SQSAC Moray Firth Trip

SQSAC Moray Firth Weekend – 19th – 21st August 2011.

Ten SQSAC divers headed up to the Moray Firth for a weekend of wreck diving staying in local static caravan accommodation right on the sea front, a stone’s throw from the harbour at Burghead.

BURGHEAD SLIP

Ally and Andy towed up the SQSAC and HW Club RIBS on the Friday evening meeting up with the rest of the divers in Burghead. Some taking different routes to the destination and, therefore, arriving at different times!
It was planned to put both RIBS in at Burghead Harbour in the morning and set off to dive the Verona but due to strong westerly winds forecast for the next day it was decided at the dive brief on the Friday evening to change the plan and do the Unity followed by the Lossiemouth Skerries.

After an early start and getting both RIBs ready, it was found that one set of boat keys had been left back at base – base being 180 miles away!! The SQSAC boat was by now in the water and after securing her to the harbour wall the HW boat was then towed by land to Lossiemouth Harbour where the rest of the crew assembled after finding that we could, after all, use the nice big slip there for free

LOSSIEMOUTH SLIP

The DO dispatched himself back to base to collect the SQSAC boat keys and bid a hasty farewell to the rest of us queuing for a place on the Lossiemouth Harbour to Unity Ferry run by Stevie who kindly forgo a dive that day and ensured that all 8 of us got 2 dives in, first on the Unity and then some on a nice reef with gullies not far from the Skerries and the others not far from the Harbour which turned out to be a dive being entertained by crab copulation enmass!

The Unity gave us, as expected, some nice viz and it is thanks to Nathan and Kirsty going on the first “ferry trip” who located the wreck. It had been decided by the Club some time previous never to let the HW boat out on her own given previous stories of divers finning the boat back to harbour but as she behaved herself perfectly on the recent Cape Wrath trip no problems were envisaged – how wrong could we be!! Due to the low transome on the boat and the heavy sea swells she continually flooded and at one point the skipper was up to his knees in water bailing out and looking for divers at the same time – aye, these First Class Divers are multi taskers extraordinare ! On the second ferry run the HW boat had to be hand cranked and due to some problems not only gave Warren an electric shock but the skipper also (Andy had to wait until the next day to get his!).

The DO returned with the keys so the dive plan for Sunday was back on track – two boats, San Tiburcio here we come and then the Burghead Tanks. Burghead Dive Club very kindly allowed us the use of the compressor (we must get ours up and running) but due to this being in a residential area and only available to us until 7pm, we decided to only get the guys with the twin sets filled (Warren, Andy, Tom and Nathan) and the rest of us on singles took up enough cylinders for the 4 planned dives. Thanks to Iris and her husband from Burghead Dive Club for their help with this. While the twin sets were being filled, both boats (well, just the one that had been used was refuelled and ready for the next day).

We had a meal booked in Forres and everyone piled into 2 cars to head to the restaurant. A nice bit of grub and a pint (or two) later we headed back to Burghead, got our heads down and hoped the weather would be a bit kinder to us tomorrow.

Aye – well ………….. all divers met the next day down at Burghead Harbour to untie the SQSAC boat, put the keys into her ignition and got the HW boat all loaded up also and just prior to a radio check and setting off the HW boat refused to start! The pull cord was again needed to get her going.

Quite a wind had once again blown up and with the SQSAC boat having 6 divers onboard and the HW boat with 4 it appeared that the HW boat was a much comfier ride!! The SQSAC boat pounded the waves making our 10 knots not only a bit uncomfortable but also adding time and fuel to the planned San Tiburcio dive site. After getting about 5 miles offshore it was decided to abort that dive plan due to increased winds forecast and head back to the Burghead Tanks to ensure that everyone got a dive in on the Valentine Tank before the seas really whipped up.

VALENTINE DD (DUPLEX DRIVE) TANK IN BURGHEAD BAY - PICTURE BY TOM KERR

A difficult site to shot due to the wreck not being all that big so once Warren had dropped the shot overboard the first set of divers, Tom and Hilary laid a distance line to the wreck itself. Next in was Warren and Al, followed by Ally and Andy, then Kirsty and Nathan and finally Stevie and Debbie who collected the distance line and used a lifting back to put the shot back up to the surface. There was no limit on the dive time as it was evident due to the weather that a second dive was doubtful so everyone wanted to make sure they had a good look at the tank, some even having a wee rummage further afield.

DEBBIE MACGREGOR 'RUMMAGING FOR SPIDGE' IN THE TURRET OF THE TANK - PICTURE NATHAN JEFFREY

Back to Burghead Harbour for our packed lunches (nice and sheltered and the sun came out) and with a tap right beside the slip, it was good to get the boats, well – at least the engines, rinsed out and tied down for their journey back home.
We all knew that this trip was very weather dependant and although we didn’t get the 4 dives in nor the wrecks we had intended, everyone enjoyed the dives we did and these weekends away have such a social element to them as well that it was good to all get together. The issues we had with the boats will be addressed and due to the age of them we all realise that they do require quite a bit of maintenance and thanks to those of you who have done and are still doing all the work on them allow us to take the RIBS further afield than before.

CLUB BOATS READY TO BE RECOVERED AT BURGHEAD

Thanks to everyone for their help mucking in over the weekend, hopefully we will get back up to Moray Firth next year.
Debbie