{"id":12425,"date":"2023-08-24T19:21:04","date_gmt":"2023-08-24T18:21:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ecsac.org.uk\/?p=12425"},"modified":"2023-08-24T19:24:54","modified_gmt":"2023-08-24T18:24:54","slug":"anglesey-dive-bbq-weekend-28th-30th-july-2023-copy-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ecsac.org.uk\/?p=12425","title":{"rendered":"Atlantic Outliers, North Scotland – 12th – 18th August 2023"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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The Atlantic Outliers, North Scotland - 12th - 18th August 2023<\/h4>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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We all travelled north on Friday and stayed overnight at various hotels en route to Scrabster. We met at the harbour on Saturday morning to load the dive containers, park the cars and board the afternoon ferry to Stromness. The kit was removed from the containers, craned onto The Clasina and set up ready for Sunday. We had a boat briefing with the skipper Bob Anderson, a couple of hours at leisure and a meal at the Ferry Inn.<\/p>

The forecast for the first 4 days was fantastic, minimum swell, and light winds. Bob set out the plan for the diving.<\/p>

Sunday 13th:<\/span><\/p>

AM:\u00a0 Shake down dive Nipple Rock<\/strong> Hoy\u00a0 \u00a0PM: \u00a0Eilean Nan R\u00f2n West <\/strong><\/p>

Anchor watch, midnight until 6am. Pat \/Phil<\/p>

Monday 14th<\/sup><\/span><\/p>

AM: Nun Rock<\/strong> before a 6-hour steam to North Rona 100 miles west of The Orkney Isles.<\/p>

PM: \u00a0Gealldriug Mhor North Rona.<\/strong><\/p>

Anchor watch. midnight until 6am. Clare\/Simon<\/p>

Tues 15th<\/span><\/p>

AM: Ralisgeir Sula Sgeir<\/strong>.\u00a0 \u00a0PM: Gannet Rocks Sula Sgeir. <\/strong><\/p>

Gannet colony 10 miles west of North Rona.\u00a0\u00a0Everyone ferried ashore on North Rona for a walk.<\/p>

Anchor watch Clemmie\/Dave\u00a0 &\u00a0 Sanders\/Helen.<\/p>

Wed 16th<\/sup>.<\/span><\/p>

AM: \u00a0Gealldruig Mhor East.\u00a0<\/strong> \u00a0PM: The Caves North Rona.<\/strong><\/p>

Bob altered the dive plan at this point as the winds were increasing and changing to Easterlies. He steamed until 3am before anchoring in Loch Eribol on the mainland. Anchor watch Steve and Rob.<\/p>

Thurs 17th<\/sup><\/span><\/p>

AM: \u00a0Freisgill Head,\u00a0\u00a0<\/strong>PM: \u00a0Eilean Nan R\u00f2n East<\/strong><\/p>

Seven-hour steam into Stromness<\/p>

Fri 18th<\/sup><\/span><\/p>

AM: UB116, Scapa Flow\u00a0 \u00a0<\/strong>PM: Karlsruhe, Scapa Flow<\/strong><\/p>

We de-kitted, craned everything onto the quayside and loaded the containers ready for a 5.30am departure and then had a final meal at the Ferry Inn.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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This was an amazing trip. We were so lucky with the weather. The vis (apart from in the Flow) was 20m, the water temperature a manageable 13C. and the kelp line around 26m. The colour was memorable, every rock surface was covered with pink algae, orange, and white Deadman\u2019s Fingers. encrusting sponges and seaweed, urchins, plus a variety of sponges, starfish, hydroids and bryozoa. The marine life was diverse and abundant with Salp, Lion\u2019s Mane and Blue jellyfish, shoals of Saithe, Pollack and Mackerel above the kelp, juvenile Pollack, and mature Ballan Wrasse in and around the boulders. Cat Sharks were seen by everyone on every dive. Ledges, cracks and crevices were home to Conger Eel, Ling, Lobster, Squat Lobster, Crayfish, Edible and Velvet Swimming Crabs, Leopard Spotted Gobies, Prawns and Shrimp. Several species of nudibranchs and their eggs were seen.<\/p>

Memorable moments\u00a0 underwater:<\/strong><\/p>

\u00a0<\/strong>Eilean Nan R\u00f2<\/span>n. \u00a0The vis!!!.\u00a0 Haddock and a Flapper Skate were videoed on the skate monitor at 44m.\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0<\/p>

Nun Rock: Rob spotted Tuna.<\/p>

Gealldruig Mohr: Walls of pink, green and orange Jewel Anemones and massive areas covered in White Striped Anemones (Fried Egg variety dominant).<\/p>

Ralisgeir Sula Sgeir: Yet more walls of pink, green and orange Jewel Anemones and rocky areas covered in White Striped Anemones.\u00a0 Helen and Clemmie called this the Daisy Fields.<\/p>

The Caves North Rona: Seals. Flapper Skate on video.<\/p>

Freisgill Head: Seals.<\/p>

Eilean Nan R\u00f2<\/span>n East: Cling Fish, Scorpion Fish<\/p>

UB116: Shoals of juvenile Pollack. Sea Pens<\/p>

Above water:<\/strong><\/p>

Pod of Dolphin. Porpoise. Seals. Gannet colony on Sula Sgeir, Puffins, Razor Bills, Giant Skua, Sea Eagle.\u00a0 Fulmar., Shag.<\/p>

Best in house entertainment:<\/strong> I Spy and Poker.<\/p>

Best fixer of kit<\/strong>: Phil.<\/p>

Thanks to buddies Clemmie & Helen, Rob & Steve, Dave & Sanders, Clare & Simon, plus Peter & Jim from Reading BSAC —a truly memorable UK dive trip to a remote location on board The Clasina with skipper Bob Anderson and crew Tash and Neil. Summed up by Sanders in one word, Awesome.<\/p>

Trip Organiser: Pat & Phil<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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The Atlantic Outliers, North Scotland – 12th – 18th August 2023 We all travelled north on Friday and stayed overnight at various hotels en route to Scrabster. We met at the harbour on Saturday morning to load the dive containers, park the cars and board the afternoon ferry to Stromness. The kit was removed from […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":12427,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"elementor_header_footer","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"default","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"default","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12425","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-report"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ecsac.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12425","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ecsac.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ecsac.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ecsac.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ecsac.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=12425"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/www.ecsac.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12425\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12442,"href":"https:\/\/www.ecsac.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12425\/revisions\/12442"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ecsac.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/12427"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ecsac.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=12425"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ecsac.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=12425"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ecsac.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=12425"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}