Sunday, August 30, 2009

Shoalstone Point

Met up with Geoff and Derek at Shoalstone point. A gloomy morning, overcast, windy (WSW) and showery. I wore my wetsuit, thinking it would have warmed up a little more - my last UK dive in it was fine; but it was actually colder than June and the whole 70 minutes very chilly. Just before we dived I noticed my compass's disk spinning wildly and realised it had burst. Underwater it re-filled a bit and worked, though not very well.

Vis was about 3m and the large cruddy weeds and soupy water quite novel! This time off the pool we veered east along the edge of the reef/stones. Could have used my camera but just fancied a dive without and didn't miss it too much. Creatures I recall inclded, 2-spot gobies, small wrasse and a couple of smallish cuttlefish, trumpet anemones and parasitic anemones, a squat lobster and a tiny yellow feather-star. Quite surprised to find (on reef) some more sea-hares - I thought they'd all gone. Also some small scallops, and lots tiny netted whelks. A 1" cuttlefish I later found on the sand flashed patterns just as a fully grown ones I've seen. Back over the weed at the end of the dive Geoff saw a big dogfish.

Cold, poor vis, but overall quite enjoyed it and being back in green water.