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You are here: Home > Diving > Areas > St Abbs > Dives

Diving

St Abbs Dives

I've dived at St Abbs 35 times:

Dive number	Date	Site	Location	Area	Country	Wreck	Freshwater	Depth (m)	Bottom time (min)	Total time (min)	Divers	Quality	Summary	Equipment
1	24 Feb 1980	St Abbs	South side of the Firth of Forth	Forth	Scotland			12	20	20	Iain Hosking, Derek Borthwick		Dived with Derek Borthwick. Used Susan's valve after problems with club one. Water temp warm. Saw masses of sea urchins, starfish, crabs, squat lobsters & other smaller invertebrates.	Draeger (45 cu ft), Susan's Sportsways valve, & weight belt
9	27 Apr 1980	St Abbs	South side of the Firth of Forth	Forth	Scotland			12	20	20	Iain Hosking, Mike Malone		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
33	29 Mar 1981	St Abbs	South side of the Firth of Forth	Forth	Scotland			10	25	25	Iain Hosking, Malcolm Gauld		Cold & choppy. Down immediately and out to left of harbour. Found a tunnel. Strong wave action and I repeat, very cold. OK, I enjoyed myself.	ABLJ 3, steel 69
34	5 Apr 1981	St Abbs	South side of the Firth of Forth	Forth	Scotland			17	30	30	Iain Hosking, Eric Franz		Followed same gully as last time but missed the tunnel. Found two spider crabs making friends. Not so cold as last time but a slight current.	ABLJ 3, steel 69
55	14 Jun 1981	St Abbs	South side of the Firth of Forth	Forth	Scotland			13	25	25	Iain Hosking, Malcolm Gauld		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.
59	19 Jul 1981	St Abbs	South side of the Firth of Forth	Forth	Scotland			15	25	25	Iain Hosking, Eric Franz		2nd dive of the day. Didn't find Cathedral probably due to current but good fun anyway. Darker, almost monochromatic, and poorer vis: 7m or so.	Steel 69
64	13 Sep 1981	St Abbs	South side of the Firth of Forth	Forth	Scotland			13	40	40	Iain Hosking, Eric Franz		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.
72	18 Oct 1981	St Abbs	South side of the Firth of Forth	Forth	Scotland			9	40	40	Iain Hosking, Eric Franz		Very low tide so Cathedral Rock easy to find. Usual pollack etc, pair of wrasse and sea-scorpions. Vis 3-4m. A little chilly.	own
73	24 Jan 1982	St Abbs	South side of the Firth of Forth	Forth	Scotland			13	30	30	Iain Hosking, Dougie McEwan		Very good to get back in the water again. Sea calm but very murky - archway in Cathedral barely visible. Followed Dougie around rocks SE of Cathedral and found another tunnel. Day notable for the reappearance of Susan (and Dougie!) on the diving scene. No wrasse, or any other fish. Resident lobster pinched by an English club.	own
82	4 Apr 1982	St Abbs	South side of the Firth of Forth	Forth	Scotland			14	20	20	Iain Hosking, Susan Playfair		Excellent dive - good u/w communication.	own
104	30 May 1982	St Abbs	South side of the Firth of Forth	Forth	Scotland			12	30	30	Iain Hosking, Ceri Reid, Susan Playfair		Low tide, good vis (10m). Wrasse, flounder and smaller fish, squat lobsters etc. Swam around Cathedral and elsewhere. Suit dry again after repairs. So was Susan's (much appreciated).	own
108	18 Jul 1982	St Abbs	South side of the Firth of Forth	Forth	Scotland			15	60	60	Iain Hosking, Dougie McEwan, Mike Malone		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
109	25 Jul 1982	St Abbs	South side of the Firth of Forth	Forth	Scotland			13	45	45	Iain Hosking, Ceri Reid, Susan Playfair		Fed wrasse, made much use of underwater communications system.	own
124	19 Sep 1982	St Abbs	South side of the Firth of Forth	Forth	Scotland			14	50	50	Iain Hosking, Dougie McEwan, Eric Franz, Grace Franz		Dived with Dougie, Eric and Grace. Swam to Cathedral via gully. Wrasse, pollack, nudibranchs, lobsters (one of which we caught, but returned of course, being conservation-minded divers). Vis crap. Current.	own
128	28 Nov 1982	St Abbs	South side of the Firth of Forth	Forth	Scotland			15	20	20	Iain Hosking, Grace Franz, Julian Fuchs		Dived with Grace (because Eric's suit sprang a leak) and Julian Fuchs. Vis very poor, strong swell and current. Not ideal. Swam out to Cathedral underwater. Saw nothing. Swam back against current.	own
129	13 Feb 1983	St Abbs	South side of the Firth of Forth	Forth	Scotland			12	20	20	Iain Hosking, Grace Franz		Bloody awful. Vis less than 1 metre. Freezing cold, sea life all gone south for the winter, suit leaked.	own
134	19 Jun 1983	St Abbs	South side of the Firth of Forth	Forth	Scotland			10	40	40	Iain Hosking, Eric Franz		Salvaged something from the day with an excellent dive at Cathedral. Good vis. Tame wrasse back, bolder than ever. 4 boats off Cathedral!	own
161	12 Feb 1984	St Abbs	South side of the Firth of Forth	Forth	Scotland			10	15	15	Iain Hosking, Paul Faccenda		Took Paul Faccenda for his first dive, in the gully. Found one crab, one squat lobster, one fish and some anemones. Cold. Vis 15 ft. Dry suit almost dry.	own
198	12 Aug 1984	St Abbs	South side of the Firth of Forth	Forth	Scotland			13	60	60	Iain Hosking, Mike Weitzner		Second dive at St Abbs this year, and the first decent one. Fed the wrasse (4 now), and saw a plaice, sea-scorpion, sea-squirts and pollack.	own
203	30 Sep 1984	St Abbs	South side of the Firth of Forth	Forth	Scotland			10	50	50	Iain Hosking, Jenny Clough		Sunny, windy day. Jenny led the way out to Cathedral underwater. Saw wrasse and school of saithe, then headed in towards harbour wall down a series of gullies. Four large lobsters, squat lobsters, various types of anemone. Noticed small shells on kelp with iridescent stripes. Vis good - about 30 feet. Did roped tender.	own
207	14 Oct 1984	St Abbs	South side of the Firth of Forth	Forth	Scotland			12	20	20	Iain Hosking, Alida Bundy		Took Alida for her 4th dive. Through gullies to Cathedral. Saw wrasse, pollack, sea-scorpion, several lobsters. Vis not too brilliant - 20 feet. Got slightly lost on the way back.	own
210	10 Mar 1985	St Abbs	South side of the Firth of Forth	Forth	Scotland			13	33	33	Iain Hosking, Al Rankin, Paul Raisbeck		Out to Cathedral as usual. Somewhat murky and little life but very good to get back in the water.	own
211	10 Mar 1985	St Abbs	South side of the Firth of Forth	Forth	Scotland			15	22	22	Iain Hosking, Derek Borthwick		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
246	25 Aug 1985	St Abbs	South side of the Firth of Forth	Forth	Scotland			12	30	30	Iain Hosking, Kenny Jack		Coastguard at Crail promised us a gale so we cancelled the 'Glanmire'. At St Abbs the water was flat calm. Bah! Took Kenny for a dive leader/SMB practice. Out to Cathedral via gullies. Saw the wrasse again. Kenny navigated us successfully round Cathedral and back to base.	own
247	25 Aug 1985	St Abbs	South side of the Firth of Forth	Forth	Scotland			11	32	35	Iain Hosking, Sarah McCracken		Second dive of the day. Round behind rock parallel to the harbour wall, but didn't find the same spot as I dived with Derek in March. Still, good gullies and masses of life. Dozens of silicone/yellow nudibranchs, squat lobsters, saithe, corkwing wrasse, lobsters (shy), seasquirts, controversial small fish [drawing in logbook]. Pretty clear, no current, very relaxed. Dry suit held out (phew!).	own
249	8 Sep 1985	St Abbs	South side of the Firth of Forth	Forth	Scotland			16	55	55	Iain Hosking, Sarah McCracken		The Not the HF because Malc's landrover was MOTless. Weather - scotch mist. Sea conditions - swell (and I don't mean good). Vis not bad if you looked up. Life: lobsters, squatties, flatfish, shrimps, wellington boots, dead men's fingers.	own
297	23 Aug 1986	St Abbs	South side of the Firth of Forth	Forth	Scotland			15	45	45	Iain Hosking, Mark Inall, Simon Nash		A swell dive! HW springs. Strong wave action and poor vis. Shoal of pollack or saithe and wrasse. Getting out was somewhat interesting. (Snash: 'EUSAC White Water Boys!')
309	5 Oct 1986	St Abbs	South side of the Firth of Forth	Forth	Scotland			15	45	45	Iain Hosking, Simon Nash		EUSAC lemming-like St Abbs trip - 18 people, including 3 from Fettes. Yo-yo dive - swim out, surface, look around, find Cathedral, dive it, turn round to come back, get lost, surface, look around, down again, etc etc. The wrasse found us and demanded to be fed, and we attempted to use the underwater communication system.	Mark's suit + most of his kit. Malcolm's woolly bear and mask. A little wet.
318	15 Feb 1987	St Abbs	South side of the Firth of Forth	Forth	Scotland			12	30	32	Iain Hosking, Helen Jones		Second training dive of 1987. Six trainees in the water. I took Helen through the eastern gully and through a succession of gullies and bouldery bits with plenty of dahlia anemones, sea urchins and dead men's fingers. Several squat lobsters. Beautiful day, though cold. Helen managed fine.	Fenzy 4
319	15 Feb 1987	St Abbs	South side of the Firth of Forth	Forth	Scotland			12	15	17	Iain Hosking, Helen Jones, James Traenor		Took James in for his first dive. Found a starfish tackling a mussel and crinoids (brittle stars), as well as dahlia anemones, sea urchins, dead mens' fingers and squat lobsters. The dive was short only because I was finishing off the tank from the previous dive. Heavier swell.	Fenzy 4
324	23 Mar 1987	St Abbs	South side of the Firth of Forth	Forth	Scotland			12	20	20	Iain Hosking, Craig McQueenie		Very cold, very clear. Found Cathedral Rock quickly, but got lost on the way back. Long snorkel. Life - lobster, squatties, plumose anemones, dahlias, sponges of various kinds.	Mended leak in back of knee. Dry! Brilliant!
325	23 Mar 1987	St Abbs	South side of the Firth of Forth	Forth	Scotland			12	15	15	Iain Hosking, Jason Bryans		Took Jason Bryans in for his first dive. Again, out to Cathedral no bother, got lost on the way back. Still dry. Very pleasant to be the only divers there.
326	24 Mar 1987	St Abbs	South side of the Firth of Forth	Forth	Scotland			12	25	25	Iain Hosking, Jason Bryans		Dived Big Green Carr. Round left hand side of t he rock past cliffs with crevices full of squat lobsters and crabs. Found a large (10 inch long) sea scorpion which allowed me to pick it up and carry it over to Malcolm. Very pale colouration, very lethargic. Also noticed limpet-like, flattened molluscs and very small anemones. Beautiful overhangs with wall-to-wall dead men's fingers and plumose anemones. No big green cars at all.
327	24 Mar 1987	St Abbs	South side of the Firth of Forth	Forth	Scotland			12	20	20	Iain Hosking, Paul Mullan		Dived Big Green Carr again. Didn't see the seascorpion (must be lying low) but saw greyish, smooth nudibranch and crabs camouflaged in purple seaweed.
411	13 Jul 1990	St Abbs	South side of the Firth of Forth	Forth	Scotland			14	38	38	Iain Hosking, Cathy Humphries		Acclimatisation dive for spoilt expats, plus test run for £1200-worth of new dive gear. Pleasant day, though hazy. St Abbs very quiet, water calm, but murky. Found Cathedral without problems - saw saithe plus the usual three ballan wrasse. Did not find our way back so easily, and ended with a hefty snorkel back. Luca's ice-cream in Craigmillar.	All-new: Typhoon Hi-spec drysuit, Thinsulate woolly bear, Spiro Supra DV, Aladin Pro, EUSAC 78, borrowed weights (about 28lbs - too heavy).