UKDIVING
A dSMB pops up at Eilean Culumraig
Ling at Nipple Rock
Elephant hide sponge
Crawfish up north !
Back to Orkney
We continued eastwards on the home leg of this amazing trip . Anchoring near Cluimhrig again , we carried out the first dive of the next day up a 24m deep gulley that rises between the cliff face and a submerged rock pinnacle . The gulley was stuffed with life , but the most splendid sight in what was about 12m viz was the great buttress of the sheer rock pinnacle , bedecked with cream and orange plumose anemones .
From Cluimhrig we headed east and north to meet the Orkneys at the Isle of Hoy . The next dive was Nipple Rock – two submerged pinnacles joined by a saddle at around 12m or so and dropping
in sheer steps to a 34m sloping seabed . We descended fairly swiftly down the wall , which dropped below the kelp line in stepped ledges to the boulder strewn bottom . Every ledge had crayfish , either peeping out or altogether out in the open . We also saw many large lobsters and small squat-lobsters skittering in cracks . If there was a lack of lobsters in the larger cracks and crevasses , this was because they were home to large conger eels , looking glum with their characteristically downturned gobs . At 25m , plumose anemones festooned the walls , leaving little space for anything else . However , looking closer we saw hundreds of Devon cup corals and of course the ubiquitous nudibranchs . A splendid dive !
Two weeks had rushed away . As a group , we had gelled right from the start , and now we were a team . There had been not a single cross word . We got through some challenging weather conditions with great moments of laughter , and shared some extraordinary diving . It was a privilege to have shared two weeks with such a positive group .
Many of the dives we did across the epic journey were the best I have ever experienced in 42 years of diving . It ’ s a wild place with fickle weather and some strong currents . This sort of diving is not for the fainthearted , but it has to be one of the top diving adventures . The proliferation of colourful life and underwater scenery are truly awesome . �
36 A visit to beautiful Loch Scaven on the drive home