Testing 1, 2, 3 . . .

After yesterday's snow I was glad that it was just cold and wet today. B & I headed down to Eyemouth for 3 days of diving. My first time in the water this year, the last time was back in November, when Cyclops and I watched the drinking water freeze while we waited for S & B to surface.

We got to Eyemouth in good time to load the boat, go round and drop off our stuff at the Harbourside, get changed in the warm and get a bacon buttie. The plan was to dive the Glanmire, the wreck of a steamship, sunk in 1912. She lies in 30m, mostly flattened but with the boilers still intact. This was the first in a series of warm up dives planned before our trip to Scapa Flow later in the year. Along with our twin 10l cylinders we also had a 7l stage with 80% oxygen, so we could practice our gas changes and B could try out his new computer.

We managed to practice everything we'd planned - plus a few others we hadn't. The water felt very cold at 7C and the air temperature was lower. We found lots of Blennies in the boiler tubes, and got a good look at the cargo winch. The surface interval was bitterly cold, despite the hot drinks and ginger cake.

Our second dive was on a rocky reef just off St Abbs where B found 2 wolffish, one with eggs. We didn't stay long - we were all cold by that time! Here's B at the end of dive 2, pretty pleased with his new toys.

PS B isn't related to the Hulk, or the Green Cross Code Man, there's a plankton bloom just now which makes the water very green.