Rainy. Stong NW. Arrived 07:30. Derek and Geoff H just behind me. Geoff H decided to do weight check in new suit. Derek and I went N then E (over rubble and bouldery stuff, then box pattern over sand). Very early in dive Derek spotted a cuttlefish, and simultaneously a dog-fish, and a largish wrasse. Onwards, lots of gobies, another couple of cuttlefish. Lots of velvet fiddler crab around the boulders.
Derek and I separated at one point - noticing this I headed for the hazy water, and had a quick look round. No sign of him so I surfaced to locate his marker (which was only ~3m away!) and dropped back down (5m). Over the sand was very interesting, lots of hermit crabs, some quite big, and harbour/swimmer crabs (top). Various anemones. Netted whelks. Then we found an anchor inverted and upstanding. It was covered with orange plumose anenomes. There were also some mussels. With a closer look I found a few (relatively large ~7cm) long-legged spider crab, and Derek found a nudibranch. There were also some pasty white tunicates in small clumps.
Several sights brought to mind Jeff Wayne's musical version of the H.G Wells classic, The War of the Worlds. The empty shells of crabs like defunct alien war machines lay strewn across a desolate landscape; and later we found a rock covered with vivid red algae - I could hear The Red Weed' in my head.
We made our way back on to the rocky stuff and slowly W and S towards the beach. The water was 14°C but was getting cold after about an hour; I felt I was ideally weighted for dive (with 15l bottle and usual kit), I had 12kg on belt 1kg in jacket, but more air in the suit would have been a good thing. Total dive time 67 min and surface air consumption was about 17l/min. Drank plenty of water beforehand. Excellent dive and photo oportunities.
