Loch Striven

Cruising along the Eastern shore of Loch Striven, we found a nice spot to pull the camper off the road. The sea bed falls away very quickly and the Vis is quite good, with sandy, stony base. Not a great variety of subjects to go at with my camera, but some very co-operative long-clawed squat lobsters made the gas time pass pretty quickly.

Braving the rain for a second dive, we took a different direction and found different terrain and different species. Much more sandy/silty and lots to see, though at this time of year we did miss the fish.

River deep, mountain high

Or possibly river-not-so-deep. This is my buddy Trevor who posed patiently for this image in the river Etive in Scotland. I think river diving is under-rated; you often hear divers discussing dives in terms of “what depth did you get?” I don’t think that’s very important; what matters is what the experience was like. Rivers offer the chance to see quite a different aspect of our environment. The rocks are sculpted into smooth curves by the passing of water in the same direction over many years. The water may take on the “malt whisky” look, giving everything a golden or even sepia look. I have swum with beautiful wild trout and seen the inside of a waterfall. All this in less than 3m of water. Who cares “how many metres” I got?

Corkwing Wrasse

I took this image just off the breakwater at Plymouth. I spent about 30 minutes watching this male Corkwing Wrasse building a nest to impress its female. It made an excellent subject because it was behaving in a very predictable way, swimming in a loop between patches of seaweed and its nest. I shot this in the traditional way – with a black background. Soon after, returning to the site during a splash-in competition, I decided black backgrounds were boring and went for a behaviour shot to capture the male building its nest. It was a total flop and a quite uninteresting shot. I should have stuck to my original idea!

As a postscript, my good friend Rob Bailey returned to exactly the same site (and possibly the same fish) the following year and took a wonderful shot of the male building its nest. He ended up winning awards with it (see it here). Just goes to show it’s all in the execution….

Silhouette

Inside the Scylla

This image was taken inside the Scylla on Whitesand Bay in Plymouth, using a remote strobe on the diver to illuminate the area behind him. The vis was not to clever when I shot this, so I tried out a b+w conversion to try to accentuate the details of the wreck. I think I should have shot some at a higher ISO to get some more grain.

Planning time

I am thinking about where to make an early season dip next month. To go South Coast (closer, probably warmer) or W Scotland (further, probably colder, more shelter)? This shot reminded me of great diving I’ve had in the Scottish Sea Lochs and the draw to explore some more is strong…..

Hodge Close quarry

A time for reflection…

The end of the year is a time to reflect, and I have obviously been reflecting on my diving and photography. 2011 has been a good season for me, with a number of good trips in great company. I have put a few more pins in my “diving map“, as well as visiting some old favourites. What will 2012 bring? More UK shore diving certainly. At least one overseas trip, I hope…