I’ve stated my interest on this trip ever since it was announced during the dive meeting sometime last year. And, after the drudgery of the recent lock-down due to the pandemic and a recent bereavement in my family, this trip was the shot in the arm that I really needed to acquire some sort of relief and feeling of normality.
The motley crew on this trip was me, Andrew Woods (the Chairman), Nathan Piper, Aidan Fewster, Richard Jenkins and Andrew John. This is the first-time meeting between myself, AJ and Richard Jenkins as I have never met them in the club room before this trip.
The chartered boat that we used was based on the Rock House (picture above) skippered by Paul Crowe. The Rock House also operates as a B&B where Nathan and Andrew W. stayed during the trip.
The daily lunch was catered for the by the Ebb Carr’s Café, which serves some tasty food (I highly recommend the mussels in white wine sauce) which seems to be to everyone’s satisfaction.
The under-water visibility on every single dive was incredibly good and there was an abundance and large variety of marine life to see.
This picture makes me feel hungry!!
The Chairman enjoying swimming amongst the kelp. Apparently, it’s what gives him his youthful looks (somebody please tell him the truth!!).
I had the misfortune of a free-flow on the 2nd dive of the 2nd day (sounds a bit ominous) when I hit the water. Nathan tried desperately to stop it but to no avail. This meant that I had to go back to the boat and Nathan had to catch up to Aidan and Andrew W. who were only about a couple of minutes ahead of us.
However, I had the opportunity to do a shore dive with the rest of our motley crew early evening of that day so, it kinda compensated for the dive that I missed.
The plan for the third day was to leave as early as possible after the 2nd dive to arrive home before it gets too dark on the road. As if it was fate, the 2nd dive of the day had to be cancelled as the skipper’s boat refused to start.
I took the opportunity to head home early but the rest of the crew (led by the Chairman) decided to go for another shore dive in search of the famous “Cathedral Rock” of St Abbs, which you can see in the diagram below.
When I got home, the trip’s WhatsApps group lit up with all sorts of ramblings about certain people getting picked up by the RNLI (what!!).
I asked the Chairman for an explanation and this is what he wrote back:
What happened on that last dive.
Myself, Andrew John and Nathan were surface swimming back from a shore dive outside st abbs harbour. The St Abbs lifeboat had been called out because a large quantity of diesel had been seen on the surface of the sea, indicating perhaps a vessel in distress.
On their return to st abbs from the call out, one of the Lifeboatmen, who was Paul Crowe our Dive boat skipper, recognised me in the water and asked if I wanted a lift back to the harbour slipway right next to our B&B. I accepted the invite straight away and so did Nathan. AJ was determined to return under his own steam and got back safely some-time later.
Thanks again.
Andrew
Hmmmm. Ok. I’ll leave this for everyone to ponder on. The truth is out there……… somewhere………..