Babbacombe

Back to Babbacombe to dive with Geoff H. SW winds much stronger, but still sheltered enough for diving - one of the few places today - and very soon other divers rolled up. It was drizzly (heavy rain to come) and very gloomy. Vis wasn't great, not as good as yesterday in fact, and about 2m. It was also quite dark.

We got ready (I was trying my pony), got in and went NE out along the bouldery sublittoral (>8m), not straying far over the sand. The larger rocks were topped with kelp and around them short red weed and brown silty turf.

There were gobies, ballan wrasse, female cuckoo wrasse, a few mullet, a bib-pout-whiting, and a nice pointy silver one. Lots of prawns under ledges and here and there gently skipping about. Saw a few fan worms - a spectacular white cluster - inevitably as I lifted the camera instantly shot back inside its muddy tube.

I was adjusting my buoyancy more than I should've had to and felt a bit unbalanced by the pony (I've used a pony in that configuration before and it was fine). But it was good practise.

Babbacombe

Buddied with Derek, a good long dive, nearly 1hr 20mins looking at the creatures and taking pictures. Dull and damp but sheltered from the south westerly winds. Vis looked ok getting in at the slipway but wasn't as good as hoped and was a bit murky in places. Best vis was about 3m.

Dropped down just a few yards out; Derek tested his buoyancy for a short while, then we sent up the blob. We headed off north over rocky weedy ground which had a few interesting reefy lumps here and there. Plenty to see - several pipefish (greater, and well into the dive I found a snake pipefish), gobies, blenny, wrasse, and a dogfish.

There were all kinds of crab - very well camouflaged long-legged spider crab, velvet fiddler (also known as witch or devil crabs, most probably because of their red eyes), hermit crabs, and what was probably a harbour/swimmer crab with green eyes (see picture). There was a solitary giant sea-squirt like the one at Meadfoot the other day, prawns, and lots of worm tubes in the mud and whelk trails.

The new yellow and black reel was fine. It wasn't particularly easy to wind in, but is nice and compact and much more sensible design than many others I've tried. Strobe worked well; I set flash on camera to autoflash and made sure there was a patch over alternate light sensor.

Meadfoot

Neap tides and fine sunny weather - ideal for a dive. Sea was a little bit lumpy but Meadfoot beach was reasonably sheltered from the south-easterly wind. Already kitting up when I arrived, I was to join Peter C and Nik. The plan was decided - a short surface swim to get to clear un-churned water then continue south toward Shag Rock. Shortly after setting out and still on the surface - mainly owing to the conditions Nik decided not to dive. The alternative: diving close to the shore would have been unpleasant and totally pointless. Peter and I continued the surface swim and when we'd had enough of the swell descended in about 6m of water and found the visibility to be a reasonable 2-3m. Peter sent up his blob and off we went. I had my compass on a BC strap pull ring and was far easier to use than when on the arm.

We swam over various terrain: sand, shelly sand, pebbly reef, kelpy reef, bare rocky ridges, and around some small, but interesting reefy pinnacles toward the vicinity of Shag Rock. Below ELW and around the reefy parts there was plenty to see. The typical animals: wrasse, gobies, dragonet; hermit, fiddler, edible crabs. One of the first unusual things I found was a very large 6" white sea squirt with a lumpy grooved surface and lobed siphons. Peter later saw a dogfish, I missed that but found a pipefish (see picture) and a pretty colonial ascidian (see the other picture).

We also found a lobster. I managed to get a decent picture - but could have done much better if the Sealife SL960D strobe hadn't let me down once again at a crucial moment. It failed to trigger despite thorough testing and fiddling and having been working surprisingly well for once [note to self: look for a better one].

At 100 bar we headed back - the surge helped us in - and where the vis dropped off again surfaced. A tangle was sorted and we swam in. A really good dive - worth the effort at the beach.

Galicia

With fine weather forecast and neap tides, the plan was for the first wave to dive the Bretagne. However (!) there was a southeasterly breeze and a moderate easterly swell that made the going fairly heavy. With 4 miles to go to the Bretagne it was decided that the conditions were against it. Further out it would have been rough, it might have been difficult to retrieve the divers, not to mention uncomfortable for the boathandler.

Clint took over from Anne who'd boathandled thus far and we headed across to the Galicia. Seaquest was on the wreck and in the process of picking up divers. Paul L and Kevin kitted up, then Geoff and myself. Clint and Anne were to dive when we'd come out.

Geoff (leading) and I pulled ourselves down the shot and though the murk to the bottom. Visibility was terrible, but off we went. Before doing so I switched to and back again from the pony Debbie (bottle) and Paul L (reg/gauge) lent me; and got the torch out. The pony mounted on my tank was fine, it didn't seem to affect my position or feel odd in the water; and during the dive I easily switched back and forth a few times for practise.

It was a really nice swim, taking in lots of bits of the wreck that I hadn't seen before, including the windlass (very big), mast pieces, tubing/shaft of some kind, hatches with triangular ends to the combing, big coils of 1" wire, bales of wire(?), more cylinders of concrete.

Bib, pollack, wrasse, a nice tompot blenny. Edible crab, velvet fiddler crab, white and orange centred anenomes, pink sea fans (had a close look to see the feeding parts).

Not having dived for three weeks perhaps, we made the most of it - 57 minutes. I took more pictures than I might have, and had a good poke about. I savoured this dive!

Eventually down to 100 bar we found a spot to send up the blob. At the surface (I don't know what I expected) the Sun was out, which was nice, but ahead I could see blue waves rolling toward me in and wondered if I'd be able to see the boat. I turned about a bit more and it was right there. Alongside, and starting to de-kit I realised something was slightly amiss. Kevin was seasick (properly) and only Clint was completely unaffected by the motion of the boat for the last hour.

Unfortunately it was too rough for more diving, and the trainees hoping for their first sea-dive were unlucky today.

The Exeters

Dived with Susan H at the coordinates given in Dive South Devon for the reefy area known as the 'Exeters'. Descent with DSMB to silty bottom at 27.5 m. Very poor visibility (dark too). Swam in widening circles but found no reef - we'd landed in a big large sandy patch.

Lots of conical shells and bits, tube worm cases. Live animals included hermit crabs, numerous long legged spider crabs (~20cm), and small scallops. There were some dead mans fingers, anenomes, sea squirts, and the occasional sand goby. Larger animals included a fairly big dragonet and a dogfish.

Terrible vis and variable current but actually saw quite a lot; and was good practice.

Just outside Teignmouth, we helped locate and re-float a speedboat grounded at Mackerel Cove south of Ness Beach. The second wave went to the Galicia and Parson and Clerk between Teignmouth and Dawlish.

Beer

After a cup of tea and a sausage and egg bap on the beach from Kenno's (very good and reasonable too) I got my kit together to go snorkelling. I wore my thick wetsuit and tried the 11kg of weight I estimated previously. It was fine, I don't need any more. But with so much weight I think some of it would be better on the ankles. Visibility was alright, 3 to 4 metres perhaps. About 15 to 20 metres from the cliff I was mainly over kelp. Further on and closer in I found some rocks and shallow reefs to look round.

I took a few picture of the sponges and fan worms and found a thin semi-transparent worm I hadn't seen before. As well as a look round, I wanted to test my flash some more and see what might be done to get the flash (a Sealife SL960D) to work when it's supposed to. What seemed to happen today was that in 'close-up' mode, the auto-flash setting triggered the strobe; whereas the forced flash had frequently failed. I need to try this again, if this turns out not actually to be the case then I wonder if ditching the cable and using the flash just to 'fill-in' might be worth a go. Some fish were about: two-spot gobies, ballan wrasse, and a few sprats.

There's a lot of little boats in and out, so a blob is a good idea.

In the afternoon, Yas and I walked over the big hill to Seaton, along the front to Axmouth and back again - which was very agreable, and also I didn't feel so bad about eating 2x pasties for dinner!

Budleigh Salterton

A good relaxed reef dive from shore with Derek's son, Chris. Snorkelled out a short way then to the bottom and straight out over fine sand (keeping sun on right) to the shallow (5m) stony reef. On the way out there were big and small hermit crabs; and the usual sort of thing, gobies, worm casts etc. Shortly after finding the reef we saw a dog fish. There were lots of velvet fiddler crabs, some edible crabs, shore crabs, also a spidery spider crab, and the usual 'giant' spider crab. Chris found a spider crab shell heavily encrusted and blending into the surrounding rubble and weed - it was about a foot across - but motionless and perhaps dead - then suddenly it lunged, with its claws out and amidst a cloud of silt it was a real monster!

Found some anenomes - not many - the small white ones, and embedded in the sand a grey/white dahlia anenome. Later in the dive we encountered some misty patches and the light was falling. I had two torches and gave one to Chris.

On the way back I found a masked crab. The reef was certainly very crabby! It was good watching them. I took a few pictures but once again (despite some fiddling with the fibre optic cable and attaching it carefully - and prior testing) could not get it to fire consistently underwater. By the time we got out, after a dive of nearly 1hr 20min, it was almost dark.

Budleigh Salterton beach is very nice, I like pebbly beaches, but parking at the car park at the end of the seafront is a bit expensive and you have to pay round the clock. The chip shop is very good apparently - but I don't know - I didn't have any!

Exmouth Dock

A Sunday morning dive at Exmouth dock. Clint managed the dive and I was buddied with Geoff H. It was a spring tide and we went in about ten minutes after hight water (HW 10:42). Stride entry in, we dropped down below the ladder on the side of the pier facing Mamhead slipway. We went up into the estuary mouth, exploring the rocks examining the junk. I found a boathook which later on was good for poking about with; there was old carpet, tyres, bags of discarded shellfish, lots of fishing tackle and lead, cheap knives, old rope, everything 'including' the kitchen sink [Clint found a nice casserole dish].

We soon arrived at the cave and had a look in and around it, but there was not much to see. There were lots of tompot blennies, larger silver fish above us (mullet possibly) and later on a eel, as well as many common starfish. Before very long the current had got a bit stronger and I started to find it fairly hard going. We turned back, and on the way Geoff feed the blennies opening a few mussels (it was good to stop for a rest and to relax and think about something other than the current); they were surprisingly bold and greedy, gulping down some biggish lumps. A little further on we found the car. Heavily encrusted and festooned with weed.

With the current it didn't take long to get back to the seaward side of the pier. We cut in sooner than planned - my idea - ensuring that we didn't overshoot the slipway. There wasn't much to see off the slipway - a pretty boring sandy and shelly bottom, but there were cheerfully coloured sponges on the deeper rocks.

Louis Sheid

Derek suggested the Louis Sheid for a dive on Monday morning. It is accessible from shore and easy to find; there were some good dives on the last trip and I was eager to see it for myself. I went in with Geoff H, Abigail. Derek dived with Lucy and Pete.

We surface swam with snorkel out in front of the rocks until we spotted the mast, I aligned my compass with the shot buoy put out by a rib (just in case) and we dropped down and followed the mast out into slightly deeper water, and settled into a nice relaxed tour of the wreck, and surrounding reefy parts. We found the boilers, the criss-cross frame thing of the pictures, and various other bits of wreckage – mainly interesting as places for creatures to lurk, with pipes, holes and compartments.

I saw scorpion fish on some reef, which was very red in this habitat matching the surrounding weed. There was also pollack, ballan and corkwing wrasse, a leopard spotted goby, and many schools of bib around the wreck. Geoff spotted the cuttlefish and we had a go at making friends with it, doing our best hand-cuttlefish thing; but I think it just thought we were all really stupid. On the way back we saw a nice group of red mullet. Louis Sheid was a lovely mellow dive, with lots of interest and a great way to top off the weekend’s action!

Chris and Debbie for organised a great weekend and Clint and Phil towed the boats. It was a great trip with lots of great dives and a great atmos! I’m back at work wishing I was still there.

Empire Harry / Persier

After seeing off the first wave there was time for a snorkel, and I went over to Beacon Point to look for the boiler of the Empire Harry. Wearing a 3mm longjohn and a thermal rash vest it was bloD cold (and this was the end of August!), but I had gloves, and wore my hood so at least I didn't get 'ice-cream head'.

On the way over there were several compass jellyfish, some of these had small transparent fish swimming about them; also wrasse, shanny, sand eels, the usual sort of thing. There was quite a variety of weed, the red rags and ferny looking ones particularly striking. Mostly though I was swimming over kelp and I could see that it was starting to look a bit manky and chewed up. Arriving at the Point I soon found the boiler. I shouldn't have been surprised at how big it was, but it is quite big and stands upright 4m or so on the sea-bed. I took a few pictures round and about and headed back, keen to warm up a bit, and on the way found some spiny starfish.

The second wave (Mir) returned to the Persier, we were Paul L and Debbie, Brian and Simon. Chris boathandled.

Brian and I went down (I took a while to get under– I had same weight as usual– so very likely a bit of excess air in my suit), and arrived near the steering quadrant to begin our swim round. We found one of the gun mounts and Brian spotted a very large conger in one of boxy holes beneath it. The pictures I took revealed it to have swallowed a very large fishing hook, injuring it internally (its eye appears spotted with blood). We swam over the forest of pink sea fans that cover the collapsed hull plates and swam through the propshaft from the stern end. After our zig-zag along the wreck we arrived at the boilers, and had a look round them before sending up the blob.

We had bit of a get together around Chris and Debbie’s abode, which was quite jolly, and Sunday night was nice and quiet and I actually got a good nights sleep; a few drinks, ramming the ear-plugs in as far as possible - just in case - and being fagged out all helped too.

Persier / Burgh Island

Braced for bank holiday wetness, the nice weather gods arranged some sun for us and let up on the wind. It was almost too good to be true. Conditions were excellent. There was just bit of an offshore breeze on Sunday and Monday. Underwater visibility wasn't amazing, but generally a reasonable 3 to 5 metres.

Hope Cove was packed out with the Family Fun Weekend and people making the most of the good weather to try and brown themselves up a bit. There was live music, beer, and an assortment of animals being roasted.

The first wave (Mir) dived the Persier. They were Terry and Simon, Geoff H and Susan H accompanied by Phil. Clint boathandled. Persier was located using transits and the profile from the transducer and shotted near the boilers. Off the boat and at the shot on the surface I refitted my flooded mask and we made our descent. There was very little current and vis was about four metres.

Terry led and we enjoyed a tour of this very scenic wreck; between the boilers, over engine bits, anchor, swimming through the propshaft and continuing towards the stern and the steering quadrant. There were bib (pouting - or whatever you want to call them) everywhere, the biggest amongst the steering gear. Some parts were covered with fish and at one point there was a layer of fish off into the distance. There were also large pollack, cuckoo and goldsinny wrasse. There were pink sea fans, dead man’s fingers, and sea firs in the encrusting turf. There were orange sea urchins, spiny starfish, and Terry found a big edible crab – which before moving on he tucked up safely in some dark hidey hole.

Completing the tour Terry brought us back to the shot and we made a good steady ascent. Earlier we’d seen other dive boats arriving, and as we came up several pairs were on their way down. A bit busy it was, but no problem; then all of a sudden I was forced to leave the shot, as someone fell down to my position, clattering past me as they tried to sort themselves out.

The third wave (Hubble) to Burgh Island comprised Phil and Simon, Derek and Lucy, Brian and Hilary. Boathandling were Clint and Rachel Chappell.

We dropped in 100m or so off the southwest side of the island and sent up the blob. We looked around and found a gully to follow. The gullies here are very nice indeed with varied and colourful plants and all kinds of encrusting life. There were lots of sponges, yellow boring sponge, tennis ball sponge, elephant's ear, and others; sea squirts included very many of the baked bean variety, and a few small patches of star ascidians; anemones, there small white ones, and lots of snakelocks. In the crevices there were small red squat lobsters, velvet fiddler crabs, and beneath one overhang some very large prawns.

We went extremely slowly, and saw a great deal. Phil spotted a cuttlefish. We watched it for some time, and I was able to take some photographs. As I got a little closer, it swiftly darkened, became spiny and reared up its tentacles to say "I is a badass mollusc". Later it calmed down and turned white, pulsing with black as it watched a spider crab scuttle past – an incredible sight.

Saturday evening we gathered in Anne and Clint's enormous tent. Camping at Rew Farm was ok, the facilities (showers) were a bit stretched but it was the Holiday so not really surprising. What really was unfortunate was the rave that Saturday night a few fields away. It went on until 5:30 am, only stopping when someone threatened to drive over them with a tractor. Needless to say everyone was a 'bit' disgruntled, short of sleep, and most likely on a short fuse; but in spite of this Sunday's diving went very well.

Bretagne / Galicia

Diving out of Teignmouth three waves went on the Bretagne and the Galicia. Arriving at Polly Steps it was fine and sunny, a welcome change from regularly poor and unsettled weather we'd had most of the 'summer'. There was a moderate southwesterly breeze, which became stronger and produced some bigger waves later in the afternoon. Low water was about midday.

First Wave: Bretagne Buddy pairs were: Clint and Anne, Debbie and Simon, Brian and Susan H. Clint and Brian boathandled.

Brian and Susan went in first followed by Debbie and myself. The water had looked good and we were able to watch Brian and Susan on the first part of their descent. Below 15m however we discovered the visibility was actually fairly poor, perhaps 1.5 to 2 metres. But although the vis wasn't too great I saw a lot and had a very enjoyable and relaxed dive. Arriving on the wreck we discovered our shot was right in the middle - in a hold, towards the stern.

As Debbie oriented us, I could recognise parts of the Bretagne, the hole for the funnel, winches, the coal chutes, collision damage etc. There were lots of big bib, a few bass, some tompot blennies (some of these quite big too), and an edible crab. There was plenty of encrusting life including pink sea fans, anenomes, and lots of dead-mans-fingers. A few clusters of DMF found on a bulkhead near the collision were the more slender, orange bodied variety.

Second Wave: Galicia Buddy pairs were: Terry and Brian, Peter C and Hilary, Geoff M and Sarah M. Clint boathandled.

Third Wave: Galicia Buddy pairs were: Anne and Simon, Grace and Rachel. Clint boathandled

The second wave had reported fairly poor visibility and the sea was getting a bit more lumpy; but it was still doable and the third wave went out. Unfortunately the shot didn't land close to any recognisable part of the wreck and in the poor vis only a relatively small piece (dinner table size) was found. It was located by each buddy pair independently. It had gill net across it and along the sea-bed and it had trapped a row of spider crabs. Grace and Rachel followed the net and found a lobster.

The vis was generally poor but also the sea bed round and about was very silty and easily disturbed. Anne clipped a line to the shot (we had re-located it) for a second attempt at finding the wreck and this made return and ascent more straightforward. A first look at the bottom could have been disappointing, but there was actually lots to see. There were worms and delicate anenomes in the sand; hermit crabs, whelks, a scallop, brittlestars, and some surprisingly large semi-transparent sea-squirts. Again, despite the vis, a very nice dive.

Baygitano, Lyme Regis

An early start at Lyme Regis as it was Regatta Day and expected to get very busy. There was time for a quick look round, I hadn't been to the Cobb before, then to get ready for the first wave. Some sun through the clouds on the distant hills of Golden Cap and beyond created a very atmospheric scene, but otherwise it was grey and gloomy.

The trip out to the 'Baggy' into the wind was very wet and bumpy; and some of us felt quite off-colour. Lashed by sprey and pitched about trying to kit up I was welcomed back to British diving. This was all part of the fun. The poor visibility even (it was 3 metres and not the 30 metres of my last dive) were not the reason for a less than perfect dive. The reason for a less than perfect dive was my attempt to do without ankle weights.

I was stupid enough to believe the crap I'd read somewhere that once a diver has good trim, ankle weights can be discarded; so I thought I'd try. Recently I had been enjoying improving buoyancy and positioning (as well as air consumption) sometimes hanging upside down to take a picture. Today I hadn't brought ankle weights with me, and though I could have borrowed some, I declined. I was a bit slow getting down the shot-line, but on the wreck everything was fine. Later in the dive however, and finning into the current across the wreck, my feet became especially floaty and I inverted several times. The exertion, frustration, and increasing air consumption, were all extremely disconcerting. My buddy was fantastic; very cool and reassuring, she proceeded to sort out the blob. I was settled down with the aid of an extremely convenient piece of wreck, I dumped all the air I could and made myself comfortable. The ascent was controlled and steady. Everything was all right and lessons learnt. The boots on my drysuit are very thick neoprene and ankle weight IS essential. Lessons: (1) don't ditch the ankle weights, (2) be more efficient sorting out a problem like this, (3) remember what a great buddy is.

Looking forward to a nice chilled out dive there one day, the Baggy is an interesting open wreck with lots of fish. There were lots of bib, bass, and cuckoo wrasse. Boilers with lots of holes and had clusters of sea-fans etc. Others saw conger. The second wave headed out about midday and enjoyed sunshine and smoother ride, though visibility on the wreck had diminished.

Havania

Returned to Lito after a last walk into Ag Nik. and crashed out. Woke up later in the afternoon feeling a bit dodgy but after 1/2 an hour felt well enough to go for a final snorkel. Yas stayed to loll around and enjoy the air-conditioning. I went down to Havania beach and put in along the beach and swam to the cliffs past a pontoon and several beaches. Not much to see on the bottom 50-100m out. Very little reefy stuff, saw a few anchors and bits of pipe.

A little further out speedboats towed inflatables up and down. One of them threw everyone off. I was very glad to have blob (it's essential on swims that involve a crossing or anywhere near watersport areas), and was pleased there were a few pedal boats too in my vicinity before the speed boats. Without the blob I would have had to hug the coast a bit more. Where I snorkelled, the swell from boats was a bit annoying, but not too bad.

I arrived at the cliffs and rocks, and begun to see some the wildlife. I took some pictures and found a good place to feed the fish. I saw the usual wrasse, bream, blennies, gobies, and parrotfish. Releasing a little bread around a rock with a nice hole (like I did the other day), I got some fair pictures.

On the way back, the return took me about 30-40 minutes, there was a bit of floating litter and I picked up a few plastic bags. I found my clothes on the beach, my lime green goody bag helped, and walked up the hill for the last time; my arm was extremely sore from yesterdays stinging and my ankles ached, but it didn't spoil my enjoyment of the warmth and the lovely views.

Mochlos Island / Plaka

Thought we'd visit Mochlos today and took the main road east around Mirabello bay and turned off to follow the windy road down to the sleepy seaside village. There are some tavernas at the water's edge by the tiny harbour, and near the parking there were archaeological excavations going on that you're not allowed to wee on (there was a sign to say so).

Mochlos Island was directly opposite, and the excavated Minoan houses visible from the mainland. It didn't look good for snorkelling at first, but later the wind dropped a bit and conditions improved.

We walked back to get my kit and I returned to the slipway and went in here. I had a quick look at the fish tank (it was easy to find and had been visible from the road down to the village) then swam across to the island. I'd read that there are strong currents here to be wary of, but there was none. I could see no sign current looking at the boats, moorings, or the surface of the water; underwater there were no streaming particles or trailing weed. I used the blob, a good idea for a crossing, and there were speedboats and jet skis moored and on the slipway and a few fishing boats pootling about. Swimming over, the bottom was uninteresting and all I saw where anchors and ropes and chains.

A few people swam to the island, and a group on sit-on kayaks clattering about, stopped for a while. I landed and had a look round, walked up the hill and took a few pictures. It was very hot, and I was glad to get back in the water. I swam around the island a bit; perhaps I should have tried to go round, but didn't want to be too long. I crossed back over the shallower water to the west slightly and went over some slabby reefy bits, perhaps it was the sunken causeway? Found Yas and sorted kit and decided on a taverna. We had a fantastic (and cheap) meal, in the sun, at the waters edge.

We were both glad we stayed at Mochlos. On the way back, along the north facing coast, it was much choppier; so some of the other places that looked promising weren't suitable. Another sheltered bay at Istron we fancied turned out to be private and off limits, and didn't at that want to stop at the busier municipal beaches. We drove through Elounda (getting lost a bit then following our noses down to the road and out to Plaka). There was a lot of holiday traffic and bikes etc,.. and we were pleased to arrive, though rather displeased with the naughty French boy lobbing stones about next to where we parked, into someone's back yard, and whacking our car.

Plaka's a relatively peaceful place, with a good sheltered pebble and sand beach, and some tavernas (we'd been there earlier and caught a boat to Spinalonga). I swam to rocks at the northern side of the bay and it was far better than I was expecting. There was good amount of fish and lots yellow anenomes, like at Kato Zakros.

I found some good places to feed the fish, and saw various animals I hadn't seen before. There were bulky warty crabs lodged in a crevice, and another sort amongst the stones, with long thin tarantuala-like legs (with yellow bits). In another hole I found a big blobby creature (10"-12" long) with a soft wrinkly body, light brown with black rings which turned a very large sea slug. I enjoyed all this and a nice long swim, and everything was grand, except however for the extremely painful anenome stings and accompanying blistery swellings on my arm. Perhaps I should have worn the rash vest.

Havania

I'd been thinking about doing a night snorkel for some time and was usually way too tired, but managed it one early morning. I had woken up at about 3am, and couldn't get back to sleep because the toothbrush recharger was flashing (I 'suppose' I could have unplugged it). Anyway it occurred to me that it would be a good time for a swim, so I put on my boots and rash vest and the camera, torch, and knife went in the goody bag. I quietly left the hotel and headed down to the beach. At the top of the driveway I could see another night snorkeller or diver further out in the bay.

It felt a bit strange at first, and I was glad that I'd swum around here before and knew what to expect. There were lights on the shore and navigation wasn't going to be a problem. Visibility was good and my backup dive torch perfect for this sort of thing. The first fish I saw were small silver fish hanging, here and there, just below the surface. Then, very near me I noticed a needlefish. I swam on around the headland and, and on the rocks there were occasional sea cucumbers (cotton spinners). These ones were a bit different, brown and spiny (they were a bit like our nearly black ones) and had fairly evenly spaced white spots about some of the spines. I carried on, and very soon I found a moray (or 'the' moray, as it could have been the same one I saw last week).

Swimming around there were more of the small silver fish, then as it started to get light I saw others. A school of grey mullet in bit of feeding frenzy over some rocks in the shallows, saddled bream, decorated wrasse, more needlefish, and lots of blennies; perhaps some of these had been there all along.

I took a few pictures and on the way back and had a look in some of the hollows, where I found a nice red fan worm, and there were some nice plants. After a while I felt a bit cool. It wasn't cold but I was glad to have the rash vest, which during the day kept the sun off my back and saved me getting burnt. There was of course a wonderful sunrise, and a few early people arriving at the beach - the best time of day. I spoke to a few people as I cleaned off, and a friendly local suggested bread to attract lots of fish. It was a great swim and I was very pleased.

Crete Aquarium

Back and forth on the main road we'd seen the signs for Crete Aquarium, so after a stop at Malia palace, we went. It was on the site of an old air station. It was good size, we spent a few hours there, had a good variety of fish and marine invertebrates, and had some fairly big tanks. We paid €8 each and got the audio guide. There's labels to get the fish names in different languages. There were some tropical fish, but what I liked most was that the great majority were Mediterranean.

Though it got very crowded, it wasn't as noisy and uncomfortable as our last trip to the Plymouth Marine Aquarium - oh, that was just bad timing and French schoolkids (even their teacher had had enough and had to duck out for a gitane), and - here we go - kids manically running up and down shouting NEMO! Well I 'suppose' they're having fun and learning and all that,.. perhaps. Anyway, I didn't hear the 'N' word and once and in the intervals between the big groups it was quite nice. There was a film about a turtle that got saved after swallowing fishing gear (including a hook), and plastic bags; and various other displays. We got some reasonable pictures of the slower moving animals, and around some of the bigger tanks you can just sit and watch the fish.

Vai / Kato Zakros

A really early start for the trip to the east. We made it to Sitia and decided to go to Vai first (then down to Kato Zakros) and followed a long windy road via Palekastro. Vai was empty when we arrived and we had a quick look round before deciding to stay. Parking was a reasonable €4 for the day.

Kitted up by the rocks and snorkelled round to the south. There was a strong northerly breeze across water but happily it wasn't too choppy. Again, very sparse plant life, but found Vai very good for the fish, and saw a small grouper under rock ledge. I took a few pictures, mainly snaps of fish because there were plenty in the shallows and it was nice and light. I was back on the beach as a trio of spearfishers arrived and were making preparations to go in; Yas and I then went up to the top of the headland for view.

It was starting to get busy. There were some greek families on the beach and other sun-bathers arriving; and an incredibly loud Italian show off, yelling, posing, and bossing Nicole about. Itanos wasn't far away and I'd read some good things about the place. Nice scenery along the coast and some quieter bays nearby, we walked about looking at the ruins. Was a great place to swim - regretfully I didn't go in here (I'd only just swum at Vai and it was a bit windy).

Inland it is extremely arid and the creaky information board and shelter, and spindly and spiny plants gave it a deserty wild-west feel. Leaving Itanos we travelled south though wild scenery and along fairly bendy roads south to Zakros and on to Kato Zakros.

Decided first to see the Minoan palace (it was extremely hot, 40°C+) then to cool off. Yas liked the terrapins in the pools there. I had a short swim, then decided to get the rest of my kit and camera and see what the cliffs were like. It was much more varied than I expected and the plant life was quite colourful and there were lots of yellow snakelock anenomes, as well as the usual fish etc. I could have swum here for a lot longer. When I got out I realised I'd been stung and had on my shin a patch of dense wavy red lines. Anenomes possibly - though I was pretty sure I didn't go over anenomes - or a bunch of jellyfish tentacles.

Matala

Took the car via Heraklion to Gortys, Phaestos, Hagia Triada, and finally to Matala. It was Sunday so, as we should have expected, it was particularly busy. Anyway for a cool off and quick swim round it was ok. The sand was really really hot and its a good idea to use the boardwalks that run across the beach. Yas discovered that her Croc shoes - a sort of lightweight plastic clog with holes - were good at trapping the burning sand and hurting her feet. My wet wet-suit boots were supremely comfortable however.

Anyway I found her a shady spot near the caves to have a rest and off I went. Further around the headland- it was good to be away from all the beach noise- I found some sponges and a very deep red starfish lodged in a hole. I did a few dives over a ledge near the headland and there masses of those were lots of those brown/black fish with the forked tail fins just hanging about. There was a bit of swell here, but nothing horrible, and I arrived at some big rocks and a nice deep section with a cave, that could have been interesting to explore. There was some bloke spearfishing here, and saw him dive before I started back.

Underwater it had been like Ferma to begin with - very few plants. But although it was early afternoon and despite all the people there were lots of fish about. There were salp, gobies, shanny, and a clutch of decorated wrasse feeding on some broken urchins; the wrasse shortly joined by a tompot blenny. I think there were needlefish too.

Not much else to say about Matala, it's a very popular beach in the summer but is also a nesting site for turtles and their protection society has a kiosk here. It's famous too for the Roman burial chambers cut into the rock that were used by the hippies.

Ferma

Our first day with the car, we decided to head for Ierapetra and decide there what to do next. We had a very quick look round, then carried on to place called Ferma that where it was indicated there were 'Ancient Fish Tanks'. This sounded good so we thought we'd go and see. U-turned to get on the road down to the site we missed and found quite a nice beach. It was hot too and naturally I quite fancied a snorkel.

The beach for paddling about on was nice and sandy, less interesting for snorkelling however, but there were numerous gobies and small flatfish. The rocks around the headland had looked more promising from a distance but these to me seemed very bare, having only a very thin encrusting layer and sparse small plants. There was a little more to see in the sheltered nooks and beneath overhangs. On the way out I saw small school of young needlefish and the usual bream and painted wrasse. I swam around and had a look around some extremely large boulders just off the headland and came back. On the way, either side of a wrecked motorbike were a couple of huge garfish (1m). They were still for a short while then I blinked and they were gone.

Feeling better for the swim I sorted out the kit and we decided to look over the other side of the headland for the fish tanks - where the map symbol actually was. I was very curious and we'd come along way so it would have been a shame not too have seen them. Drawing a blank I asked some friendly ladies at a beach taverna where the 'old fish boxes' where (I didn't at that point know the Greek for 'archaic fish tanks'. One knew what I was on about and and directed us over some orchard to the rocky promontory, and from some higher rocks I saw it. Right at the low cliff's edge carved out of the rock is a large rectangular recess (15ft lengthways perhaps) with steps cut into the side. Somehow I'd missed it on my swim, but discovered it is actually possible to snorkel into it.

Spinalonga Island

We got the bus through Elounda to Plaka at the end of the road, then caught a boat straight across to Spinalonga. Arriving early we were able to have relaxed look round before the island's narrow paths got too crowded. We walked over the island and I was able to see what it was like all around before going in the water and arrived back at the 'main gate' which seemed a good place to start. There was bit of a breeze - but not too bad - worse was the swash when the larger boats - frequently - chugged by. So for this reason alone it's better to swim early or late.

I'd been looking forward to swimming here for a long time, and wasn't disappointed. I found a good lot of sponges and other encrusting life around the more exposed parts particularly and in some holes. There was a small cave (where I scratched my head a bit) with a large fan worm and red fish with black head - a lesser black faced blenny. Saw lots of other blennies and gobies, more red starfish, grey sea slugs and lots of black sea urchins - some of their spines ending up in my fingers, and picked up a few empty cowrie shells. I went about half-way round and returned to the main-gate.

Various man-made stuff included a modern fishing reel (but was very rubbishy one and broken). And a few relics - perhaps from the leper colony - old bed frame and some broken corroded blue (metal) bowls in the shallows amongst the rubble. Yas had a pleasant stop in the shade, paddling and between the groups enjoying the view and the peace. Got our little boat back to Plaka and ate at one of the beach-front tavernas before catching the bus back home.