Diving

Dives

I've had 170 4-star dives so far:

Dive number Date Site Location Area Country Wreck Freshwater Depth (m) Bottom time (min) Total time (min) Divers Quality Summary Equipment
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30 Mar 1980 Gitana Loch Rannoch Scottish Highlands Scotland Wreck site Freshwater site 10 20 20 Iain Hosking, Malcolm Gauld Four stars Shore dive, with Malcolm Gauld. Water fairly cold (2-3°C). Very dark, but vis with torch OK, about 3m. Circumnavigated the ship, and took a look inside. No life: too acidic. P.S. Also took soundings from wreck to the shore, from small inflatable. Steel 60, own dv, ABLJ 6
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20 Apr 1980 Gitana Loch Rannoch Scottish Highlands Scotland Wreck site Freshwater site 10 25 25 Iain Hosking, Mike Malone Four stars Warmer this time. Visibility very good; saw far more of the deck, entered midships hatch and looked at Captain's Cabin & 'Ladies Only'. Dived with Mike Malone. Al 56, own dv, ABLJ 6
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27 Apr 1980 St Abbs South side of the Firth of Forth Forth Scotland 12 20 20 Iain Hosking, Mike Malone Four stars A very interesting dive, with Mike Malone. Snorkelled out to Cathedral Rock, examined anemones, starfish & found a (small) lobster. Played football & swam through the arches. Vis good, about 15 feet. Weather bright and sunny and hot. Did some snorkelling afterwards. Own dv, ABLJ 6
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25 May 1980 Seacliffs North Berwick Forth Scotland 9 37 37 Iain Hosking, Lorna Miller, Robin Gray Four stars Looking for lobsters. Found several large ones but couldn't get them out because horizontal crevices went back too far. Visibility fantastic - 30 feet or more. Light sand on bottom made it brighter. Used 90 ats. Steel 60, own dv, ABLJ 6 (somewhat buoyant - try another 2lbs weight)
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27 Jul 1980 Argyll Bell Rock Scottish East Coast Scotland Wreck site 11 20 20 Iain Hosking, Colwyn Jones Four stars Spent Saturday night on the 'Hamnavoe' and dived the 'Argyll' on the Sunday. Very strong current, good vis. Masses of steel plate; recognised mast & spotting top with guns. Surface visibility very poor, say half a mile, and fairly high sea, calming down as the day progressed. Steel 60, ABLJ 6, own dv
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6 Aug 1980 Mull of Oa Islay Scotland 6 10 10 Iain Hosking, Dougie McEwan, Lizzie Daw, Malcolm Gauld, Robert Sproul-Cran Four stars Photographic sortie. Visibility excellent (50 feet+). White sand, lots of fish. Robert took group photograph. ABLJ 5, steel 69, own dv, 22lbs weight.
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7 Aug 1980 Agate Kilchiaran Bay Islay Scotland Wreck site 12 35 35 Iain Hosking, Derek Borthwick Four stars Photographic sortie with Derek Borthwick. Steep-sided gullies with masses of scoof - propeller shaft, prop, boilers etc. Purple kelp. Strong current, but vis good. An exciting dive. ABLJ 5, steel 60, own dv, 26lbs weight.
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7 Aug 1980 Floristan Kilchiaran Bay Islay Scotland Wreck site 10 25 25 Iain Hosking, Dougie McEwan Four stars Night dive with Dougie. Torch failed but his was bright enough for two. Spectacular wreck with locomotives, flatcars, trucks, boilers, bricks (Thistle Co.) and lots of pipes etc. Water clear, and not cold. ABLJ 5, steel 60, own dv, 26lbs weight
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25 Oct 1980 Priest Island Summer Isles North-west Scotland Scotland 20 20 20 Iain Hosking, Eric Franz Four stars 2nd dive of the day, again off the 'Vimiera'. Snorkelled to shore, descended and followed the 20m contour. Huge shoal of pollack, dogfish (quite large) and lots of other fish not yet identified. Also plenty of crabs, but no pretty squidgy things. Steel 60, ABLJ 1, own dv
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16 Nov 1980 Catalina Great Cumbrae Clyde Scotland Wreck site 26 25 25 Iain Hosking, Rosanne Padua Four stars Shore dive. Snorkelled out with Rosanne and went down buoy rope to the plane. Dive interrupted when I found I had no weight belt. Catalina is lying parallel to the shore, starboard wing in the sand, port wing pointing towards the surface. No cockpit, engines, tailplane, rudder etc, but recognisable as a Catalina. Covered in plumose anemones. Visibility 6-10ft. Wind force 2. ABLJ 1, steel 69.
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12 Apr 1981 Thesis Sound of Mull Mull Scotland Wreck site 30 20 20 Iain Hosking, Eric Franz Four stars First attempt aborted due to current. Second attempt during slack (almost). Wreck is perpendicular to shore, bows up, buoyed. Beautiful tube worms (small heads). Vis 6m, not cold. Steel 69, ABLJ 2
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13 Apr 1981 Hispania Sound of Mull Mull Scotland Wreck site 25 20 20 Iain Hosking, Eric Franz, Malcolm Gauld Four stars Dived with Malcolm & Eric in 2nd wave. Strong current, ~1 knot. Toured hold on two levels, then proceeded to bridge. Saw mast & derricks. Ran low on air so came up. Very pretty anemones, many of which we accidentally squashed. Steel 69, ABLJ 2
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15 Apr 1981 Rondo Eileanan Glasa, Sound of Mull Mull Scotland Wreck site 17 20 20 Iain Hosking, Eric Franz, Geoff Hide Four stars Against all the odds, we were up at 6am for this one, and in the water about 9. No current, vis 7m. Saw superstructure, and details of hull. Very pretty sea-life. Steel 60, ABLJ 2
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16 Apr 1981 Hispania Sound of Mull Mull Scotland Wreck site 18 20 20 Iain Hosking, Geoff Hide, Murray Grant Four stars Started dive with Eric but he couldn't clear his ears so joined Geoff and Murray. Strong current on line as we inadvertently dived at full flood. Wreck sheltered owing to tilt. Swam through holds, bridge (and rooms behind) and stern. Too windy for bows. Great fun. Steel 69, ABLJ 2
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16 Apr 1981 Rondo Eileanan Glasa, Sound of Mull Mull Scotland Wreck site 22 25 25 Iain Hosking, Geoff Hide Four stars Evening dive so water quite cold. Swam through prop shaft housing and between keel and rock. Looked for nudibranchs but found only their eggs. Amazing local slack - lasted 2 hours! Steel 60, ABLJ 2
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17 Apr 1981 Thesis Sound of Mull Mull Scotland Wreck site 28 15 15 Iain Hosking, Eric Franz Four stars No current this time - down buoy line onto bow section, down starboard side to stern at 28m, back up port side, seeing boiler, engine room, holds and up into bows. Vis 5m. Very pretty fan-worms in companionway. Steel 69, ABLJ 2
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16 May 1981 Port Napier Kyle of Lochalsh Skye Scotland Wreck site 20 30 30 Iain Hosking, Mike Malone Four stars Down to bows and along whole length of ship. Into tunnel below bridge and lower mine tube at rear. Looked at mast, holds and sea life (enormous plumose anemones, fanworms, fish). Vis 10-15m. This wreck is vast! Steel 69, ABLJ 2
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18 May 1981 Port Napier Kyle of Lochalsh Skye Scotland Wreck site 20 20 20 Iain Hosking, Niall Lindsay Four stars Down at bows and straight inside. Along between two decks and out by bridge. On to stern, where there are four mine tubes, and swam up one of them for quite a way, then out through a small side opening and back down inside. Vis varied - 7m at best. Steel 60, ABLJ 2
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19 May 1981 Balmeanach Bay The Braes Skye Scotland 3 25 25 Iain Hosking, Doc Mitchell, Eric Franz, Geoff Hide Four stars Night dive to see phosphorescence. We did. It's like bright sparks whenever you make any sudden movement, and is due to plankton and jellyfish. Al 56, ABLJ 2
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19 May 1981 Port Napier Kyle of Lochalsh Skye Scotland Wreck site 15 30 30 Iain Hosking, Eric Franz Four stars Dived with Eric and went round much the same area as with Niall the previous day, but in more detail eg gun mounting, mines in tubes. Vis a bit cruddy. Steel 69, ABLJ 2
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14 Jun 1981 St Abbs South side of the Firth of Forth Forth Scotland 13 25 25 Iain Hosking, Malcolm Gauld Four stars Took dry suit for its first outing, inaugurating a new period of comfort and warmth. Swam around Cathedral and studied squidgy things. Dry suit, twin Draegers, SLJ, extra 8lbs weight.
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21 Jun 1981 Anlaby May Island Forth Scotland Wreck site 12 25 25 Iain Hosking, Ross Butler Four stars Excellent conditions. Jumped from side of 'Hamnavoe' and rearranged anchor, then joined Ross for dive. Up and down keel mainly. Saw seal, following us around. Also a variety of fish. Wreck is very broken up, but the outline is visible, and anchors, winches, prop, brass valves, bits of boiler etc. Steel 69, SLJ 2, extra 8lbs standardised for dry bag.
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2 Aug 1981 Fidra North Berwick Forth Scotland 13 35 35 Iain Hosking, Rosanne Padua Four stars Lobster-hunting expedition - very successful. Rosanne and I caught two lobsters and seven crabs. Also saw a small octopus and some very pretty plumose anemones. Water warm. Vis 4-5m. Al 56
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9 Aug 1981 Glanmire St Abbs Head Forth Scotland Wreck site 31 15 15 Iain Hosking, Eric Franz Four stars Dived just after slack, so some current. Down grapple line onto wreck, up port side to bows, down starboard side to stern, which is more intact. Boilers stand out well. Then back up to undo grapple. Life - outstanding feature was a huge, pale conger with an evil expression on its face, under a steel plate. Also pollack. Water warm. Vis 7m at least. [The 'conger' was actually a wolf fish - Ed] Steel 60
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13 Sep 1981 St Abbs South side of the Firth of Forth Forth Scotland 13 40 40 Iain Hosking, Eric Franz Four stars Had difficulty finding Cathedral at first but found it at the second attempt. Far more fish than before - two wrasse (very curious), shoal of pollack or saithe + one larger one. Many smaller fish. Also large lobster sharing crevice with squat lobster and crab. Breathed from air bubble in arch using snorkel. Vis 8m. Very warm (new woolly bear). Own tank: 82 cu ft. 150 ats used.
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24 Sep 1981 Otranto Kilchiaran Bay Islay Scotland Wreck site 15 30 30 Iain Hosking, Niall Lindsay Four stars Wind only Force 4 so we thought we'd give it a go. Dived after a rough trip out. Main feature is the 8 boilers, but also brass portholes and bits & bobs. Kelp throughout. Wrasses and giant pollack. Very strong wave action - bit tricky trying to avoid being cut to shreds. Vis 6m. own
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19 Mar 1982 Golden Gift Oban Bay Oban Scotland Wreck site 15 25 25 Iain Hosking Four stars Jane had trouble with her ears so I carried on by myself. Night dive. Wreck very pretty, covered in sea-squirts with spider crabs, squat lobsters and giant sunstars. Fantastic dive - very relaxed (unexpectedly). Some phosphorescence too. own
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20 Mar 1982 Breda Benderloch Oban Scotland Wreck site 18 25 25 Iain Hosking, Susan Playfair Four stars First dive with Susan. Through holds, bridge etc. Sandals, cans, tyres, truck etc. Much silliness - somersaults, new underwater signals etc. Very relaxed dive - due to not having any gauges etc. own
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20 Mar 1982 Breda Benderloch Oban Scotland Wreck site 14 15 15 Iain Hosking, Eric Franz, Susan Playfair Four stars Now low tide. Dived with Eric and Susan (Susan had the torch - we were invisible). Getting a little dark, but good fun. Dive-bombed Doc and Rob. own
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21 Mar 1982 Creran Bridge Oban Scotland 5 25 25 Iain Hosking, Eric Franz Four stars Drift dive (3 shorter dives actually). Mussels in abundance, very pretty bit with beadlet and plumose anemones, crabs, squat lobsters etc. Fair current, especially on second run. Vis 15ft. own
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27 Mar 1982 Golden Gift Oban Bay Oban Scotland Wreck site 14 20 20 Iain Hosking, Ceri Reid Four stars Excellent night dive - wreck, crustaceans, fish, phosphorescence, the lot. What more could one ask for? (A - an Ocean Pro) own
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4 Apr 1982 St Abbs South side of the Firth of Forth Forth Scotland 14 20 20 Iain Hosking, Susan Playfair Four stars Excellent dive - good u/w communication. own
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11 Apr 1982 Rondo Eileanan Glasa, Sound of Mull Mull Scotland Wreck site 30 20 20 Iain Hosking, Susan Playfair Four stars Early morning dive. Through prop tube and between hull and rock. Very pretty. Torch flooded again (and jammed shut). Snorkelled to lighthouse and watched swans nesting. own
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11 Apr 1982 Thesis Sound of Mull Mull Scotland Wreck site 30 20 20 Iain Hosking, Eric Franz Four stars Caught slack by sheer coincidence. Straight down to stern, and back up through holds and engine room. Latter very spectacular with missing hull plates forming a gallery, and boilers, wheels etc. Dive-bombed Geoff, Sue & Doc, and lost Eric. Torch had a burial at sea. Vis between 0 and 4m. own
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12 Apr 1982 Hispania Sound of Mull Mull Scotland Wreck site 25 25 25 Iain Hosking, Ross Butler Four stars Caught slack by good planning. Right round wreck - down buoy line to starboard side, in through holds to bows, back up port side, up and down mast, in through bridge, then engine room and aft cabin (where I lost Eric's torch). No gloves, but not too cold. Vis poor. own
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13 Apr 1982 Rondo Eileanan Glasa, Sound of Mull Mull Scotland Wreck site 30 20 20 Iain Hosking, Ross Butler Four stars Up at 6am - in water at quarter to eight. Under wreck, through usual tubes, nooks and crannies. Strong current at start. Life - sea-scorpions. usual crustaceans and squidgy things. Vis improving. Dead calm. own
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14 Apr 1982 Rondo Eileanan Glasa, Sound of Mull Mull Scotland Wreck site 40 15 25 Iain Hosking, Susan Playfair Four stars Deepest yet. Straight down to 40m. Black as pitch (no torches). Up to 30m where we were surrounded by a shoal of hundreds of fish. Usual acrobatics - passed Geoff and Mike, then on up to do planned 5 minute stops at 10m & 5m. Calm morning, water and air warm. Great start to the day (it pissed down afterwards). own, except for Eric's Ulyxes death gauge
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14 Apr 1982 Meldon Loch Buie Mull Scotland Wreck site 14 47 47 Iain Hosking, Geoff Hide, Susan Playfair Four stars Threesome with Geoff and Susan. Down at rudder and along starboard side (huge props). Got separated immediately and swam round independently. Swam down prop shaft housing, inside stern and around boilers. Found Susan wrestling with a crab and looked for Geoff, who had surfaced by this time. Leak in groin of dry suit (ugh!). own
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15 Apr 1982 Rondo Eileanan Glasa, Sound of Mull Mull Scotland Wreck site 26 20 20 Iain Hosking, Susan Playfair Four stars Bottom time restricted because of later dive on Hispania. Essentially a 26m plowter - through tubes downwards, usual somersaults etc. Really enjoyable dive. Separated temporarily. Dry suit dry again. own
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18 Jul 1982 St Abbs South side of the Firth of Forth Forth Scotland 15 60 60 Iain Hosking, Dougie McEwan, Mike Malone Four stars Ace dive, with Dougie and Mike. Visibility exceptional - 60 feet at least, and bright sunlight. Long, leisurely dive. Saw conger in crevice - bluish-grey, and 5 or 6 feet long, judging from the size of its head. Hundreds of saithe, several wrasse (one of which Mike hand-fed) and a butterfish - not brown but pink, same colour as seaweed. Sinuses OK at last! own
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31 Jul 1982 Karlsruhe Scapa Flow Orkney Scotland Wreck site 25 28 30 Iain Hosking, Susan Playfair Four stars Good first dive of the trip, after a worrying couple of minutes when we found the buoy line had dragged off the wreck. The ship is lying at a steep angle on her port side. We covered about half of her, from engine room aft. Large gun on stern. Fish life prolific. Vis 10-11m. Problems - Susan's tank harness, fin strap, my new cuff and sinuses on way up. Stung by a jellyfish on the mouth. own, except Snipe's 87 cu ft tank.
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1 Aug 1982 Köln Scapa Flow Orkney Scotland Wreck site 32 18 20 Iain Hosking, Susan Playfair Four stars Down buoy line to port side behind bridge. Quick look inside then swam to stern via two gun turrets. Stern almost pointed. Back to buoy line where we hung around for a while to check buoyancy for stops. Vis not so good - lots of plankton. 60s very comfy, sinuses cleared, no heater in cuff [eh?] - ace dive. own, except twin 60s.
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1 Aug 1982 Brummer Scapa Flow Orkney Scotland Wreck site 34 16 27 Iain Hosking, Susan Playfair Four stars Planned 30 mins at 30m + stops at 10 & 5. Changed our minds when we went down to 27 at 32 + stops. In the event we went to 34m so Susan had us surface, somewhat dissatisfied, at 16 mins. Subtly narked, I swam to the stern instead of the bows, but we saw various gun turrets and dipped inside a couple of times. Good dive. We'll be back. own, twin 60s.
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4 Aug 1982 Kronprinz Wilhelm Scapa Flow Orkney Scotland Wreck site 36 14 17 Iain Hosking, Susan Playfair Four stars Vis poorer - 6m. Down buoy line to hull, where we shifted the shot and cut it free from the wreck. Up hull side of wreck towards bows - in and out of holes in the hull plates. Over hull to deck. Found two guns and a doorway in. Susan found a divers belt and gloves (standard divers dress type). No stop dive. own, twin 60s
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4 Aug 1982 Köln Scapa Flow Orkney Scotland Wreck site 23 32 47 Iain Hosking, Susan Playfair Four stars Swam forward this time to see the other two-thirds of the wreck. Spent some time examining AA gun (and attendant fish) and then the bridge, under decks etc. On to bows - bow turrets missing. High speed fin back to line, past waist turret. own, twin 60s, +12lbs
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5 Aug 1982 UB116 Scapa Flow Orkney Scotland Wreck site 30 20 20 Iain Hosking, Geoff Hide Four stars Perfect conditions - like 'Ludlow' without kelp. Wreck very blasted. Found periscope, compressed air cylinders, left boot and assorted brass and copper pipes and fittings. Fish life prolific. Light and airy. Vis 12-15m. own, twin 60s, +12lbs
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5 Aug 1982 F2 & barge Scapa Flow Orkney Scotland Wreck site 16 51 52 Iain Hosking, Geoff Hide Four stars Destroyer lies on port side, bridge & bows intact. Six inch gun in bow turret, AA gun below bridge. Barge is on an even keel nearby. Misty evening dive but good vis: 10-12m. Explored destroyer, followed line to barge, picking up some scallops on the way, swam around inside the barge and then returned to the destroyer. Long, leisurely dive. No stops. own, twin 60s, +12lbs
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6 Aug 1982 Brummer Scapa Flow Orkney Scotland Wreck site 36 21 36 Iain Hosking, Eric Franz Four stars Circumnavigated the wreck. To stern first (though I thought it was the bows again...) and then past stern turrets, funnels, midships six inch turret, bridge, bow turret. It's possible to get into the wreck. own, twin 60s, +12lbs
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4 Jul 1983 Kronprinz Wilhelm Scapa Flow Orkney Scotland Wreck site 34 20 30 Iain Hosking, Robin Gray Four stars Had a day off for sinuses to recover, and modified Draeger valve with a bit of rubber, so everything now OK. Down shot line to hull side, quick look around engine room area, but no brass telegraphs so over to deck side and saw 6 inch guns and other bits. Good blast back to Stromness in new boat. Sea rough. twin 60s, extra 4lbs weight
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4 Jul 1983 Karlsruhe Scapa Flow Orkney Scotland Wreck site 26 30 40 Iain Hosking, Grace Franz Four stars Swam as far as bridge and looked inside battle bridge. Didn't see the telegraph. Saw both bow turrets - one has fallen onto the other. Twin 60s, + 6lbs weight
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5 Jul 1983 Brummer Scapa Flow Orkney Scotland Wreck site 34 21 32 Iain Hosking, Rosanne Padua Four stars Saw and recognised bows at last! Wreck on starboard side. Swam aft through bridge latticework and midships gun to stern superstructure and back. Twin 60s, + 6lbs
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8 Jul 1983 Brummer Scapa Flow Orkney Scotland Wreck site 34 25 40 Iain Hosking, Geoff Hide Four stars Dedicated but unsuccessful search for the lamp room, Geoff and I were in every hole possible, and deep inside the ship we found a coil of rope. Stern more broken up than last year - one turret covered by a piece of plating. Twin 60s, +6lbs (ie about 34lbs)
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8 Jul 1983 König Scapa Flow Orkney Scotland Wreck site 38 17 30 Iain Hosking, Geoff Hide Four stars Chief impression still of immense size. Line went down to bilge keel forward of stern on starboard side. We swam forwards in and out of the hull. Nothing recognisable except a lifting bag floating above a steel shackle. No difficulty finding the line. Twin 60s, +6lbs
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6 Aug 1983 Breda Benderloch Oban Scotland Wreck site 25 35 40 Iain Hosking, Eric Franz Four stars Early start - in water at 11am. [eh?] Flat calm and sunny. Vis undisturbed by other divers: 25-30 feet. Down buoy line to bows and swam aft through the holds to the stern. Found boxes of rivets, tin cans, tyres, the truck, solidified sacks of cement and a pile of gas masks. Stern framework beautiful with dead men's fingers and anemones. 25m at rudder. No prop. Very quick blast back to the bows since low on air. own
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28 Aug 1983 Wallachia The Gantocks Clyde Scotland Wreck site 18 30 32 Iain Hosking, Geoff Hide, Jenny Clough Four stars Dived with Jenny and Geoff. Found wreck from transits in 'Scottish Diver' and echosounder. 35m to bottom at HW - 30m to deck. Round bows first, then aft past bridge (with wheel) to stern (also with wheel) via hold full of carboys containing stannous acid (a tin solution). Very dark and murky. No current. own
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6 Sep 1983 Furnace Loch Fyne Kintyre Scotland 20 25 25 Iain Hosking, Alasdair Hosking Four stars Dived same place as last time, down cliff face to 20m and then south. Vis good - 30ft at least. Squat lobsters, crabs, sunstars, sea squirts, scallops, wrasse, blennies and a huge shoal of small fish. Feather duster worms all retracted (lack of current). Bright and sunny. Good site. own
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1 Apr 1984 Kintyre Wemyss Bay Clyde Scotland Wreck site 40 11 15 Iain Hosking, Mike Weitzner Four stars Far better as a boat dive! Warm, calm and sunny. Found by echosounding and grappling. Down line to bridge at 38m. Swam round bridge and forward hold, found lead pipe, brass pipe and various valves and stuff (left in situ). Bows at 30m, plates missing and covered with plumose anemones. Beautiful! A lovely day. own, except Rollo's twin 55s and 4lbs less weight.
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7 Apr 1984 Rondo Eileanan Glasa, Sound of Mull Mull Scotland Wreck site 30 20 23 Iain Hosking, Mike Weitzner Four stars Excellent dive - made up for disasters during the day. Swam straight down inside hull to archway section which we examined closely. Through tunnel; examined feather duster worms and plumose anemones. Strong current, good vis, about 30 feet. own
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8 Apr 1984 Hispania Sound of Mull Mull Scotland Wreck site 25 23 25 Iain Hosking, Pete Wilson Four stars An excellent dive. Round entire wreck apart from extreme stern. Into engine room, bridge, holds and up to bows. Very light and good vis. Quite strong current. own
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13 Apr 1984 Calve Island Cliffs NE corner of Calve Island Mull Scotland 38 12 15 Iain Hosking, Crawford Foster Four stars Cliff dive. Cliffs go down vertically to 50m but we stopped to be able to dive later. Cliffs covered in sea squirts and cup coral, with occasional plumose anemones and starfish. own
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14 Apr 1984 Rondo Eileanan Glasa, Sound of Mull Mull Scotland Wreck site 48 12 23 Iain Hosking, Mike Weitzner Four stars 'Bows of the Rondo'. Weather conditions marginal (force 6 + drizzle) but Pete's plan worked smoothly. Straight down to bows with no trouble, stayed for a while, swam back up slowly. own
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19 May 1984 Port Napier Kyle of Lochalsh Skye Scotland Wreck site 20 25 35 Iain Hosking, Doc Mitchell Four stars Second dive of the day. Snorkelled from bow to stern and swam through lower starboard mine tube past dozens of bogies and several green spaces right up to the bows. Inside the bows and up to portholes. Forced to surface and down to finish air on the guns. own
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7 Jul 1984 Helena Faulbaums Belnahua Oban Scotland Wreck site 53 15 35 Iain Hosking, John Llambias Four stars Dived with John at 3pm, over 1 hour after end of slack (HW neaps). Current on the way down. Shot line was on starboard side behind bridge, by anchor, lifting bag etc abandoned by last group the previous weekend. Disentangled it, cut excess rope, inflated lifting bag and tied it off to shot. Didn't see much of the wreck. Vis 20-30ft. own, except Rollo's twin 55s. 4lbs less weight (24lbs)
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22 Jul 1984 Belnahua Quarry Belnahua Oban Scotland Freshwater site 9 25 25 Iain Hosking Four stars 2nd Class Roped Diver. Dougie tendered [he's a professional after all]. Water fresh, vis OK - 15 feet, bright. Saw cage for lowering quarryworkers, pipes for pumping water out (brass bends), miscellaneous wooden structures. Depth apparently 300 feet. Learnt how to give and receive satisfactory BSAC rope signals. own, Geoff's tank, -4lbs.
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10 Mar 1985 St Abbs South side of the Firth of Forth Forth Scotland 15 22 22 Iain Hosking, Derek Borthwick Four stars Second dive of the day, with Derek Borthwick behind rock at opposite side of channel. Better vis and very nice underwater scenery - cliffs and dead men's fingers. Quite unexpected at St Abbs. Worth a return visit. own
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24 Mar 1985 Loch Duich Ratagan and Inverinate Scottish West Coast Scotland 32 14 14 Iain Hosking, Iain Ogilvy Four stars Underwater sledge dive, with Iain Ogilvy from Inverness BSAC. Brilliant. Good vis. exhilarating stuff. Fun and games clearing flooded mask. own
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4 May 1985 Hispania Sound of Mull Mull Scotland Wreck site 23 25 30 Iain Hosking, Sarah McCracken Four stars First dive with Sarah. Hauled our way down to the bows in the teeth of a gale, recovered our breath and headed aft. Good plowter around holds, bridge, stern section. Visibility good, conditions perfect - ace dive. own + EUSAC Scubapro Mk II
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4 May 1985 Calve Island Cliffs NE corner of Calve Island Mull Scotland 30 20 20 Iain Hosking, Sarah McCracken Four stars Almost a night dive. Incredible variety of life - starfish, sun stars, feather duster worms, sea squirts, dahlia anemones, Devonshire cup coral, sleeping wrasse, things with pincers etc. Phosphorescence too. Another good dive. Own +Scubapro Mk II
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5 May 1985 Thesis Sound of Mull Mull Scotland Wreck site 30 20 20 Iain Hosking, Grace Franz Four stars Absolute flat calm and no current. Down buoy line to bows and down deck to stern to look at the rudder. Then inside to swim the length of the ship, past the flywheel and up into the bows. Down to engine room again, where we saw a conger. Adrian dived without a weight belt. Own +Scubapro Mk II
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14 May 1985 Sub-Sea Services George St, Aberdeen Scottish East Coast Scotland 50 10 20 Iain Hosking, R Thomson Four stars The first dive to be written up on a decompression stop. Quite cold now, but warm on the way down. Squeaky voice [from pressure alone - we weren't using heliox] and pen suffered decompression sickness. Ordinary clothes.
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3 Jul 1985 Nordhuk Skye Scotland Wreck site 28 23 23 Iain Hosking, Crawford Foster Four stars Slack at 4pm so we filled in the time exploring caves and snorkelling around seals. Grappled it in 30s. Fantastic vis meant we could see the whole wreck lying there smashed up. Good close quarters rake around. Found portholes (ferrous), pressure vessel, cogs, winches etc. Lots of fish life. own
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4 Jul 1985 Doris Skye Scotland Wreck site 28 23 25 Iain Hosking, Carole Mullen Four stars One of the best dives ever for marine life. Ballan wrasse, pollack, dogfish, cup coral (fluorescent green or red centres), anemones (similar to cup coral and dahlia), huge purple and red sunstars, sponges 1 foot high. Very unusual nudibranch: 1.5 inches long, white/transparent - gills with white blobs on end. Even saw some of the wreck. Vis excellent. Sandy bottom with dead men's fingers growing out of it. own
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4 Jul 1985 Chadwick West coast of Skye Skye Scotland Wreck site 24 23 25 Iain Hosking, Sarah McCracken Four stars Jammy dive. Grappling the wreck was a total disaster. At the second attempt we copped out and drifted along the bottom upside-down. At the end of a brief gossip we looked up and there was the wreck! We couldn't believe our eyes. Had a quick gnash down to the prop and then up to the bows via the boilers. Back down to the boilers again when we met Adrian and Carole. Good fish life, especially the cuckoo wrasse which were fluorescent electric blue. Good vis, fair current (slack was 2 hours later than we calculated). own
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5 Jul 1985 Eilean Grianal 2 miles north-west of Dunvegan Skye Scotland 30 20 22 Iain Hosking, Graham Russell Four stars Flat calm and pissing rain. Bombed straight down onto Sarah and Carole (saw them from more than 10m above them). Swam north from the island over a series of terraces. Saw a really bright cuckoo wrasse - yellow and blue; also squat lobsters, cushion stars, blennies, sea squirts, cup corals. Swam through a shoal of about 1000 jellyfish on the way up [and saw rain on the surface of the water]. own
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3 Aug 1985 Loch Long Clyde Scotland 31 18 22 Iain Hosking, Carole Mullen, Graham Russell, Sarah McCracken Four stars Forecast SW 5 so called off the 'Kintyre' and dived at the usual spot in Loch Long. Straight down to 30m in very clear water, torch beams lighting first on a washing machine, then on huge boulders covered with anemones and feather duster worms. At 18 minutes ascended to 5m and spent another half hour among plumose anemones, wrasse, codling, blennies, crabs and clabby-doos. Good dive. own
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12 Sep 1985 Beagle North of Great Cumbrae Clyde Scotland Wreck site 34 16 20 Iain Hosking, John Llambias Four stars 250th dive! Memorable because of weird weather conditions which made good at last. Grappled wreck on first pass. Second pair down - covered the whole length of the wreck including the prop. Very dark, pretty murky, covered in line and nets. Saw phosphorescence. No significant current. Good fun. own + Fenzy X3
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13 Oct 1985 Hispania Sound of Mull Mull Scotland Wreck site 24 32 35 Iain Hosking, Sarah McCracken Four stars Down the line to the bows, back to bridge via holds, into engine room, through an area with valves and pipes. Comprehensive tour of engine room and then into the aft holds. Over stern to prop shaft (and missing hull plate). Forward along starboard side to Captain's bath. Climbed mast, into chain locker and up. I think we saw about everything. own
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20 Oct 1985 Helena Faulbaums Belnahua Oban Scotland Wreck site 54 15 35 Iain Hosking, Sarah McCracken Four stars On site well before slack. Dropped shot immediately forward of the bridge despite barely-visible transits. We were the second pair down. Spent a couple of minutes at the shot, then crossed over to the starboard side, back over the bridge (now collapsed) and aft along the port side to the engine room. Noted portholes, binnacle and pedestal. Vis OK, less narked than yesterday. On stops checked suit for leaks: none. own, twin 55s
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9 Nov 1985 Kintyre Wemyss Bay Clyde Scotland Wreck site 40 11 13 Iain Hosking, Adrian Roddam Four stars Spent ages looking for the 'Wallachia' but the echosounder died and the transits weren't good enough to grapple successfully, so we went for plan B. While looking for the 'Kintyre' we were hit by a snow squall. All worth it, though, because Adrian and I actually found the wreck. We saw a lot of it - bogs, bows, winches, boiler, engine and resident conger, or ling. Very dark, but a good dive. own
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2 Jan 1986 Calve Island Cliffs NE corner of Calve Island Mull Scotland 36 14 16 Iain Hosking, Crawford Foster Four stars First dive of '86. A beautiful day - clear and cold with wind force 3. Water quite clear but not gin clear. Down to 34m in free-fall mode and spent the time drifting along in the current, upside down half the time. Pretty cup coral, like sweets. Afterwards we had man overboard drill, a prat about and a bit of target practice. own
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15 Feb 1986 Falls of Lora Loch Etive Oban Scotland 15 6 6 Iain Hosking, Mark Inall Four stars Prelude to next, amazing dive. Extremely fast. What do you do when bearing down on a cliff at 9 knots in a cloud of bubbles? Came up after getting into a backwater. own, except aluminium 72 and a made-up weight belt.
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16 Feb 1986 Falls of Lora Loch Etive Oban Scotland 22 10 10 Iain Hosking, Crawford Foster Four stars Sunnier and winder day (easterly 3). Full of anticipation after Mark surfaced to report he'd been in a Kenwood mixer. Very fast at the start, then slower through gullies. Reached pebble slope at south edge where a very insistent upwelling dumped us on the surface. own (as 269), 29lbs.
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29 Mar 1986 Chadwick West coast of Skye Skye Scotland Wreck site 21 33 33 Iain Hosking, Geoff Hide, Sarah McCracken Four stars Amazingly brilliant weather. Woke to blazing sunshine, and the Cuillins across the water. Out to the Chadwick in slightly rough conditions (sea state 5). Geoff joins the ranks of the Master Grapplers by casually dropping the grapple straight into the wreck after lining up a couple of boulders on the shore. No messing. We dived second (feeling queasy) and hit the bottom in tremendous visibility (especially when the sun came out!). Twice around the wreck, through the arched bit twice, down to the prop, round the boilers. Saw several attractive brass valves, bits of copper pipe, lumps of coal, millions of cup coral, scores of tiny nudibranchs (purple with white spots), red sunstars, crabs (one with an outrageous coat). Ace dive! Slack 11.30 GMT (12.30 EST), ebb tide. own, + Ewan's twin 40s.
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30 Mar 1986 Port Napier Kyle of Lochalsh Skye Scotland Wreck site 18 25 25 Iain Hosking, Andy Hopkins Four stars Very leisurely start: in water about 2pm. Swam in through 'T' shaped doorway and through two decks to reach the starboard upper mine tube. Swam the whole length of the mine tube in very good vis, then round stern and back through the starboard lower mine tube, which took us into a dead end. Surfaced to blazing sunshine! own Ewan's twin 40s.
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20 Apr 1986 Easdale Quarry Easdale, Seil Island Oban Scotland 55 10 20 Iain Hosking, Mark Inall Four stars The legendary Easdale Quarry at last. Truly lifeless, with massive slabs of rock going down past 55m. Water clear until the silt is disturbed. Not as narcotic as yesterday, but a somewhat more satisfying dive. [4 stars for being memorable] own
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2 Jul 1986 Kronprinz Wilhelm Scapa Flow Orkney Scotland Wreck site 36 23 40 Iain Hosking, Kenny Jack Four stars Very satisfying first dive of the trip since we immediately hit the aft 12 inch gun turrets. Also saw two of the 6 inch guns and worked our way into the hull. Weather - somewhat chilly and foggy. Vis - good with bits in it. Not much sea life but some phosphorescence. own, twin 55s, -4lbs, ie 24lbs total.
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2 Jul 1986 Brummer Scapa Flow Orkney Scotland Wreck site 34 25 40 Iain Hosking, Kenny Jack Four stars Tour around the aluminium-framed bridge, then aft to the engine room, aft mast and superstructure. Forward again to bridge, and on to the bows. Saw most of the wreck, I think. Good dive but foggy and cold. own, twin 55s, 24lbs
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11 Jul 1986 Helena Faulbaums Belnahua Oban Scotland Wreck site 58 15 55 Iain Hosking, Mark Inall Four stars Fantastic weather - mirror-calm and sunny. Slick operation to raise the pedestal followed by a trip to the stern. Bottom at 58m. Prop blades sheared off. Good vis. Twin 55s, 28lbs
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12 Jul 1986 Helena Faulbaums Belnahua Oban Scotland Wreck site 51 15 45 Iain Hosking, Ian Kyle Four stars Trip to the bows. Visibility extremely good - could easily see the front of the bridge from the 'greenhouse'. Swam forward over the holds to bows - hung off bows looking back at the ship. Saw Geoff's lamp. Looked inside lamp room. Leisurely swim back to the line. Camped on Belnahua afterwards Twin 55s, 28lbs
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1 Sep 1986 Kintyre Wemyss Bay Clyde Scotland Wreck site 38 11 13 Iain Hosking, Ross Butler Four stars Found wreck on second pass with grapple despite u/s echosounder. Surface layer very murky so pitch black at depth. Saw winch in front of aft hold, superstructure, boiler, bows, anchor. Ace dive. Rough.
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18 Sep 1986 Wallachia The Gantocks Clyde Scotland Wreck site 33 8 10 Iain Hosking, Crawford Foster Four stars Conditions even better. Wreck was buoyed so we were able to update our transits. 2 hour surface interval so we had a time penalty, but an excellent dive. Saw the bridge, wheel, engine room 'greenhouse', spare wheel, jars and beer bottles. Down over stern to see prop and rudder. Tried 91-year old beer. Horrible. Kevin's Rowi suit, 20lbs lead, club 78.
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19 Sep 1986 Wallachia The Gantocks Clyde Scotland Wreck site 34 16 19 Iain Hosking, Geoff Hide Four stars Very good dive, with minimal current and good visibility. Saw from funnel forward to bows. Bows are very tall and imposing, and draped in nets. Forward hold contains beer bottles and tins. 20 minutes from Largs. Rowi suit, 20lbs, club 78
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19 Sep 1986 Beagle North of Great Cumbrae Clyde Scotland Wreck site 32 13 15 Iain Hosking, Geoff Hide Four stars Practice for First Class. Grappling for the wreck made very tricky by the presence of two other buoys, both tied onto the wreck. Swam right round the wreck - saw anchor, emergency steering gear and conger. Masses of monofilament. Rowi suit, 20lbs, club 78
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11 Oct 1986 Rondo Eileanan Glasa, Sound of Mull Mull Scotland Wreck site 40 11 13 Iain Hosking, Kenny Jack Four stars Another fantastic dive. Slow descent to rudder then a more rapid drop down to 40m. Very good vis. Back up at 32m we dropped down to the port side and found a very narrow gap under the wreck at 36m. Met a male cuckoo wrasse on the way out. Back through the larger gap, and up through the tube. Saw another cuckoo wrasse.
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14 Dec 1986 Falls of Lora Loch Etive Oban Scotland 25 15 30 Iain Hosking, Mark Inall Four stars Hell of a long gap since the last dive. Weather ideal - calm, sunny, clear. Mark and I had three attempts - on the first two we were spat out very quickly. On the third we went through the gully system just as fast as we could cope with. Hit a slack patch, then found the current again and hit the cliff! Suddenly everything went dark - I was pummelled from all sides and felt a strong pressure on my ears as I was dragged down. With one hand on my suit inflator and the other on my mask I eventually hit the surface. Mindblowing. A seriously difficult dive. (Times: a: 5 mins, b: 3 mins, c: 7 mins). Tide: near neaps, incoming tide. Club 78
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17 Jan 1987 Paddy Hinkley's Quarry Forth Scotland Freshwater site 8 10 10 Iain Hosking, Malcolm Gauld Four stars Another long-awaited dive, this time under ice. 15 divers, 3 hours. The ice was very thick (thick enough to jump up and down on). Dived singly, roped. Very muddy, but weird to see the ice overhead and the silvery air bubbles. Not at all cold. [Malcolm held the other end of the rope.]
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14 Mar 1987 Wallachia The Gantocks Clyde Scotland Wreck site 30 20 22 Iain Hosking, Pete Wilkinson Four stars Finally hit the water at ten past six after a comedy of errors. Very good dive despite dark, cold, flooding torches etc. Lots of 'mice' (nudibranchs) under the stern. Found 100 year old whisky and groups of tin crystals. Malcolm's Diamond suit (left own in lockup!) and DV.
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11 Apr 1987 Hispania Sound of Mull Mull Scotland Wreck site 24 27 30 Iain Hosking, Phil Gibbs Four stars Down line to stern and forward to the passageway on the second level of the hold. Swam along this for a while, but very murky so turned round and came back. Into engine room, forward to bridge, then out and swam along beside the rail to the bows. The anchor chain lies out along the seabed. Back to the stern - saw rudder (no prop). Seabed falls away on this side. Outboard engine knackered on the way back [due to motorcycle 2-stroke oil] so our boat was towed. Mark and I got bored and jumped off, swam to Calve Island, waded to the mainland and walked back, swimming a lake on the way.
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12 Apr 1987 Rondo Eileanan Glasa, Sound of Mull Mull Scotland Wreck site 35 14 18 Iain Hosking, Simon Kirk Four stars Took Captain for a complete tour of the wreck down to the tunnel under the hull at 35m (LW), Through prop shaft tunnel, somersaults off the 'superstructure' and backwards and forwards under the ship (lots of feather duster worms). Visibility spectacularly good, and weather perfect. Hell of a good dive.
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17 May 1987 Doris Skye Scotland Wreck site 24 30 30 Iain Hosking, Cathy Humphries Four stars This was a brilliant dive. Weather came good at last, and we dropped into a steep-sided gully with dead men's fingers, anemones, cup coral and nudibranchs. Headed down over kelp to the main body of the wreck which lies in beautiful shell sand. Cathy spotted several nudibranchs - other sea life included sea pens, tubeworms, a shrimp and a wrasse. After the dive - The Nightmare continues... The old boat exploded.
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22 May 1987 Loch Long Clyde Scotland 25 25 25 Iain Hosking, Crawford Foster, Sarah McCracken Four stars Night dive - surfaced at exactly midnight. A brilliant dive, literally, with incredible phosphorescence. Sarah led. Plenty of life - colours showed up well in the torch beams - several sorts of sea anemone (big plumose ones at the end), masses of peacock worms, all out and arranged very tastefully about the rocks, with sea squirts in among them (transparent and pink varieties). Fish - pollack and small cod-like things - three dorsal fins and barbels (pout? dab? poor cod?). Also tiny purple sea urchins, east coast type squat lobsters and a starfish looking like a wedding cake - pink knobs on white. We turned our torches off and played at Disneyland for a while. Crawford and Sarah were easily visible by columns of bubbles and sparks. Oh, and a whole shoal of jellyfish. Good dive.
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13 Jun 1987 Hispania Sound of Mull Mull Scotland Wreck site 25 27 29 Iain Hosking, Sarah McCracken Four stars A fine day - new boat and engine so planed out to the wreck in double-quick time. Dived second, in quite a current. Vis was very good, and lots of fish - big ballan wrasse, smaller corkwing wrasse (very pretty), blennies and pollack. Swam through the tunnel and had a good rake around the engine room. Left a buoy on the wreck to return later.
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27 Jun 1987 Loch Ailort North-west Scotland Scotland 28 20 22 Iain Hosking, Cathy Humphries Four stars Trip organised by Glasgow University Sub-Aqua Club (Phil Gibbs is a member of both clubs). Dived on a stepped cliff with good overhangs. Lots of life - sea squirts, feather duster worms, nudibranchs and fish (blennies, mainly). Thousands of feather stars feeding by making a tripod of three legs and waving the others over their heads.
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28 Jun 1987 Priest Rock Sound of Arisaig North-west Scotland Scotland 20 46 46 Iain Hosking, Douglas Smith Four stars A long, leisurely scenic dive. One of these sites where the seabed appears bare at first. Saw about 6 varieties of starfish, and then noted a sea cucumber. Soon realised there were dozens. Several nudibranchs including some quite large ones, and lots of jellyfish. Saw corkwing wrasse and pollack. Beautiful day - calm and warm. Drove to Mallaig afterwards.
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2 Aug 1987 Fidra North Berwick Forth Scotland 10 40 40 Iain Hosking, Cathy Humphries Four stars EUSAC beach barbecue at Yellowcraigs. Saw puffins on the way out. Dived on a flat, rocky bottom with boulders and crevices containing lobsters, squat lobsters and shrimps. Highlight of the dive was an octopus parked in a hollow with his legs arranged decoratively around his head. He changed colour as we watched, then jetted off at speed, trailing his legs behind him. Beautiful sunset, good barbecue.
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19 Sep 1988 Julian Rocks Byron Bay Australia 20 30 32 Iain Hosking, Ashley Dunne, Cathy Humphries Four stars Dived Hughie's Trench. Boat dive from Byron Bay Dive Centre - good value (threw in the DV hire for nothing). Smooth operation - one-man launch of a large, heavy and powerful dive boat, and a total time of around 1.5 hours for 7 divers in the water. Weather fantastic, and water fairly clear, though not spectacular. Saw a large loggerhead turtle, a small moray eel (which Cathy fed) and a couple of wobbegong sharks, plus numerous smaller, colourful fish. One of them bit me, the bastard. Dolphins on the way back. Brilliant. Wetsuit, hired BCD and DV (mine was in a bad way)
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20 Sep 1988 Julian Rocks Byron Bay Australia 20 30 30 Iain Hosking, Cathy Humphries Four stars Calmer weather than yesterday. Dived Cod Hole - a tunnel with a particularly high concentration of fish - bullseyes, jewfish, moray, wrasse, scalyfin (a damselfish), wobbegongs and others too numerous (or unknown) to mention. Wetsuit, new Mirage ADV, 24lbs, hired DV.
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4 Nov 1988 Spot A Latitude Rock, Cape Hawke Forster Australia 18 36 38 Iain Hosking, Cathy Humphries, Sarah McCracken Four stars Boat dive organised through Forster Dive Centre. Beautiful day, sea quite lumpy. Visibility good on the surface, poor to terrible on the bottom. Spot A is where all the fish hang out. Those I recognised included bullseyes, scorpionfish, huge groper, lionfish (butterfly cod), wobbegong shark (which swam out from under Cathy's feet), moray eels. The groper were a new sight for us (although I've seen so many photographs they seem like old friends) - very impressive, one a lovely powdery blue. Excellent dive. Afterwards - collected oysters and ate lots. Thai meal at night. Wetsuit, ADV, 24lbs, own DV, own tank (just tested)
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6 Nov 1988 Cape Hawke (north side) Forster Australia 8 35 35 Iain Hosking, Cathy Humphries Four stars Planned dive with sharks to the north bombed out due to rough seas, so we headed for the sheltered side of Cape Hawke. Initial impression was of sand, weed and debris washing backwards and forwards, but all around were shoals of mado and yellowtail, and looking closer we found a whole host of fish including very colourful wrasse, blennies, a banded parma, two tiny orange fish with electric blue markings and a black spot on the tail which turned out to be the young of the banded parma, some tiny black and white fish, a round puffer or box fish with brown blotches on the back, and a large ray, about four feet across, which effortlessly and elegantly flapped away out of our range. Other life included the same very colourful nudibranch I saw at Cronulla, a translucent snail, sea tulips, seasquirts and many sponges. Still cold, but a lovely relaxed dive. (See drawings in white logbook no 8, page 81.)
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3 Dec 1988 Satara Seal Rocks Forster Australia Wreck site 43 15 33 Iain Hosking, Sarah McCracken Four stars The wreck is fairly intact, and dotted with Devonshire cup coral. The phosphor-bronze prop is particularly attractive. Visibility was good, and the fish life prolific. Very relaxed and enjoyable dive (helped by taking a seasickness tablet beforehand). The stops appear to be Rory's special stops - certainly not the ones from the US Navy tables. own tank, filled to 230 bar.
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10 Dec 1988 Undola off Royal National Park Sydney Australia Wreck site 45 16 28 Iain Hosking, Martin Zolfel Four stars This is a lovely little wreck, best thing I've seen around Sydney. Very dodgy dive, though. Calculated I had enough air for 15 minutes at 43m, plus stops, but that didn't take account of a respectable current. Visibility was good - there was still lots of brass to see on the wreck (valves and things), plus kitchen tiles from Aberfoyle Quarry and a 'Shanks Barrhead' loo [Barrhead is where they make Irn Bru.] Very colourful fish, including baby scalyfin and a sizeable six-spined leatherjacket (with a black and yellow spot on the side). Towards the end of the dive the fun started, as Mark called us down to look at the prop, then I noticed I had about 30 bar left. When the anchor was lifted (using a lifting bag!) the 6m bar was lifted to 2m, and Sarah's borrowed Brain was flashing 'Dec 6' at me. Plus I now had zero air. After what seemed an age the bar dropped back to 6m, whereupon the Brain said we could now go to 3m. I grabbed the spare air, only to find it didn't work, and I had to borrow air from another diver with a twinset. Eventually surfaced after 28 minutes. Never again will I do that depth for that time with that tank. own tank (200 bar)
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18 Dec 1988 Barron's Hut off Port Hacking Sydney Australia 25 27 30 Iain Hosking, Martin Zolfel Four stars Out on Max's boat again, with Martin, Sarah and Alex (from EUSAC). Good wall dive, with lots of sheltered ledges, nooks and crannies for the wildlife, a cave running back into a chimney, and huge boulders it was possible to swim under. Lots of sponges, scalyfin (saw one chase off another), wrasse, a couple of groper, some worried sea urchins, nudibranchs and some beautiful branching soft coral - red with white coral polyps. Lots of Devonshire cup coral too. Very colourful - good dive, good food, good company.
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2 Jan 1989 Shiprock Port Hacking Sydney Australia 12 50 50 Iain Hosking, Mark Inall Four stars Rough weather, so plans for an inflatable boat trip scaled down to another Shiprock dive. A larger group than usual - Sarah, Mark, Andy Holroyd and Jackie as shore cover, along with John Ward, Andrea and Derek from Richmond RAAF BSAC. It was Mark's first dive in Australia and, like me, he was amazed at the quantity, variety and colours of the fish. We trogged slowly along, peering into crevices, seeing what we could see. What we saw was a moray eel, several catfish (or rock ling), scorpionfish, a big shoal of old wives (which have poisonous dorsal spines), leatherjackets, rock code, yellowtail, and on the crustacean front, hermit crabs and some really delicate little shrimps. The highlight was an octopus, which retreated over the rocks in an incredibly fluid motion. The poor thing was desperate to get away, but it wasn't until Sarah tried to grab it that it jetted off into the murk leaving two spots of ink behind it. Two cuttlefish finished things off nicely. Good curry afterwards.
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14 Jan 1989 Tuggerah Royal National Park Sydney Australia Wreck site 46 14 25 Iain Hosking, Mark Inall, Sarah McCracken Four stars Took Mark and Sarah out for a real Sydney wreck (birthday present for Mark). Met Peter (the Swede) and Jeff, who dived with me on the 'Undola' last month, and Richard. Sea horrible - divers all chunderous - but worth it. Visibility on the surface was brilliant - clear blue water - well over 100 foot vis. Not so good on the bottom, though - about 40 foot. Thousands of fish forming not so much a veil around the wreck as a wall. Headed to the bows first, where Sarah met a numbfish, and was totally shocked by the experience. They're very lazy, and I was lucky not to be fried while digging it up. Anyway - back to the boiler (with resident small moray) and the stern, with yellowtail, old wives and toadfish. Back to the line inside planned time despite being temporarily lost in fish. Deco stops and anti-chunder stops. (wet sleeve)
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14 Feb 1989 Muir Rock Bicheno Tasmania Australia 15 35 35 Iain Hosking, Cathy Humphries Four stars First dive as a married couple. Arrived in Devonport 8.30 and drove over to Bicheno. In the water at 3.30pm after a very smooth boat launch and a short trip out. Visibility - probably unprecedented. Strong wave action - swell pushed us through swim-throughs between huge boulders. Heaps of fish - leatherjackets, porcupinefish (globe fish), yellowtail, trevally, wrasse, morwong, bullseyes and a ray (banded stingaree). Appetites definitely whetted, despite bad weather.
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16 Feb 1989 The Castle Bicheno Tasmania Australia 27 29 32 Iain Hosking, Cathy Humphries Four stars The Castle is one of the more spectacular Bicheno dive sites - a wide tunnel, 70 feet long, lined with crayfish, dozens on one ledge alone. We emerged onto a shelf of rock, sloping up on our left, with a wall on our right. Numerous morwong, bullseyes and one or two globe fish. Returned along a winding gully above the tunnel. Maybe the strangest thing of all was the sound of the rock moving in the surge - quite spooky as Cathy and I were last and had to wait quite a while in the tunnel entrance listening to the grating of thousands of tons of rock over our heads.
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17 Feb 1989 Alligator Rock Bicheno Tasmania Australia 22 30 35 Iain Hosking, Cathy Humphries Four stars Site comprises boulders and a vertical wall going down to around 26-28m (estimated). Good weather at last - sun shining down through the kelp above, and lighting up the cliff face. Water was incredibly clear, and Cathy enjoyed the relaxed atmosphere - she came face to face with a boarfish, and found a pretty nudibranch - 3 inches long, bluish-mauve with reddish-purple spots. Heaps of sponges, and sea-whips with coats of pink anemones. Took a close look at black sea-urchins and found they are actually deep red. Small shrimps find refuge in behind the spines, which are moved towards an intruder. New fish - Tasmanian trumpeter, or 'stripey', and some kind of carp, greyish with white markings on its side resembling calcified worm casts. After the dive Cathy went snorkelling with Andrew Kennedy, and was quizzed by a policeman about catching fish.
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18 Feb 1989 Muir Rock Bicheno Tasmania Australia 20 33 35 Iain Hosking, Mark Inall Four stars Heavy swell meant that the tunnels and swimthroughs were exhilarating, to say the least. Mark and I dived into every crevice we could find, including some dead ends, where it was necessary to brace your hands against the sides of a tunnel to avoid being plugged into the end like a cork into a bottle. First highlight was a banded stingaree, sandy-coloured, buried with only his tail and eye showing. Played with it for a while before turning our attention to a globe fish which was persuaded by Mark to inflate itself with water. I just about collapsed laughing when this spiny ball was batted towards me. In this condition it has little attitude control and it could only just move forwards. Once left in peace it deflated itself in about 10 seconds. Other life - morwongs, bastard trumpeter, white sea-urchins, Devonshire cup coral, a shoal of yellowtail, sea carp and the usual bullseyes and leatherjackets.
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27 Aug 1989 Cape Solander Round from Inscription Point, Kurnell Sydney Australia 12 50 50 Iain Hosking, Cathy Humphries Four stars Oh dear, a five-month lay-off - a new record. This dive was Cathy's idea, and an excellent reintroduction for her after a six-month layoff. We had perfect weather - a few puffy cumulus in an otherwise clear sky, and calm water inshore with white horses beyond. The entry is off flat rocks, and then it's onto bare boulders at 5m, and sponge-covered rocks at 10m. We saw a huge cuttlefish almost immediately - Cathy spotted him in the open. Then it was over the boulders, among mado and little yellow and black blennies. In among the sponges were numerous assorted nudibranchs, and the fish included a blue groper, wrasse, leatherjacket, goatfish and scalyfin. I think it was mating season for scalyfin - one was chasing the other round and round. But the highlight was a weedy sea dragon. This improbable fish floated motionless inches from our noses. Amazing. A return visit is indicated. (LW slack at 11.00am)
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9 Sep 1989 Tuggerah Royal National Park Sydney Australia Wreck site 45 16 32 Iain Hosking, Martin Zolfel Four stars Cockup with tank fill and neck rings meant that Max was swearing at me on the way out, but that apart it was a good dive. Max hooked the welding rod grapple into a 1 inch hole in the wreck and pulled the line in taut so that it was a short swim to the wreck. Clouds of nannegai as usual and half a dozen wobbegong. One was 7 foot long and looked pregnant, while another, 6 foot long, was tangled in a net at the prop. In Martin's words I scored 150 brownie points in the wobbegong world by setting it free, an interesting task involving twisting the net tightly around its head so it couldn't bite me while I cut the net open further down. Stopped at Frog Dive in Merrylands to buy twin bands ($55). Heaps of air next dive... Cathy's 88
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3 Jan 1990 Spot A Latitude Rock, Cape Hawke Forster Australia 18 38 38 Iain Hosking, Cathy Humphries Four stars Back to Forster again, for the first time in over a year. Rory has now sold the Forster Dive Centre to Aari Braak, who owns the Tikki Boatshed and Marina, but he still works there, as well as doing commercial work locally and in the Philippines. Today was a scorcher - localised sunburn despite all precautions. Much better than last time (4/11/88) and same fish - groper (which didn't get a feed out of us), morays, a lionfish (hiding in a crevice), scalyfin, mado, stripey, bullseyes and sea carp. The Thai restaurant has now closed (pity) so we laid on a seafood barbecue for Lianne and Scott (plus Mitchell and Tracy) at Tuncurry. Good day. (No significant current even though 2 hours after slack, but strong wave action.) BC valve stuck open again, letting all the air escape - a very unpleasant situation. Bought silicone spray in an attempt to cure the problem.
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14 Jul 1990 Auliston Point Loch Sunart Scottish West Coast Scotland 33 22 22 Iain Hosking, Cathy Humphries Four stars First dive of the EUSAC 1990 St Kilda Trip. Very unusual conditions - absolutely flat calm, hazy and warm. The site is very like Calve Island cliffs - a rocky slope, followed by a vertical drop-off to 36m. Plenty of Devonshire cup coral, tubeworms, dead men's fingers and seasquirts. 'Jean de la Lune' (skippered by John Muir) is very comfortable and civilised. Rollo's twinset (twin 55s) plus 20lbs lead. Weights rearranged so none are in the small of the back. Too light.
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17 Jul 1990 Am Plastair Soay St Kilda Scotland 42 18 18 Iain Hosking, Cathy Humphries Four stars Monday was spent sailing from Canna to St Kilda, arriving at sunset. This was our first dive on St Kilda. Dived on the Soay side of the stack. Dropped into the water under brooding cliffs with clouds swirling around their tops, and descended to the bottom at 40m Vis not too good, and water very green, but underwater life very pretty, with some anemones I hadn't seen before, with green centres and red tips to the tentacles. After dive - breakfast, a walk round the village, lunch and a climb to the south peak of Hirta, overlooking Dún. [4 stars for the setting and atmosphere, rather than the dive]
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17 Jul 1990 Mina Stac NE of Hirta St Kilda Scotland 23 32 32 Iain Hosking, Cathy Humphries Four stars Another atmospheric stack below dramatic cliffs. Good views of Boreray. Dropped down the cliff to a large archway with a rock in the middle. Good vis, compared to this morning. Continued drifting down-current over boulders covered with anemones. Found a whopper of a crab - left it in peace. Came upon Malc and Mary - gosh, our torches are bright these days. Surfaced to some boat-handling games. Plenty of puffins and fulmars.
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18 Jul 1990 Seal Cave, Rubha Ghill Caves E end of Hirta St Kilda Scotland 30 30 30 Iain Hosking, Cathy Humphries Four stars Sea now rougher so chose this site hopefully in the lee of the island. Dropped off near the cave and dived into it - it's the size of a large church. The floor was round boulders decreasing in size from 3 foot diameter at the entrance to football size further in. We swam some way in before turning round and following the cliff round to the south. Walls of jewel anemones, cup coral, crabs, pollack and a seal, which observed us from a distance. Found four crabs pulling an octopus apart.
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22 Jul 1990 Oigh Sgeir Light West of Rhum Outer Hebrides Scotland 25 45 45 Iain Hosking, Graham Russell Four stars Oigh Sgeir is a flattish lump of basalt west of Rhum. Conditions absolutely perfect - the sea glassy calm, the sky blue with unlimited surface vis. We saw a panorama of the entire Outer Hebrides, from the Butt of Lewis to Barra Head. After some bowsprit-jumping Graham and I descended down a cliff of basalt pillars with an overhang at the top. A short meeting of the EUSAC headstanders was followed by a plowter along the boulder slope looking at sea cucumbers. Came upon Andy and Iain Fairbrother, then Adrian who was menaced by a crab claw on the end of a stick. Jewel anemones, nudibranchs, fish. Spent a long time watching fish feed off a sea urchin. Hilarious dive.
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17 Nov 1990 Coolooli Long Reef Sydney Australia Wreck site 49 20 46 Iain Hosking, Graham Russell Four stars One of the best wreck dives ever, reminiscent of Scapa Flow. Up at 5am, left at 5.45, at Palm Beach 6.30, boat left 7, in the water at 8am. Keen. Wreck lies on its starboard side. We swam straight through the middle - out at the bows, past the buckets, then back over the deck, along to the stern and back. Beautiful inside - very accessible, and full of fish, mainly bullseyes, but some leatherjackets, morwong, sea perch, sea scorpions etc. Inside engine room - generators are still there. Other divers - Martin, Graham, John, Adam, Sarah and Sarah. (One of the Sarahs is from Scoutscroft, Eyemouth.) 2 x 63 cu ft tanks with 2 DVs, 28lb shot belt. Just right.
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8 Dec 1990 Bombo Wollongong Sydney Australia Wreck site 32 29 29 Iain Hosking, Martin Zolfel Four stars This was another 5am wakey wakey job. Martin drove us down, and we used the boat of a couple of blokes he knows. Sea was pretty calm, but on a very strong swell, and the other group of divers had to abort their dive when one of them became sick. We dropped down the anchor line to the stern, and had a look through the engine room (full of nannegai) then swam through to the port side, up the wreck and in again at the forward swim-through. Here we surprised a lovely big cuttlefish 1.5 feet long, with frilly tentacles, orange and red. We also surprised a moray eel when my weightbelt fell off. Vis not too good, but a very enjoyable dive. Hot
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19 Dec 1990 One Mile Gutter Forster Australia 11 74 74 Iain Hosking, Cathy Humphries Four stars Very shallow dive, so very relaxed. Swam up and down the gutter and out over the sand. Just as many fish as this morning, but a different selection, generally smaller. Many boxfish, a puffer fish, shoals of mado, bullseyes, yellowtail, stripey and some gropers. The mado were chasing off the scalyfin. A long wrasse took a bite out of my finger. Highlights were the eagle rays (2 mating) and a shoal of squid, looking like pelagic fish. Also cuttlefish, a wobbegong, with shrimps on its head. Porcupine fish. Wetsuit - not cold.
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16 Mar 1991 Dee Why Long Reef Sydney Australia Wreck site 48 17 39 Iain Hosking, Martin Zolfel Four stars Slept in! Should have been up at 4.30 am, at Martin's at 5.30, Long Reef by 7. Instead I slept in till 5.30, then drove hell for leather direct to Dee Why. Arrived dead on 7, had the fastest kit-up in history. Beautiful weather, short boat trip, clear water. Wreck is upright and intact, but the wooden deck has gone. Swam down to the bow/stern (it's a double-ended ship) and into the boiler room - 4 huge boilers. Fish life - yellowtail, kingfish, wrasse, mado. (Out on Herb Adams' boat 'Venturer'.)
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31 Mar 1991 Birchgrove Park Avalon Sydney Australia Wreck site 50 15 40 Iain Hosking, Martin Zolfel Four stars The 'Birchgrove Park' seems to be one of those wrecks that people speak of in hushed tones. When it came to it, it seemed too easy - Herb Adams found it with no trouble, the sun was out, the water calm, all equipment worked fine, the visibility was good. The wreck lies on its port side, and is broken up at the forward end of the boiler. The prop (ferrous) is still there, and it's possible to penetrate inside. But watch out for nets.
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23 Jun 1991 Gorgonia Wall Point Perpendicular Jervis Bay Australia 36 16 26 Iain Hosking, Cathy Humphries Four stars Not The Arch, unfortunately, but this was an impressive enough site - a vertical wall beside a sandy 'street'; looked like a building. In the horizontal crevices were fish, a small cuttlefish and some very pretty starfish (like birthday cakes, or colour blindness tests). At the end of the street was a blue devil fish - beautiful colours. At this point Cathy was obviously very relaxed because she was all for continuing through a gully but it was time to go. Water much calmer today, and much clearer.
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23 Jun 1991 The Docks NW of Point Perpendicular Jervis Bay Australia 20 39 39 Iain Hosking, Cathy Humphries, Maria Branson Four stars This was probably the best dive of the weekend. Must have been a different part of the site from last time, because the scenery was much more impressive, with several swim-throughs. Started out by heading under a huge toblerone-shaped boulder. Underneath was a 1 foot puffer fish, and then, as it narrowed down, a Port Jackson shark, which pushed its way out past me. Then it was in and out of several caves, with beautiful gorgonia and squidgies. After squeezing through one swimthrough I looked back to see Cathy follow and Maria get stuck. In one cave I came face to face with a very large wobby. Just for good measure we found a 2 foot long cuttlefish. Perfect dive.
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7 Aug 1991 The Caves Holmes Reef Australia 21 20 40 Iain Hosking, Cathy Humphries Four stars Beautifully clear. Very effortless drift beside and above the reef. Lovely pastel coral shades - green, blue, pink, yellow - and a heap of fish. The clown triggerfish stood out, and some fish were beautiful combinations of silver, pink, blue, purple but I can't yet identify them. Nice blue and yellow tubeworms too. Quite a fin back to the boat at the end of the dive. New wet suit. 20lbs weight.
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7 Aug 1991 The Twins Holmes Reef Australia 13 38 38 Iain Hosking, Garth O'Friel Four stars Shallow plowter around a couple of bommies with Garth and Tracy. Heaps of fish, including yellow goatfish, butterflyfish, blue-spotted fantail stingray, black-backed butterflyfish, moorish idol, surgeonfish, damselfish, fire dartfish and attractive coral. Meanwhile Cathy was trying out her navigation skills with the compass for the PADI Advanced Diver qualification. New wet suit. 20lbs weight.
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7 Aug 1991 The Twins Holmes Reef Australia 15 33 33 Iain Hosking, Simon Caleri Four stars Night dive, buddied up with Simon (from London) - Garth and Tracy following. Very atmospheric - the boat lights illuminating the sandy seabed like studio lights. Extremely clear water meant that the UK600 was overkill for this dive. Highlights were the sleeping turtle (2 foot long) and the parrotfish within its mucous membrane. Also found other fish, asleep and awake, and hermit crabs, shrimps and a worm with a retractile tentacle. New wet suit. 20lbs weight.
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8 Aug 1991 Viking Bommie Holmes Reef Australia 17 33 33 Iain Hosking, Catherine Mullery, Cathy Humphries Four stars Had a preview of this site by snorkelling round it, with the Kodak disposable u/w camera. Lovely. Used the Fuji disposable in a housing on this dive. Nice clams, parrotfish, butterflyfish and coral. Bommie is so small you can swim round and round it on one dive, which is what we did. Main oddity: garden eels, all round the bommie. New wet suit. 20lbs weight.
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8 Aug 1991 Nonnkina Bommie Holmes Reef Australia 18 50 50 Iain Hosking, Cathy Humphries Four stars Back to the site of the first dive of the trip. 6pm and the light is going, but there's still a lot of activity. This time we were much more attuned to the Reef and knew what we were looking for. The lemon damsels look lovely against the blue of the sea floor. We saw a lionfish, several clams, clown triggerfish and a barracuda, and swam through an arch decorated with large yellow gorgonians. After circling the bommie two or three times we ended up on top, where fish darted around among pastel patches of living coral. Surfaced just as the sun was setting. New wet suit. 20lbs weight.
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15 Aug 1991 Yorky's Patches South-west of Hastings Reef Great Barrier Reef Australia 19 40 40 Iain Hosking, Cathy Humphries Four stars Dived off 'Sea Trek', a brand new boat (this is its 22nd day on the Reef). Weather - sunny, windy (force 3-4). Sea - blue with white horses. Fairly secluded spot 1.5 hours from Cairns. Visibility - pretty poor - 30-40 feet. But lovely coral - staghorn, brain etc. Very colourful. Not so many fish as at Holmes Reef, but all very active - nibbling algae and so on. Saw a new type of clownfish (single thin white stripe) and black and white puffer fish. Relaxed dive. New wet suit. 20lbs weight.
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15 Aug 1991 Michaelmas Cay Great Barrier Reef Australia 14 40 40 Iain Hosking, Cathy Humphries Four stars Second dive from 'Sea Trek'. Slightly more sheltered area behind the reef. Better visibility (40-50 feet) and more fish life - coral trout, surgeonfish, butterflyfish, bannerfish, yellowtail. Also black coral in long, twisted shapes. Saw a giant clam more than one metre across. New wet suit. 20lbs weight.
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2 Nov 1991 The Tubes Jervis Bay Australia 24 30 36 Iain Hosking, Sarah McCracken, Steve Harris Four stars Knocked this morning's dive into a cocked hat. Only three divers in the boat, in fact in the whole of Jervis Bay. Much sunnier out at Point Perpendicular. Dolphins rode the bow wave on the way out. That was the first surprise - then we saw a scalyfin chasing a stingray, a weedy sea dragon (spotted by Steve), a garden of sea-tulips, big sea-scorpions, a cuttlefish, a blue devil fish and a moray eel. Our navigation was perfect - down a sandy slope, then left through the tulip garden, up to an area of huge jumbled boulders, then back at 5m through all these house-sized boulders, with sunlight streaming past us. Sarah and I are now level pegging in dives - 471 each. Valve dismantled and lubricated - now fixed.
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29 Jan 1995 Akka The Gantocks Clyde Scotland Wreck site 25 25 28 Iain Hosking, Malcolm Gauld Four stars A cold, dark, wet morning in Edinburgh turned to a beautiful day on the Clyde, calm, clear and cold. Even Dunoon looked lovely. Bacon rolls and potato scones at Port Glasgow. Found the wreck with no trouble. Freezing cold going down the line. Water green but clear. The wreck is big, with plenty of swimthroughs. Covered in plumose anemones and plenty of crabs. Some fish. Baked potatoes afterwards - lovely. Geoff's dry suit and woolly bear + stab jacket + valve. 100 cu ft steel tank + various other borrowed bits and pieces. Dived from Graham and Mary's boat. Graham found a ship's log. (This looks like an artillery shell with canted fins It spins around when towed behind the ship, and the number of revolutions in a given time interval yields the speed.).
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3 Dec 1995 Barron's Hut off Port Hacking Sydney Australia 26 32 35 Iain Hosking, Martin Zolfel, Sarah McCracken, Steve Harris Four stars Beautiful morning - warm and sunny. Left Dolan's Bay Wharf at 10am and it was a short, comfortable trip on Max's boat Sea Tamer II to the site. Kitted up quickly and dropped in. My buddy was Martin but we dived in a loose foursome with Sarah and Steve (Sarah on her first dive since June, Steve on his first since February). Reasonable vis, 30 feet or more, and warm until we hit a distinct thermocline at 22m. There was a real gin & tonic effect where the warm current from the north hit the cool southern water. Martin led us straight to the cave & chimney, where we entered in the cool water and emerged a few metres up in the warm layer. We then covered the whole site, including several swim-throughs. One contained a moray eel under a rock, which appeared to be moving in on my finger. Sarah also saw what might have been a baby wobbegong in this area. There were plenty of fish, including several varieties of leatherjacket (including one with a big yellow spot on its side), scalyfin (frequently in energetic combat), old wives, yellowtail, blue groper and an eastern blue devil with vivid blue markings. We had time to see several nudibranchs too, including the common Bennets Hypselodoris (wine-red dots), Red-lined Flabellina (purple fronds) and Variable Aphelodoris (bird poo). The cup coral were also very pretty. After a precautionary stop (because we were on the limit of decompression according to Mr Aladin) we surfaced to sun, soup, salami and cheese & bacon rolls. Delicious. Still $30, plus a $10 contribution to Martin for petrol. Home by 2pm. Dry suit, 87, Arctic etc. Found the leak as soon as I put my head under the water - a 1-inch tear in my neck seal which meant that the dry suit functioned more as a wet suit. I followed the progress of the water throughout the dive - down my neck, then down my chest, then arms and finally, on the ascent, into my boots.
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5 Apr 1996 Barron's Hut off Port Hacking Sydney Australia 28 29 33 Iain Hosking, Martin Zolfel Four stars Out with Max again. Clear, sunny day. Water clear, blue and not choppy, but on a 1.5 metre swell. This made it difficult to dive close to the rocks, so we chose Barron's Hut again. I was quite happy with the choice, and also with the clear water as we descended. We saw 6-spined leatherjacket straight away (with the big yellow spot on the side) then a large (2-3 foot) cuttlefish, out in the open and quite relaxed. Going through the chimney it was nice to have good visibility for a change (because only Martin was ahead of me and he took care not to kick up the silt). After this we swam over the top of the rock (covered in sponges with the occasional nudibranch and Sergeant Baker) to the slab-sided gully. We were followed here by the blue groper but though they might be used to getting a feed from others they weren't getting one from us. In fact we saw no live sea urchins on the entire dive. We found another, smaller cuttlefish in a cave and watched him go through a range of colour changes. Other life: nudibranchs, basket star, crimson biscuit star, pretty lemon-yellow/blue fish. Began our ascent on the no-decompression limit and did a 1 minute stop at 3m. Wet suit. Warm throughout the dive.
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7 Jul 1996 The Balcony off Royal National Park Sydney Australia 17 44 46 Iain Hosking, John Arkwright Four stars Up at 5am - cold (but not too cold) and dark. Left Valley Heights at 6am and arrived at Port Hacking at 7. Beautiful day - hardly a cloud in the sky. Sea choppy but only a slight swell. I was with Andrew Kennedy and Martin but John didn't have a buddy so I joined him. I jumped into the water first and had a bit of a shock with the cold water, and a reg that I don't think was performing up to scratch, so I hung on to the boat until my breathing had settled down to normal. We descended and turned left (south). Straightaway we saw a Port Jackson shark which didn't seem too bothered by us, probably because the viz was so good. Above us there was a shoal of yellowtail and beside us was a swim-through, and this set the tone for the dive. We covered a lot of ground, always in and out of overhangs, tunnels and caverns. with some lovely light effects so that I wished I'd brought the underwater (disposable) camera with me (that we bought in 1991 for the white-water rafting at Cairns). Always there were fish - bullseyes, leatherjacket, mado, old wives, blue groper, rock cod, sergeant major, scalyfin, eastern blue devil, a coral trout (or code? - beige with blue spots), wrasse, morwong and blennies. Although we were quite shallow for most of the dive (around 10m) the wave action was almost non-existent, and a fingertip was enough to hold on. The water was surprisingly warm, and I only felt chilly after 35 minutes or so. A nice, relaxed dive. (We would have been home by 12 if it weren't for the detour to Drummoyne for Andrew to return his kit.) Wet suit, 82, Arctic. No torch - all u/s due to flooding. Reg probably needs a service.
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25 Apr 1997 Fish Reef off Port Hacking Sydney Australia 28 22 26 Iain Hosking, Martin Zolfel Four stars ANZAC Day dive, and at 6 months between dives I won't make 500 by the year 2000. Today was overcast, and the swell was huge, but the visibility was excellent. The water was clear and blue and as we descended the bubbles of the first pair down could be seen all the way from the bottom to the surface. We swam in a clockwise direction around the reef, past shoals of pomfret under overhangs, impressive gorgonians, sponges (with plenty of nudibranchs), groper, leatherjacket, sergeant baker etc. I was just thinking that a cuttlefish would complete the dive when I turned a corner and saw one. It was about 14 inches long, and I hovered there for ages watching the colours change in waves and spots. Suddenly I saw a huge shadow out of the corner of my eye and jumped (making Martin laugh). It was a huge black stingray, 4 to 5 feet across and at least as long. It sailed past like a battleship, completely indifferent to me. It certainly made the dive worthwhile, even when after unkitting in the boat I had to jump back into the water and lost my breakfast. The seas were huge, especially from the point of view of a head floating at water level. Good food and company rounded off the dive well, and it's still only $30. First dive following the repair. It could more accurately be described as a damp suit.
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16 Aug 1997 Barron's Hut off Port Hacking Sydney Australia 27 30 30 Iain Hosking, Martin Zolfel Four stars 8am departure from wharf. Up at 5am - cold & frosty. Only 3 on the boat - Martin and I, and Richard. Sunny, little swell. Vis OK, not great, but very pleasant to swim through the cave and chimney with no silt. Lots of Port Jacksons, a ray, leatherjacket, morwong. Saw a scalyfin chasing a Port Jackson. Mounds of grub afterwards. Cathy's tank - too light, so damp. Add an extra 3lbs for my steel tank, 6lbs for an aluminium one.
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13 Sep 1997 Seal Colony Steamers Beach Jervis Bay Australia 30 20 24 Iain Hosking, Andrew Kennedy Four stars Liveaboard trip on board "Ocean Trek". Long trip out in a southerly swell (I slept there and back). Kitted up quickly, jumped in and swam down the anchor line to a sandy seabed. No seals to be seen at first. We swam shorewards and the first seal appeared as we hit the rocks. We were soon surrounded by 6-8, which swam all around us with graceful ease. As quickly as they appeared they vanished again, but it wasn't long till a solitary seal reappeared. He stayed very close, practically twining himself around me. He didn't take his eyes off us, and big, round beautiful eyes they were. At the end of the dive he was rejoined by his family, including one very big seal with a young one beside her (I'm assuming it was a mother), and they stayed with us through the deco stop. 82 cu ft tank. Damp but not cold.
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14 Sep 1997 Shark Rock N. side of the Bay Jervis Bay Australia 15 39 40 Iain Hosking, Andrew Kennedy Four stars Last dive of the trip (after missing the previous dive due to the tank shoulder strap pulling the drysuit zip open 6"). Jumped off the boat and swam towards the rock. Descended to 15m and saw the square shape of the rock loom up in front. Immediately we saw why it was called Shark Rock as a grey nurse cruised along the foot of the rock, 3 smaller fish keeping close formation beside it. We turned left and contoured at 14m, past rock face and jumbled boulders, with a sandy bottom below. At 100 bar we turned back, and within a minute saw a cuttlefish, exactly the same colour as the weed. We watched one another for a minute and then he streamlined himself and cruised off into the depths. A little further along a glimpse of brown tail revealed a large wobbegong in a cave. At 50 bar we came up to 5m and spent a couple of minutes there before swimming back to the boat. I've just done more dives in 2 days than I normally do in a year. Dry suit dry again, and the woolly bear warm (it spent a couple of hours in the dryer).
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8 May 1999 The Apartments Long Reef, Collaroy Sydney Australia 22 38 40 Iain Hosking, Andrew Kennedy, Ramon ? Four stars Good (but not brilliant) conditions - sea calm, air temp mild, vis good. High 10/10 cloud so no sun on the dive. 7 divers on the boat so not too crowded. We were first down, and swam first anticlockwise round the bommie, then through the middle (nice swim-through), finally clockwise to the line. Good big shoals of yellowtail (or pomfret?) and nannegai, plus the usual denizens: morwong, maori wrasse, blue groper, goatfish, stripey, old wives, sergeant baker. A large (2m) wobbegong and a cuttlefish were memorable, but best was hanging motionless in the middle of a big shoal of silvery yellowtail, feeling thousands of eyes on us. Dry suit dry and warm at last. Added an extra 8lb weight belt to the 21lb shot belt, making 29lbs altogether. After the dive, changed the shot belt buckle to a metal one (more secure). No torch - couldn't find it. Borrowed aluminium tank - 72 cu ft?
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23 Apr 2000 Idol Bay Forster Australia 10 42 44 Iain Hosking, Andrew Kennedy Four stars A shallow second dive in a fishy paradise, made more challenging by strong wave action. Lots of juvenile warm water fish including spotted box fish (tiny one, like a pea) and lovely colourful blue fish with yellow tails. Groper, toadfish, pipefish, butterflyfish, leatherjacket, cowfish, fiddler ray, shovel-nosed ray, nannegai, cup coral, wrasse. Saw one wrasse slurp up a small school fish while it was distracted by a heavier swell than usual. own, except hired tank (85 cu.ft. steel). No lifejacket - very comfortable without it.
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24 Apr 2000 Latitude Rock Forster Australia 12 43 Iain Hosking, Andrew Kennedy Four stars Not quite as interesting as Idol Bay yesterday, but similar, with lots of gullies, rock outcrops and sandy patches, and strong wave action. Saw porcupionefish (globefish) but no spotted boxfish. Couple of moray, groper and nudibranchs. The variety still puts Sydney in the shade. own. Dry suit very wet. Sopping, in fact.
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20 May 2000 Julian Rocks Byron Bay Australia 18 30 Iain Hosking, Andrew Kennedy Four stars Cod Hole. Organised through Sundive. Left ~8.30am in old beat-up Landcruiser, which launches the boat by reversing at speed into the water and stopping suddenly. Immediate impression in the water and looking down was blue water and enormous visibility, then masses of fish, beginning with a... [2 yrs later]...a WHAT? I suspect I was not totally sober when writing this up. Nor am I now, but Andrew wrote that we saw leopard sharks, scorpionfish, clownfish, old wives, morwongs, crested morwongs, wobbegongs, angelfish, snapper, cod, jewfish, goatfish, orange basset and an eagle ray. I see no reason to argue. wet suit
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20 May 2000 Julian Rocks Byron Bay Australia 15 45 Iain Hosking, Andrew Kennedy Four stars The Needles and Hugo's Trench. Also written up 2+ years later. Andrew wrote that a guide (an English lady, as I remember) took us all over the place, seeing turtles, huge lobster, coral prawn, trevally, trumpetfish and lovely coral. Had a beer at the shop after the dive, then a couple at the B&B, then a few while waiting for Trish, then many, many more. Ended up dancing at a nightclub with English backpackers half our age. Walked back from a party about 5.30am. Very sore heads next day [Ritz Rail trip] wet suit
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9 Jun 2002 The Balcony off Royal National Park Sydney Australia 18 45 Iain Hosking, Martin Zolfel Four stars 5.30am wakey wakey, shower, breakfast, picked up by Martin at 8am. Thin crescent moon in a night sky. First dive in over 2 years. Dry suit looking untrustworthy, but warm enough in wet suit (but very hard to put on). Blue skies, mild conditions, sea calm with a 1m swell. Dived with Martin - leisurely fin around, over and under huge boulders, surrounded by bullseyes, yellowtail, stripey, blennies, leatherjacket, sergeant bakers, rock cod, old wives and attendant blue groper which even followed us through the swimthroughs. Highlight was a big cuttlefish which went through the full repertoire of colour changes. Other divers: Andrew and Andrew, David, Cathy, Carol, Olivia and others. Good food as usual. $40. wet suit, 82 (with 2-year old air), ~ 18lbs lead
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21 Sep 2002 The Docks NW of Point Perpendicular Jervis Bay Australia 20 35 38 Iain Hosking, Andrew Kennedy, Martin Zolfel Four stars NE of previous spot. Started with squeezing into a cold, wet wetsuit (first time in 11 years). Swam to the point on compass bearing and Martin immediately saw another weedy sea dragon. It allowed us to get right up close to it - fascinating. Then Andrew found a numbfish, swimming free. He didn't touch it. We enjoyed the sunshine in the shallower depths, and navigated on a reciprocal bearing back to the boat. Fish: boarfish, scalyfin, wrasse, etc as this morning's dive. A pair of moray eels in the one hole, crimson-banded wrasse, senator wrasse. Wet suit, Arctic.
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21 Sep 2002 Huskisson Pier Jervis Bay Australia 4 30 30 Iain Hosking Four stars Solo night dive (Andreew and Martin wimped out) from the boat up the creek and back. Clear water, several octopus, all sizes from 4" to 2'. No less than 12 globefish (Diodon nicthemerus). Several estuary catfish (Cnidoglanis macrocephalus) with poisonous spines, leatherjacket inc toothbrush (Acanthaluteres vittiger). Anglers would be happy with the 11 luderick (blackfish) under the pier. I didn't write this in the logbook, but I do remember wondering whether sharks liked this area at night. Wet suit, Arctic
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20 Jul 2008 Cape Solander Round from Inscription Point, Kurnell Sydney Australia 11 21 Iain Hosking, Cameron Hosking Four stars Cameron drove down, via Scuba Warehouse in Parramatta, where I met Judith for the first time in 20 years. Late start, made later by Cameron's buoyancy problem. Found one of the bags of weight had come loose. Retraced our steps and found it. Carried on. Patience rewarded when Cameron grabbed my ankle and pointed out a weedy sea dragon. Rushed back - gates close at 5.30pm. Water 17°C according to Manly Hydraulic Laboratories. Weather - overcast. Sea fairly calm. Wet suit, 82 cu ft. Too much weight! No hood.
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7 Jun 2010 Prawn trawler Kihei/Weilia Hawaii USA Wreck site 20 48 50 Iain Hosking, Bob Britton Four stars On the way back Ray asked us what we wanted to do for a second dive. I said "turtles", someone else said "wreck" and we combined both with a prawn trawler scuttled as part of an artificial reef (along wit hcar tyres in frames). Found one turtle inside the wreck - another one was waiting for us back at the line. Notable others in amongst the butterflyfish, tang and pennant fish were trumpet fish in various colours. 3mm one-piece wetsuit, ~12lbs lead, hired tank, reg and BC. Own mask and fins, snorkel, torch, boots and computer.
535
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10 Jun 2010 Eel gardens off Kona Airport Hawaii USA 25 50 Iain Hosking Four stars Preparatory dive for planned night dive with mantas. Eel gardens first - they stick up from the sandy bottom feeding on plankton. Then coral reef (well, coral on volcanic boulders) with butterflyfish, pennant fish, boxfish, eels, trumpet fish; the usual suspects. Also a divided flatworm. Watched a blue and yellow wrasse operate its cleaning station for quite a while. Finished with half a tank of air because the damaged Aladin was overreading depth and time. Kona Honu Divers' gear: wetsuit, Cressisub slip-on fins, BC, reg. Own mask, torch and (now dead) Aladin. It didn't like going up Mauna Kea, even in a pressure-proof capsule.
536
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10 Jun 2010 Kona Airport off Kona Airport Hawaii USA 20 50 Iain Hosking Four stars Not the night dive with mantas. Lights set up, circle of divers sitting on the seabed with torches pointing upwards, an atmosphere of expectation. Above us were columns of silvery fish, and winding its way around us was Frank the Eel. But no plankton worth speaking of, so no mantas. Disappointing is an understatement. But watched an eel hunting (quite creepy, especially if you're a small reef fish), crabs and an octopus. Rated 4 stars for its inherent value as a pleasant night dive. Deck crew: Bo. Other divers: Father and son from Utah; single guy from Austria; another father and 2 sons. Kona Honu Divers' gear: wetsuit, Cressisub slip-on fins, BC, reg, torch. Own mask and second torch.
545
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4 Oct 2015 The Pinnacles, Forster Forster Australia 37 24 27 Iain Hosking, Nick Heiniger Four stars Pretty deep for a first dive following a 6-month layoff. Took the GoPro for its first underwater outing (having checked it's rated to 40m). Clear, blue water, plenty of fish life including mado, bullseyes, cod, wrasse and a large male seahorse (long, like a sea dragon) carying eggs. Pity the SD card was full by that stage :-/. Seasick afterwards. But also saw humpback whales breaching, so well worth it. Nick from Forster Dive Centre recommends the pink Travacalm (I think). Wet suit, hired aluminium tank, BC, 24 lbs. The wet suit (from 1991) was inflexible and restrictive, particularly on initial entry into the water.
546
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4 Oct 2015 Bennetts Head Bommie Underneath Bennetts Head Lookout Forster Australia 9 32 32 Iain Hosking, Nick Heiniger Four stars Relaxing second dive around the bommie, and into the little cave in the middle. Plenty of fish life including an eagle ray and a Port Jackson shark looking very relaxed lying on top of a wobbegong. Heard whales singing throughout the dive; rather magical. Saw them on the surface too, along with a pair of dolphins. Wet suit, hired aluminium tank, BC, 24 lbs
553
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2 Jan 2017 The Pinnacles, Forster Forster Australia 37 20 26 Nick Heiniger, Iain Hosking Four stars Didn't intend a solo dive but that's how it worked out. Overcast and dark. Visibility terrible down to 30m, then cleared a little, but very dark. Highlight was two grey nurse sharks in a gutter. Very glad to find the line again for the ascent Fourth Element dry suit, steel tank, Arctic, 27 lbs
554
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2 Jan 2017 Latitude Rock Forster Australia 19 30 36 Nick Heiniger, Karl Brindell, Iain Hosking Four stars Dived with Karl Brindell. Notable for lionfish, turtle and moray eel. Water very green. Fourth Element dry suit, steel tank, Arctic, 27 lbs
562
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26 Jan 2019 Looking Glass Broughton Island Nelson Bay Australia 17 36 39 Iain Hosking Four stars Didn't write this up at the time but the videos tell the story. Grey nurse sharks galore. Fourth Element dry suit, Oceanic Chute 2, 10 litre tank. 29lbs (+ 4lb in BCD)
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30 Dec 2020 Latitude Rock Forster Australia 10 51 52 Iain Hosking Four stars Diving organised through Dive Forster; Ron Hunter, daughter Gabby and Keith who shares the leading of the dives. Boat was the "Avanti", a twin-engined catamaran with 4 exits, 2 boarding ladders and a toilet. I visited the shop on Sunday, where Ron said Wednesday looked like the first day with good conditions; the wind changing to southerlies which would clear the water somewhat. The forecast had rain, but it turned out to be a beautiful day for diving, sunny and calm. The sea was flat except for a long, lazy swell. There were around 10 divers all up. After a briefing I was paired up with David, from Chester in the UK, but as I jumped in without my weightbelts I joined the second group. Ron and Keith led us to a gutter where grey nurse sharks swam lazily up and down beside us while we lurked in the kelp. The first was a male (white claspers behind its pelvic fin), which looked huge, and the other two looked like females. They seemed so close we could reach out and touch them. Return to the line was leisurely, with time to take in all the other sea life; gropers, scalyfin, mado, blennies, eastern blue devil; the usual suspects. We had a distant view of an eagle ray swimming away from us. Visibility was average; perhaps 10m, but for my first dive at Forster since October 2017 this was very pleasant, and rates 4 stars. Fourth Element dry suit, Oceanic Chute 2, 12 litre tank. 29lbs
566
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30 Dec 2020 Latitude Rock Forster Australia 12 41 42 Iain Hosking Four stars For the second dive we remained moored at the same spot, but visited a different part of the site. Here there was a rock amphitheatre, where the grey nurse sharks swam against a black cliff, with a shoal of mado above for visual effect. Pity I left my GoPro at home. One female swam out of the amphitheatre to the left and continued anticlockwise while I turned to watch. As for the first dive, she seemed close enough to touch, and I could see the texture of her skin, the small eyes (which were fixed in me) and the rows of teeth. She continued off into the distance, but before she disappeared I was witness to her gulping down a small fish, which I haven't seen before. The rest of the dive was also interesting, with a couple of wobbegongs, the usual other fish and two different types of nudibranchs; one pale blue with purple spots and the other creamy white with a dark brown of black frill. As for the previous dive this rates 4 stars because of the sharks and good conditions. Good to have Forster back in play. Cost for the two dives was $130, and I filled my two tanks afterwards for $24. Fourth Element dry suit, Oceanic Chute 2, 10 litre tank. 29lbs
574
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2 Jan 2023 Latitude Rock Forster Australia 12 49 49 Iain Hosking, James Hagarty Four stars The second dive made up for the first. Headed inshore to Latitude Rock in search of sharks, snd found them plus heaps of other fish. Strong wave action, but nothing we couldn't swim against. Filmed a large puffer fish in a cave, and Keith (dive leader) feeding a blue groper with a sea urchin. Other divers: Harriet (Hattie) from Sydney's Underwater Research Group, SAndrew, Peter, Nick, Charlie (Marine Science graduate and trainee divemaster) and James. Fourth Element dry suit, Oceanic Chute 2, 12 litre tank. 29lbs. New Fourth Element undersuit (jacket & pants)
579
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29 Dec 2023 Hayden's Rock off Forster Main Beach Forster Australia 10 56 57 Four stars A good, relaxing dive to make up for the horrible non-dives on 30 September. Warm day so chose to use the new wet suit. Group led by Jimmy from Dive Forster, with James bringing up the rear. Both easy to identify with green shirts over their wet suits. Decent visibility and plenty of grey nurse sharks. New Scubapro wet suit, Oceanic Chute 2, 12 litre tank (filled to 250 bar). 18 lb weight belt (plus weights in BC). Go Pro 5. Green C-cell torch. New Fourth Element fins.