Dive 133: 17/04/2007 Conger Alley
Buddy: Gerry O’brien Start Time: 19:59
Duration: 45 Minutes Water Temp: 8-10oC Visibility: 3-5 Metres
Max depth: 27.5Metres Air in: 232 Out: 121
A Wee after work guddle, Gerry spotted a dogfish on the way down to the reef at about 6 Metres. We went down found the reef and had a gentle drift up the reef, a lovely orange & white sea cucumber, plenty of life and I had the D9 in two minute deep stop mode for the first time.
The top reef had lots of life on it, anenomes, crabs, blennies, overall this dive was just a nice easy wee guddle.
I did feel overweighted on this dive and after it I discovered I still had 6kg in my weight belt which is what I was using at the pool where as I only usually dive with 5kg on the twin set)
Dive 134: 21/04/2007 29 Steps
Buddy: Gareth Wilson Start Time: 16:12
Duration: 46 Minutes Water Temp: 8-10oC Visibility: 3-8 Metres
Max depth: 22.2Metres Air in: 234 Out: 150 (STAGE BOTTLE EAN50: IN: 200 Out: 150)
Gareth & I decided to do a little check dive, so we agreed to head off late afternoon when the Lochs would be a bit quieter.It was a lovely sunny day and when we arrived at Twenty Steps we where the only car on-site with the usually busy Finnart only having two cars parked up at it as well. Fantastic all we needed now was nice visibility and some interesting life.
I took in my camera and stage bottle for the first dive, trying to load some tasks easily with Gareth warned I was on deep stop mode & I was to led this dive with Gareth navigating for the second dive.
The tide was up as high as I’d ever seen it at this site with a full moon the night before, the water was right at the bottom of the steps, I led and managed to miss the training platform all together but got us down and out across to the anenome garden which was actually very pretty if a bit dispersed across the various small reefs / boulders.
I did my deepstop while Gareth was looking at the rocks, again I was conscious my buoyancy was a bit over the place, Im never sure if this is becuase I am using the camera and trying to get close to the small living critters to get a picture or becuase I am just a bottom dweller, I might get the hang of buoyancy eventually…
Gareth signals he is going to put up his dsmb as we start coming back to the 8 metre point so I settle of to his right hand side to watch the dive god in action.
Slowly but surely Gareth manages not to inflate his blob and I manage to roll about laughing, using more air than a big air using thing, Gareth seems to be confused by the laws of physics, holding his dsmb under his exhaust port and breathing out sees all the exhaust bubbles gently rise to the surface while the blob hangs limply at his side.
I cant contain myself any longer and offer to assist, Gareth hands me the blob which I give one exhaust full of air to start the process and hand it back, Gareth then releases it only about 20% full from 8 Metres with it barely floating to the surface I cant help laughing yet again.
I masterfully navigate us to the surface and the exit point (for Finnart….) Gareth gets the last laugh as he realises how far out my navigation skills have taken us and we enjoy(obviously enjoy is used with artistic license in this case) the long swim back to the exit point and a relaxing surface interval.
Dive 135: 21/04/2007 29 Steps
Buddy: Gareth Wilson Start Time: 18:04
Duration: 31 Minutes Water Temp: 8-10oC Visibility: 3-8 Metres
Max depth: 20.7Metres Air in: 145 Out: 50
Gareth was to navigate and led this dive, so I dumped the stage bottle and Camera, connected up my H2O iriver IFP-799 and took some music in for this dive for the first time.
We where getting tight for time as I had to pick wee Taylor up from Ice skating at 9pm so we agreed to just do a short dive. In we went down to the right for five minutes with Amy Winehouse and rehab playing for me, such a great experience listening to music, it doesn’t need to be loud it just needs to be heard, Gareth gave me the OK so I gave him a wee dance 
We didnt find much life on this dive but I enjoyed it anyway, I came across a mask and snorkel that looked very fresh on our safety stop before yet another swim back due to Gareth learning from my navigation master-class…
The mask & snorkel where a kids size and had a slap strap on the back from deepblue scuba. I emailed deep blue and they confirmed a student had lost a mask, confirming the name written on the snorkel, Stew took the mask & snorkel to FYM for me and it has been re-united with its owner.
Dive site guides courtesy of www.congeralley.com
Editors Note: Spelling sorted & photos added, think I preferred the after work cuddle though!
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