Cheers us up with your best dives!

[Divemouse]

that is probably one of my least favourite sites given the nature of the rock and one I choose to miss out when it is suggested

I did it not long after dislocating my knee - while everyone else faffed around with ropes, me and my friend Chris walked back up the road a bit and went in off a nice gentle beach. It was a relaxed swim back to the point.

[notdeadyet]

Interesting - that is probably one of my least favourite sites given the nature of the rock and one I choose to miss out when it is suggested. I ended up slipping and putting my knee and back out for a week as it was damp and slippy as hell.

Which one? I'm guessing Furnace as it's not an easy entry. Getting out can be horrible as well if the wind is hitting the shore. I think it's lovely underwater though.

The Caves at Loch Long is the one that I always avoid, I think the entry there is horrible for not a particularly great dive.

[notdeadyet]

I did it not long after dislocating my knee - while everyone else faffed around with ropes, me and my friend Chris walked back up the road a bit and went in off a nice gentle beach. It was a relaxed swim back to the point.

I didn't mean to like you dislocating your knee, I thought I was clicking on Neil's earlier post!

[Allan Carr]

A number of memorable dives spring to mind

1. August 1973 on the first day of a two weeks diving trip in Oban discovering a previously unknown 17th century wreck off an island in the Sound of Mull. HMS Dartmouth which sank on October 9th 1690. Second ship to be scheduled under the Protection of Wrecks Act.

2. 2004 - Farne Islands. On my favourite dive site there, Whirl Rocks. Dropped off the boat and could see the bottom clearly - over 20 metres down! Never seen viz like that up there again. Also caught a 9lb lobster (plus a 7lb lobster on the afternoon dive) which made it even more memorable.

3. 2007 - Shark feeding dive in Fiji. Up close and personal with Bull Sharks, Lemon Sharks, Sand Sharks. I know these are controversial but the operation in Beqa Lagoon take great care not to habitualise the sharks to too regular feeding. They only do it twice a week. Interestingly, the guys from the local tribe who do the actual feeding were shark finners but now are very protective of their sharks. The fish who are also drawn to the food have brought in coral spores and a previously barren bottom is starting to sprout new coral growth.

4. 2008 - Thailand. A very large octopus just brazenly sitting on top of a rock in the middle of the day.

5. 2011 - Pemba Island, Tanzania. Saw a large Guitar Shark - the first to be seen in the area for over 10 years. The dive operation refused to believe I had seen one until I showed them the photograph.

6. 2015 - an amazing RTW dive trip.
Soccorro - San Benedicto -diving with 7 Pacific Giant Manta Rays
- Roca Partida - diving with White Tipped Sharks, Silver Tipped Sharks, Dusky Sharks, Silky Sharks, Galapagos Sharks, Tiger Shark, Hammerhaed Sharks and a huge Whale Shark.
Truk - wow. Even my wife who is not interested in rusty metal found that an amzing experience. Doing your deco around masts which are covered in colourful coral and surrounded by masses
of fish beats hanging on a line in the grey murk.
Palau - Blue Corner stunning dive
Maldives - fantastic night dive with feeding sharks and rays but rest of the trip was a big disappointment. A case of 'you should have been here yesterday' on almost every dive.


Many other amazing experiences all over the world but these are the dives that I particularly remember. I've done a lot of deep wreck diving over the years but it is the wildlife encounters which I find the most memorable - apart from Truk of course which is something else though it is the visbility there that makes a huge difference.

[MarkP]

Off the top of my head, no particular order:

1) Cutting a long story short, Mrs MarkP and I ended up doing a night dive on the Thistlegorm. Ours was the only boat above it and we were the only divers in the water. Turtles, huge basket stars and all sorts of life. Fabulous.

2) Hooded Nudi Bay, off Vancouver Island. We were worried that we’d not see any and we saw more than it’s possible to count. And they smell like watermelon. A weird-looking slug that smells like a sweet fruit – what’s not to like?

3) The M1. Plankton soup for the first fifteen or so meters, then gin-clear. It was like a night dive on the sub, but we could see divers’ torches at the coning tower from the torpedo tubes.

4) The Rosalie Moller. The deck was a couple of metres thick with glass fish that ebbed and flowed with each breath. I could only see Mrs MarkP on the exhalations as the fish moved away. Frogfish too (but they didn’t move.)

5) The Inverlane – dived a few months before diving on it was stopped. Saw zillions (must be true; it’s what I wrote in my book) of tiny creatures and shed loads of what I later learned were caprellid amphipods. This was also when I learned that my drawing skills are unparalleled (eat your heart out, Ernst Haeckel.) Logbook entry extract:



6) One of the shallow overhangs just North of Portland Bill. Bailout plan was “stand up”, but there were baby congers, butter fish and all sorts of other loveliness. There were only two of us and yes, we stood up when we wanted to get picked up.

7) I avoid fresh water, but on February dived Stony midweek just to rinse off the previous weekend’s salt. The silt at the bottom of the deep part looked like fine coral sand and, looking up from 30+m we could see ripples on the surface and a couple of ducks’ arses. Extraordinary.

I’m sure more will spring to mind if I think about them.

[Ian@1904]

So many to choose from. Here are a few.....
Gozo 2003. Took daughter in for a night dive on her second ever SCUBA dive in Xlendi Bay. Scorpion fish, octopus and moray eels all out and about.
Gozo 2003. Performed a lift on a narked diver from 45 metres. Dive descended into..... disorientated diver (not me), out of gas, positively buoyant and lots of deco. All ended well. My incident pit lecture.
Lyme Regis 2006. Howard the Diving Dude out with his conger prodders. His suit got caught on the wreck just as a conger did a U turn.
Norway 2017. First dive on the Frankenwald. Probably 30 metres of viz.
Bridlington UK. Dive on LV83. Small but awesome wreck full of life.
Shetland 2016 and 2021. Diving on E49, Gwladmena and Froach Ban wrecks. Great viz, lots of life and plenty of boat banter.
Hebrides. 2016. Chadwick wreck. Awesome viz. Harrassed by wrasse, chased by jelly fish(or so it seemed), and a school of mackerel swimming above us. Loch Pootiel was pretty ace-counting octopus.
Scapa Flow various. Probably the stern of the Karlsrhue is the standout dive for me. All that teak decking.

[Allan Carr]

5) The Inverlane – dived a few months before diving on it was stopped. Saw zillions (must be true; it’s what I wrote in my book) of tiny creatures and shed loads of what I later learned were caprellid amphipods. This was also when I learned that my drawing skills are unparalleled (eat your heart out, Ernst Haeckel.) Logbook entry extract:

I haven't dived Scapa since 1991 but then the Inverlane was sticking well above the water. We used to do a night dive inside it. I remember one year that there were some odd-looking little fish in there. Turned out they were baby lumpsuckers.

[Divemouse]

This was also when I learned that my drawing skills are unparalleled

I can confirm this; that's definitely a caprellid

[gobfish1]

I haven't dived Scapa since 1991 but then the Inverlane was sticking well above the water. We used to do a night dive inside it. I remember one year that there were some odd-looking little fish in there. Turned out they were baby lumpsuckers.

Dived in side the inverlane a good few times dive boat would pull up along side . we would disembark and then jump in to the hold or open deck area good fun watching the tide rip by outside . Had some fun with a seal and a new ish diver on one dive laught we did . New guy wasn't as happy tho.

[MarkP]

I haven't dived Scapa since 1991 but then the Inverlane was sticking well above the water. We used to do a night dive inside it. I remember one year that there were some odd-looking little fish in there. Turned out they were baby lumpsuckers.

My visit was in '97. The wreck was still proud of the water, but deteriorating. We dropped in beside it and rumaged around until we found a hole to swim into. It was so beautiful, with sunlight streaming between the amphipod-populated girders. It was a bit like the light that streams through stained glass windows in a cathedral.

I'd love to see baby lumpsuckers - they're seriously cute.

Dived in side the inverlane a good few times dive boat would pull up along side . we would disembark and then jump in to the hold or open deck area good fun watching the tide rip by outside . Had some fun with a seal and a new ish diver on one dive laught we did . New guy wasn't as happy tho.

When we left the wreck the tide was running. I sent "up" the blob and it disappeared sideways, so we nodded at each other and followed it. Great dive.