YO-HANCHA
Rhinophores at the ready
Yo-Han Cha revisits Eyemouth , the place where he was ‘ born ’ as a UK diver , joining a festival dedicated to the humble nudibranch
We had mostly stunning conditions for this year ’ s Scottish Nudibranch Festival in Eyemouth . The wind , which had blown out my plans to dive with guillemots the previous day , had turned during the night and the visibility of more than 10m seemed almost excessive for hunting tiny sea slugs .
I do love diving the Berwickshire Marine Reserve , whether it be out of St Abbs or Eyemouth . There are numerous excellent diving operations to choose from , so the main difficulty is trying to decide with whom you should dive .
The festival was being run by Marine Quest , who coincidently had taken me out for my first dive trip in Eyemouth . Back then , it was my second ever UK dive trip , I thought I knew how to deploy a DSMB - but soon discovered it was not yet part of my skillset .
As with this year , the sun shone brightly and the visibility was excellent . I always tell people that I learned how to use a drysuit to dive with seals at the Farnes , but it was at Eyemouth where I truly fell in love with UK diving . DSMB learning opportunities aside , that first trip was amazing . I remember exploring gully after gully and being captivated by the beauty it all .
It was here that I saw my first UK nudibranch . I ’ d seen pictures of them in diving mags , but never in the flesh ... it was a violet sea slug , and I just about managed a blurry , poorly lit photograph of it .
I found myself reminiscing with Iain , one of the skippers at Marine Quest , about those days in the past when we had to rope cylinders up the pier wall to get them filled , and trip deposits were paid by a club cheque rather than a few taps on a phone . It made me realise how lucky I am to be still diving out of Eyemouth , still looking for nudibranchs and still refusing to learn their Latin names when a common name is available !
Once again , the Scottish Nudibranch Festival was a roaring success . Not that we ’ re a competitive bunch , but we identified a record 56 different species of nudibranch over eleven dives in four days . My southern home meant I had to do the unthinkable and not do the Sunday
“ It was at Eyemouth where I truly fell in love with UK diving ”
afternoon dive , but I had to be vaguely awake and capable of work on the Monday . We used Eyemouth ’ s Hippodrome as a base for lectures about nudibranchs , in addition to viewing some of them under binocular and digital microscopes . On the Saturday afternoon , we opened the Hippodrome to the public to share with locals and tourists what was out there under the waves , in slug form .
It wasn ’ t just about nudibranchs though , we all got to meet up
with old friends and make new ones . There was an unexpected ‘ hatoff ’ that wasn ’ t really fair on Claire ’ s ‘ hairy coo ’ hat , as my rainbow octopus hat takes some beating ( Liz Allison , your croqueting skills are still much admired and appreciated ). The world ’ s wrongs were righted until well past our bedtimes .
I do love returning to St Abbs and Eyemouth , whether it be to just to look for nudibranchs or venturing deeper to dive wrecks and find wolf fish . The diving ’ s great and the company usually is as well . �
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