to. By the way the 2nd dive max depth was 26.5m: dive 199 for me! 
Here's a ballan: 
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| prydain55 |
Nice pic. Shame it's a bit blurry but what can you do.
Max |
| joe |
You sound abit down hearted max Those were the same wrasse we saw last weekend and 31m wow
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| prydain55 |
I didn't mean to seem down-hearted. I got to go diving. That in itself is enough to make me happy. Plus, the second dive was pretty good. I did post right after we got back and was feeling a bit on the tired side. Perhaps that's where the downheartedness came from.
Yep, those wrasse were pretty cool. Thanks for the correction to the depth btw Charlie. Max |
| charlie |
no bother
I've posted a blog here |
| prydain55 |
Nice blog, especially for 2am.
Simple Minds' "The American" just came on Pandora. Coincidence? Hmmm.
Max |