We were across on the West Coast diving Loch Long again this weekend. It was a Deep Blue Scuba training weekend, and our friends Neil and Hannah were doing their drtsuit speciality, diving cold water for the first time...
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Urchins cling to the remains of the old BP Finnart jetty.
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A small Long Claw Squat Lobster lurks under a rock
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Three whelks surround a mass of whelk eggs. Their shells are over three inches long - they are BIG snails.
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A lone whelk.
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This whelk seems to have been upturned - I think it's coming as far out of its shell as possible to find something to cling on to so it can right itself.
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This hermit crab is recycling a small whelk shell.
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A starfish alone on a fairly barren section of seabed.
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Can you see all the Common Prawns? I pointed them out to Ruth but she somehow managed to miss them? Maybe it's their excellent camouflage...
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Face off! A Leopard Spotted Goby and a Common Prawn seem to be trying to stare each other down!
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The drysuit newbies head for their first cold water dip...
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Looking up the loch towards the one remaining pier at the oil terminal.
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The drysuit class getting ready...
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...and swimming out to the marker bouy on "the platform", a flat section of the old jetty.
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Back from their dive, the drysuit class do their surface skills.
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Neil emerges from the water. It turns out his drysuit was more of a dampsuit...
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The paddle steamer Waverly heads up the loch past our marker bouys. Quite a beautiful sight.
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Ruth grimaces at me underwater.
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This is quite a large hermit crab (they always strike me as cheeky wee chappies) in a vacated whelk shell.
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Me! Yep, the flash is working!
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Some small Plumose anemones at Anemone Garden, a bit of a swim up from the old jetty.
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Another urchin on another piece of wreckage.
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Another hermit crab. OK I'm getting a bit repetitive now...
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The new DBS van - apparently they have had it two years I've just not been diving with them enough to notice... Sorry guys! I'll try to get some more diving with you booked next year!
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Max is too young to dive, but he's irrepressible so I've no doubt he'll be joining in soon...
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Ruth. Tired, damp, annoyed she missed the Prawns but like me, she ejoyed the day out!
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