Following dates free on Halton for Scapa this year. (13/5/07)
Individuals/ small groups
3 - 8th June………………….8 spaces
7 - 12th Oct………………….4 spaces
Price 270/head
Full groups
17 - 22nd June
24 - 29th June
Price 2700/week
Away destinations considered for June weeks: loads of diving along the North coast that is untouched but needs an adventurous gp to tackle it. Duslic?
“So how was it for me?” I hear you all clamour.
To be frank, from the point of view of the boat, this has been one of the best years ever and I think that has been down to the weather in the main. Yes, I know the last week was shite and that there were a few missed dives along the way but on the whole I basically did what I wanted, when I wanted. I was able to deliver on promises made at the start of the year and to match expectations.
Scapa started off poorly with a week of poor vis right just when I needed it least. The French were here to film their documentary and a bit of clarity in the water would have gone down a treat but in the end the video looks good and they seemed to go away happy enough.
Then away down the west coast and the walkers’ initial trepidation was alayed by the Halton’s sturdy build, fine weather and beautiful scenery.
The birders failed to make a decision and ringed a lot of birds so also went away happy. The diving in the Shiants was poor, one of the summer’s disappointments, but the above water toings and doings more than compensated.
Then off to Shetland. We lost dives at the start of the time due to fog but the Lerwick change overs made life so much more simple and gave the troops the full spell of time on the islands rather than in transit.
Back through Fair Isle and one of the most rewarding weeks of the year. The EGG was a complete unknown, a shot in the dark, and, as with many gambles, paid off many times over.
It is always good to get back in the Flow: east, west, homes best but it was not long before the off again and away to Fraserburgh. Again, this was an unknown quantity and we were hindered by the weather but the diving still got the troops excited and we divid the first virgin wreck of my time.
Home again to run the season out and that sees us to now, just basking in reflections and memories. Many, many things have gone wrong this year with a tragedy that has yet to be resolved but the diving has been among the best ever. The two don’t balance each other out but the diving does keep that desire explore the horizon alight and that’s why I will be back next year.
The rest of the gang pulled up today, only I didn’t recognose them in their new van. Normally they are all packed into this thing that has coughed a spluttered it’s way over 600miles form Worchester only failing to break down through fear of the wrath of the driver and the thought that soon that mass of dive kit would be disgorged. I think they saved all the straws lying next to collapsed camels and threw them in too just for good measure.
The new van said “expert” on the back. I can spot a hire car at a 100 paces.
They got off the late boat down from Lerwick (not many divers come south to Scapa) and it was brilliant to see them both. This was the start of my freinds and family week, a round off to the season where all those folk who had either helped me out over the summer or who I wanted to say thank you to in one way or another gathered just to see out the season. I suppose it is like the cool down sesion at the end of a work out. Just a way to bookend the weeks and scratch a few backs that I owed.
Anyway, I used to share a flat with them both a decade ago and so I took them straight into our old haunt the Ferry Inn. Nothing had changed in the interveaning years: all was exactly as it was when they left all those years ago, even down to the order of folk on the bar stools! Home from home!
Once again I forgot to ask the troops what ferry they were on so off to meet yet another ferry! Must remember to check in future.
Update. It was me being muppet and not writtibg things in the diary properly, and a breakdown in comunication that meant the group never appeared. So week off to catch up with books, paperwork and the like. No point blogging the 40hrs I spent in front of Excel this week so I won’t. Best just to fast forward to the last week, which I will.
We left the harbour at 8am…
Wind speed avg 45kts, gusts 63kts.
Yesnaby
Stromness
Warm in the wheelhouse too.
What a difference a day makes.
Sunday
Monday
Vis is good though.
Seems to work well.
Though with his boyancy control I would have recommend something larger, Hindenburg maybe?
Line em up. Splash em.
Its a turkey shoot really. The skill lies in capturing the exact point of punter/splash impact on film.
Whats the difference between a weasel and a stoat?
A weasel is weasely recognised while a stoat is stoately different.
Think I need a few more punters to keep me more occupied.
I have said it before and will say it again (probrably on Wed by the look of the forecast) that a good day at this time of the year is worth 2 in the summer. The sun is low on the horizon with that warm yellow light whilst the sea is clear and getting clearer but still warm from the summer (12degC). Tommorrow, however, things are set to change.
It was even warm enough for Timothy to get changed on deck.
Abo failed the initiative test. I guess he washed his mask off in the water.
The Royal Navy steamed past…
followed by a basking shark that defied the camera. It just turned it’s nose up and disappeared.
Well, I was down the boat but the troops never arrived. Not till later that is.
No one to burst out of a van. Guess it’s getting late in the season.
These days, in the internet age, it is easy to think of your local dive store as a throwback to the Jurrasic age where people actually walked into a shop, asked for what they want and then paid by handing over leaves of paper. However, below the surface lies a level of expertise that cones from years of experience and the school of hard knocks: it is this that it is easy to forget about when you tap that visa number into the interweb.
Swapped Kingsbury for Cardiff. I wonder if someone, somewhere will complain.
So off they go, merry smiles and skips in the step.
“see you next year”
“you’re the best”
“great diving”
Then you see they start to sneak back into the water on OTHER boats. No shame. No shy deferential glances. No guilty falters. Oh no. They’re off, cavorting and gamboling with other operators all round the country, with butter not melting in their mouths.
Dive tarts, the lot of them. See if i care.
Oh well, only managed to get a few of my jobs done but at least I have recharged my batteries ready for the final furlong.
Troops burst off the ferry having had a wee bit of a rough crossing: wind was a very strong NW this morning so the ferry came up thru the Flow. Surprisingly, the forecast for the week is not that bad. Will wait and see.
To all those people who looked up at the frame at the top of the Giant’s Legs, turned wistfully to me and asked what it was….. Well, I lied. It’s not the frame they used to hoist the amunition up for the gun.
Its a bunny gallows.
And to top it all, I got the car bogged down right up to the back axle.
