11th June 2011
The conditions looked perfect for a club dive out aboard the Eyemouth Sub Aqua club hard boat, the Aquanaut. Magicseaweed.com promised ideal dive conditions with a combination of flat seas, neap tides and light winds. What could possibly go wrong?
However, at 5.45pm a text arrived on the dive organizer’s mobile informing him that Dave, the designated cox for the Aquanaut was ill with a touch of food poisoning! Clearly a rapid re-think was in order if any diving was to take place. Before 8:00am and following a number of telephone calls to various St Abb’s boat skippers, places had been found aboard a boat thanks to Paul Crowe’s assistance. Furthermore conditions were still looking good with Paul reporting exceptional underwater visibility over the last couple of days…
We headed off to St Abbs with high hopes only to arrive and be confronted by a scene of chaos and confusion. From apparently nowhere a strong northerly wind had arisen resulting in a rough sea and considerably limiting the available dive sites. Having travelled so far however we were all still determined to get in at least one dive.
After loading our kit aboard the M/V Tiger Lilly we headed out of St Abbs harbor and ‘bounced’ across the small bay to seek shelter under the high cliffs that overlook Wuddy Rocks. Nearby the sea crashed over the more exposed Black Carrs Rock.
Dropping into the more sheltered waters offered by Wuddy Rocks we were immediately rewarded by fantastic underwater visibility, just as Paul had indicated.
Slowly we explored the numerous large boulders that litter this area, some of which are covered in marine growth. Swimming on we eventually encountered the gully’s and walls of Wuddy Rocks. Here we eventually located the narrow passageway that climbs up through the rock before exiting out behind the reef.
Following on around the edge of the rock we soon came across the entrance to the main passageway that cuts back through the reef. With the Ebb tide in full flow it took a little effort to swim against the oncoming current. It is however this tidal current that has resulted in the rich covering of marine growth that now covers the walls and ceilings of these passageways.
By unanimous agreement we all opted for a second dive at this site; it’s not often that one gets the chance to dive such a scenic dive in such excellent visibility.
For the second dive we dropped in much closer to Wuddy Rocks spending the majority of the dive exploring around the main passageway as well as the surrounding steep walls many of which are richly covered in dead mans fingers.
Again, underwater visibility had not deteriorated despite the rough conditions outside of the bay and we again enjoyed another excellent scenic dive with great visibility.
