Gammon Head

With Bryan boathandling, Derek, Lucy and I dived some reefy gullies off Gammon head. Chris and Les were also diving on the first wave. Similar swell and lumpiness as yesterday. SW breeze and sun and showers. Underwater vis pretty good, 6-8m maybe; and some current, so 'bit' of a drift dive.

A lot of kelp on top of the rocks but some less kelpy bits with weed and sea firs. Nice turfy gullies to swim along, with pink sea fans, boring sponges, bright yellow 'antler' sponges, crater sponge, elephant's ear and so on. Attached to a sea fan and one of those antler sponges were several egg-cases - 'mermaid's purse'. Also quite tiny coils of nudibranch eggs (and a tiny yellow/orange tipped nudi egg-laying). A few fish around - cuckoo wrasse, the odd dragonet, and lots of fry.

My spare spare mask was fine - not as nice visibility as the frameless but ok. As for weight 10.5kg about right for 12l+3l bottles and wetsuit. On our stop, enjoying weightlessness and the clear sunlit water, Lucy spotted a nice blue jellyfish.

Not long after we were back on Mir, Chris and Les appeared. All on board, as Les got his breath back after his exertions, we tidied up the boat, collected the shot, and Bryan drove us home.

Back at North Sands it was time for a rest and some food - of which I was glad we'd bought our own, as the Prawn cafe was a 'bit' on the expensive side! Being mostly sunny it was nice to sit around on the grass, while the 2nd wave went back to the Soudan. Eveyone had a nice dive there I think, and jammy Sara saw the 'Great Soudan Conger' out of its lair and free swimming!