This summer in Scotland we’ve had some spectacular weather with some days hitting over 30 degrees. Usually the Scottish summers are very hit or miss, sometimes just having a summer of rain. With the weather being so good it meant I had to benefit from it, that meant getting back into Scottish diving in a wetsuit!
I’ve spent many an evening this summer diving in the North Sea with some great dives. I think the weekend just past has been my best day of Scottish diving. I was on a day dive trip with North East Dive out of Portknockie Harbour, which is near Banff in North East Scotland. It was another stunning day and as we arrived at 10am there was children playing on the beach, this is Scotland at the start of September!
Gearing up into my wetsuit we headed out of the harbour to the Moray Wreck, which is a scattered wreck lying at around 29 metres depending on the tide. There isn’t a huge amount left of the wreck but that didn’t stop there being a lot of marine life around the wreck, especially in the boiler room. As we went down the shot line hardly being able to see a thing I wasn’t convinced this was going to be a good dive but at about 20 metres it just open out to about 5-10 metres visibility, a true Scottish dive. We saw giant lobsters, conger eels, giant crabs and plenty of fish.
During the lunch interval we went back into Portknockie harbour. It was so warm my wetsuit managed to dry off during the 2 hours we spent back onshore. Tanks changed over it was time to head out for the second time, this time we were diving Caple Rock. Gently cruising out the harbour we came across 7 dolphins just playing around in the bay, another example of how vast Scottish wildlife can be!
Caple Rock is a gentle reef/rock dive with plenty of life about. The current was up so there was a slight drift which is always good fun. Overall the day was a great success and I never felt cold in my 5mm wetsuit! I urge those who are qualified divers who haven’t tried cold water diving to give it a shot, it’s definitely worth while! North East Dive in Banff run weekly diving days from their boat, all excellent value and excellent fun!
