August and September News

Hi Guy's i must say sorry for the delay in posting Augusts news. It was such a poor month for Diving that nothing of interest happened until the end of that month when i entered the St. Abbs and Eyemouth underwater Photography Splash in Event. I had a great day out along with my friend and ace poser Gordon Mackie of Tuscan Divers.

It was an eventful day with a fair swell running and relatively poor vis. We were on the boat Wavedancer along with a right good bunch who made us very welcome on the boat.

Once again it was a brilliant competition and i managed to win the most humorous shot with my image of Gordon doing his Technical Underwater Gardening Pose. Something everybody whether they are a diver or not will be accustomed too in East Scotland with the appalling summer we have had this year.

Thanks to Gordon for his help and to all who organise and assist with the Splash in making it a great time out for underwater photographers.

Scapa Pirates

I had a great time up in Scapa Flow in mid September. I managed to go along on a trip organised by Gordon Mackie of Tuscan Divers. What a trip we had on the mini bus, then on the ferry. It was a laugh all the way. Until the big white waves were seen to be crashing over the lighthouse at the end of Aberdeen harbour. Now while most folk on the trip enjoyed this excitement some poor fellows became ill and were last seen abandoned in the passageways of the ferry. Anyway once in the lee of land the motion reduced and we all regrouped to have a great meal on board.

We made the dive boat Valkerie just after 1am on the Sunday morning after quite a journey.

After that it was all dive, dive, dive. Four of us including Gordon and myself signed up for an IANTD Trimix course run by BARRY WHITE which was brilliant so thanks to Barry for teaching us about the Dark Side.

For full trip report please see Gordon's blog Scapa Slappers on Yorkshire Diver. It was such a good trip thanks to all who were on it for making it such fun. There is more to come re this trip but im out of time just now...bye.

July Dives

JULY

Well with Bad weather and summer holidays, it's been a very quiet month for me on the diving front. I only managed 3 dives. I managed a thursday evening dive on Peter Gibsons boat "Selkie" out from St. Abbs. I was out with East Lothian Divers and had a great time. The vis and the life at anemone gardens was fantastic and i saw my first wolf fish of the year.

I was also out on North Star and had a couple of great dives. The first was a new site for me and the second was a favourite at fort point at Eyemouth. Thanks to Jim and Iain for another great day. (and most importantly Mrs Easingood re cakes shortbread etc.) saw some nice shrimps amongs other things.

My most exciting ventures this month were above water. I was taken down to Otter Watersports by TT. Diving proprietor Stevie Gibson who is a family friend of John Snr at Otter.

I had been the proud owner of an Otter NarviK drysuit for over 8 years and the suit was still in very good condition, but perishables like the zip, boots and seal were going to need replaced sooner rather than later. The main problem though is "and i cant say that the suit has shrunk" is that i dont fit the suit anymore, unfortunately down to me growing.

We headed off down to bradford early in the morning and i found a great Otter Brittanic telescopic which was just right for me.

John Snr was a real gentleman and the staff at Otter were a great laugh. It was certainly worth the long drive down to see them. John took me on a tour of the factory showing me how the suits were made. Thanks to John and all the team for a great day.

My other project for this month is a display of my images at the Scottish Seabird Centre at North Berwick on Scotlands East Coast. Ten of my images will be on display along side an exhibition entitled "under the sea". This is to inform the general public what wonders we have under Scotland's seas.

WORK ARTICLE RE UNDERWATER PHOTOGRAPHY

This was a wee article i put together for the staff magazine at my day job.

Would you take your camera out of its case on a foggy day? when visibility is down to a terrible 100 metres. Probably not but those conditions are 10 times better than I usually experience whilst taking images underwater around Scotland. Im often asked by colleagues in the Agency how I manage to capture colourful images in the murky waters of the Firth of Forth, or Clyde. Timing has a lot to do with it. Just off of Ocean terminal but on the Fife side of the Forth lies the remains of a massive Aircraft Carrier H.M.S. Campania. This sank 4 days before the end of the First World War. Underwater visibility on this wreck is usually dire at around a metre but in summer conditions it can reach a stunning… 8 metres visibility! (Still a lot less than that foggy 100 metres on land.)
Further down the East coast by the time North Berwick is reached conditions improve remarkably being best around the St. Abbs and Eyemouth area, where the underwater scenery is stunning. Walls and caves as well as shipwrecks are covered in soft corals and anemones of every colour. Average visibility here is 10 metres but 15 metres vis is not unknown. Even in these good conditions, specialised equipment is required to capture an acceptable image. Extreme wide angle lenses are required to capture images of seals, divers and shipwrecks while macro lenses can capture creatures smaller than your little finger such as sea slugs which are a lot more colourful than their land based relatives.
All this camera gear has to be protected from the marine environment. Today underwater housings made of Perspex or aluminium are used to protect standard SLR or compact cameras, as apposed to dedicated amphibious cameras which were favourites of the past. Underwater housings are now available for nearly all compact digital cameras on the market and this shows how the digital format has revolutionised underwater photography. Very few divers still use film, being able to check a shot whilst still underwater is just too great an advantage.
Underwater it is truly a different world. Gliding through clear sunlight water and coming nose to snout with a Grey Seal or finning along the companionway of some long sunk warship are certainly amazing experiences. Scottish waters are still rich in marine life and the sea floor is littered with shipwrecks. Underwater Photography is therefore a challenging but rewarding pastime, especially when you capture that image that makes people go WOW.

June 2008

June has been a busy month for me

first up was a dive to the caves in Loch Long. i had 2 great dives photographing small creatures in the shallows. This was after a drop down to 30 metres to enjoy the walls and overhangs. the vis on the day was terrible, even for loch long standards. in June i would have expected better vis. Topside it was a lovely day though, and i had a great time chatting with dive buddies Gordon and Chris. Underwater on the 2nd dive of the day i came across a 15 spinned stickleback which i found really difficult to photograph but it was great to see one as its been a long time since i have seen one.

My next set of dives were with the Dive bunker from Burntisland. i had a couple of cracking dives exploring the voose reef and the big wall on the blae rock. there was loads to see on both dives but the blae rock was fantastic with fairly good vis around the 30 metre mark. i spied a large conger eel in a crevice here before having to rise back up the wall. Many thanks to Mark Blyth owner of the Dive Bunker dive Centre.

My last set of divers were greenends gully out from Eyemouth, a site i had not visited for around 15 years. There was a lot of life at this site and i got some really nice macro shots. Later in the evening i went out in Peter Gibsons boat Selkie, from St. Abbs along with the east Lothian SAC.

i had a great night and the gullies of Skelly Hole were magnificent. The best part of the dive for me though was at the end at Skelly wall were i found 5 or 6 really nice nudibranches and managed to get some more nice shots.

May 2008

Welcome to my new look website, i hope you like it.
Here i will be posting bloggs re trips and courses and anything exciting that comes up!

May 2008

May has got off to a brilliant start. I have been doing most of my Diving with Marine Quest out of Eyemouth, Scotland. These dives included the U12 a newly discovered u-boat in 47 metres of water. The wreck is incredibly intact. The conning tower has portholes and the twin screws are still there. It was a really good dive even if due to a plankton bloom the water was dark.
I managed to get some nice images which i will share with you.
Later in the month in much better vis i dived the Dove. This was a whaling vessel and lies in 43 metres of water. Portholes and engineers gauges are all there to be seen. This is another wreck newly found by marine quest.