31 Jul 2008 - Pettico Wick
A Morning Dive at Pettico Wick with Marinequest
Packing the car on a foggy Queensferry Morning, it didnt seem such a good idea to go all the way to Eyemouth for a Mornings Diving before my Backshift.
Shanes Plan hatched at the Club Night was to meet at Eyemouth for 9am and get Iain to take us out for a Dive somewhere around St Abbs, Shane and Ross wanted Camera Practice, and I wanted some Buoyancy Practice and to get my weight sorted out ready for the Exam in 4 weeks.
Great! 8am and i was onto the A1 and there was hardly any traffic, and the Sun was coming out, so things were looking up, by 8:45 i was at the Harbour and loading my kit on an empty Boat
After finding Ross and Shane drinking Coffee in Cafe Questo I joined them and talked the usual lot of wreck nonsense with Iain, and agreed on a plan of where we could go today.
With SE Winds, St Abbs Head would be too lumpy, and as I had to be back sharp it ruled out the undived Wrecks off Fast Castle, so we settled on the little Wreck at Pettico Wick , this is a Bay to the West of the Head and is sheltered from the East Winds. It can be done as a Shore Dive, but involves a steep hill and a bit of Rock Climbing, so Boat is best!
Leaving Eyemouth Harbour
We arrived onsite and Iain shotted the largest of the two Boilers of the 'Peanut Boat' once we dropped down we found it was only 12metres at Low Tide and the vis was an easy 10-15metres.
There were Jelly Fish everywhere..nice colours but avoid the tentacles!
After 20mins hovering on the Boiler for the Photographers we set off for the Tunnel called the Letter Box or Post Box.
One of the many Jellyfish
This is a Tunnel wich runs East to West under a huge Rock outcrop and is only about 20metres long, a bit of a squeeze but full of life and very atmospheric, so again after posing for Shane for another 20mins we set off to practice some Emergency Procedures.
Stevie in the Tunnel
On the way we spotted an enormous Jellyfish with a small shoal of Codling so spent some time taking photographs...very interesting organisms to look at...just dont get stung!
Jellyfish with little friends
Shane and Jelly
Once in Deeper Water to allow Iain room to manouvere we sent up the first DSMB then clipped a second onto the line and sent that up, that was our agreed out of air signal, and on cue down from the boat came a cylinder on a line, after clipping this off we continued our ascent and I had a practice at a 6metre and 5metre hover while on stops, thois is part of the new BSAC Buoyancy Workshop and isnt easy to stay within 30cm of your stop depth for 2 mins.
After completing this to Shanesapproval we surfaced and back on the Boat to Tea and Shortbread.
Northstar line and Buoy
So back to the Harbour by 12:45 and I was packed up and on the road for 1pm and back in work for 2.30 even after getting stuck at the Sherrifhall Roundabout.
So a Good Day at a Site I had dived before but had never seen the Huge Boiler or the Tunnel, so thanks to Shane and Ross, who need to join SQSAC soon, and thanks to Iain for taking us out.
The Good Photos are Shanes and the Crap ones are mine