Shore dives/snorkelling sites

[Carol]

Hi,
I've been asked about snorkelling sites on the East coast of scotland.
Since I'm on the west coast I dont know of any but reckoned that sites where the divers do basic training would prob be OK for us snorkellers.
Any suggestions or URLs?
Thanks
Carol

[Andy Wade]

Hi,
I've been asked about snorkelling sites on the East coast of scotland.
Since I'm on the west coast I dont know of any but reckoned that sites where the divers do basic training would prob be OK for us snorkellers.
Any suggestions or URLs?
Thanks
Carol

St Abbs harbour is excellent for this.

http://bsacforum.co.uk/wiki/index.php?title=Sheltered_Water_sites_in_Scotland

[Carol]

St Abbs harbour is excellent for this.

http://bsacforum.co.uk/wiki/index.php?title=Sheltered_Water_sites_in_Scotland
Thanks Andy.
I've never been there! I'll pass it on.
Carol

[Andy Wade]

Thanks Andy.
I've never been there! I'll pass it on.
Carol

Glad to help.
The bit about the wind from the E or NE is really important, if there are any strong winds from this direction you could find your whole weekend being blown out.
The swell over the seaward side of the small islands just outside the harbour wall can be quite dangerous in a wind like this, and it surges very quickly through the gullies too.
In good conditions however, it is a truly excellent shallow dive for trainees and I'd say from experience that snorkellers would enjoy it too. There are lots of shallow gravel bottomed gullies full of life. Tompot Blennies, Hermit crabs and all.
You can even snorkel the famed Cathedral Rock, which is about 80 - 100 metres out from the main entrance point.
This is a double arch underwater (one on top of the other) and is well worth a visit. It has carpets of jewel anenomes on the walls inside. Take a torch - although inside the arch it is well lit enough to see, the colours of the anenomes are really beautiful with a torch.
I know this from personal experience because I have snorkelled it myself as well as diving it on many occasions.
There is also air available locally, and a good caravan/campsite on the road to the harbour.
And great beer in the local pubs too. :D

[Ben Panter]

I'd say that if it is a bit swelly, well worth having a look round the corner to the North at Petticoe Wick, or a bit further South at Eyemouth. Some great places for after-work snorkelling there in the summer...

Ben

[Andy Wade]

I'd say that if it is a bit swelly, well worth having a look round the corner to the North at Petticoe Wick, or a bit further South at Eyemouth. Some great places for after-work snorkelling there in the summer...

Ben

Yep.
If it is an Easterly wind, then yes you'll get away with Petticowick, although in those types of conditions IIRC there is a reflected wave off the far side of the bay that can cause some problems over the site of the Peanut wreck, but inside the bay on the East side you'd get away with it. You'd certainly be able to tell before wasting your time walking down the steep slope at least. :)
Hmmmm... I'm not 100% sure about Eyemouth, IME if you can't dive St Abbs Harbour wall because of the swell, then you can't usually dive Eyemouth, or at least not at Weasel Loch anyway. Bearing in mind this is advice for snorkellers without any boat cover.
Maybe further around the coast, in towards Eyemouth itself?

I remember about 1982-ish ago a young lass got killed when she was bounced by a heavy swell on to the top of Big Green Carr at St Abbs.
I witnessed it and it was truly horrible, we had no chance of getting to her and we just watched her get bashed to bits. They were screaming at her to ditch her cylinder and swim for it, but she mustn't have been able to hear.

[Carol]

Yep.

I remember about 1982-ish ago a young lass got killed when she was bounced by a heavy swell on to the top of Big Green Carr at St Abbs.
I witnessed it and it was truly horrible, we had no chance of getting to her and we just watched her get bashed to bits. They were screaming at her to ditch her cylinder and swim for it, but she mustn't have been able to hear.

That's truly a horrifying story and what one expects when in the water when it is quite rough.
Last Sunday I had 4 youngsters at Kenmore in Loch Fyne and the wind was approx force 4/5 (lots of white horses) I kept telling the kids to come away from the rocks but they didn't seem to be having trouble. I went close myself to see how bad it was and it wasn't dangerous at all - waves just pushing you in and out. And of course you can only see things when close to the rocks.
http://www.geocities.com/lochlomondbsac/Kenmorejune06.html
They enjoyed it anyway!
Carol

[John Williams]

Hi,
I've been asked about snorkelling sites on the East coast of scotland.
Since I'm on the west coast I dont know of any but reckoned that sites where the divers do basic training would prob be OK for us snorkellers.
Any suggestions or URLs?
Thanks
Carol

I'd recommend Dunbar too!

Just out of the harbour (and keep left) are some fantastic little reefs. One in particular is called "Blowhole Reef". There's lots of gullies and sheltered alcoves to explore in a max depth of about 6m.

I've played with seahorses, octopi, cuttlefish and all sorts of baby things in there (:o even held hands with my missus in there once!)

I beleive that there is access to the site as a shore dive without using the harbour...but I've always done it with boat cover!

John

[Ben Panter]

Hmmmm... I'm not 100% sure about Eyemouth, IME if you can't dive St Abbs Harbour wall because of the swell, then you can't usually dive Eyemouth, or at least not at Weasel Loch anyway. Bearing in mind this is advice for snorkellers without any boat cover.
Maybe further around the coast, in towards Eyemouth itself?
Yeup - In fact the sites that I was thinking of were Green Ends Gully and Ness End Reef (http://www.bsactravelclub.co.uk/reports/gug.htm), which are just South of Eyemouth, facing approx 90 degrees apart.

That poor girl. It's incredible how quickly conditions at St. Abbs can change.

Ben

[northoftaynovis]

I'm new to this - so bear with me - please :)! Many thanks to Carol for all her help and advice so far, and to everyone who has contributed to the pointers, help, advice, etc. Yup, I'm the pain looking to get :eek: cold and wet!

I don't want to sound ungrateful for the information so far, however, just wanted to say that I am north of the Tay and looking for something a bit closer than south of the Forth. Major expeditions to far away places (south of the Forth is a major expedition for me) are not an option at the moment. Seems like there's not much going on by way of snorkelling up the North East coast - or its a big secret. If I find any I'll let you all know. Any other pointers or advice would be most welcome.

Thanks to all :).

[John Williams]

I'm new to this - so bear with me - please :)! Many thanks to Carol for all her help and advice so far, and to everyone who has contributed to the pointers, help, advice, etc. Yup, I'm the pain looking to get :eek: cold and wet!

I don't want to sound ungrateful for the information so far, however, just wanted to say that I am north of the Tay and looking for something a bit closer than south of the Forth. Major expeditions to far away places (south of the Forth is a major expedition for me) are not an option at the moment. Seems like there's not much going on by way of snorkelling up the North East coast - or its a big secret. If I find any I'll let you all know. Any other pointers or advice would be most welcome.

Thanks to all :).

Not a problem!....but for us who live South of the Border...it's a major hike up to the Firth of Forth!

I'm sure there's loads of stuff further up...but, in exactly the same way that it's a bit far south for you to trek...it's a bit far north for most of us!

Hopefully someone from up your way will be along soon with some ideas...but anywhere there are three things will be good!
1) Rocks
2) The Sea
3) Access (by which I mean ease of getting in/out...not the counterpart of VISA!...though if there's a shopping centre close by for non-diving partner it solves another problem)

John

[Hotpot Chris]

Depending on how far north of the Tay you are there's some good sites along the Moray coast.

You can snorkel or dive easily from the harbour at Portsoy. There are also some good gullies around Rosehearty.