After the longest surface interval since many of us qualified, five UBUC members headed down to Brixham to get in the sea in a socially distant manner.
Photo: Lois Flounders
Although the visibility wasn’t the best we were unphased and the time away from U.K waters had made us all appreciate the local marine life even more and there was plenty of it. The seabed was covered in snakelock anemones which provided shelter for the abundance of baby wrasse we spotted. We also found a very chunky pipefish hiding in the sea grass and a tiny yellow and white nudibranch on some kelp. We also saw a huge amount of spider crabs which after all this time caused a fair bit of excitement.
One chunky pipefish! Photo: Chris Bainbridge
For the second dive of the day we decided to make the rather steep walk in full kit up to Shoal Stone with the aim of swimming back to Brixham. The vis had dropped over lunch but we still managed to find nearly all of the crustaceans the U.K has to offer including a lobster and a very large velvet swimming crab. We also managed to collect a good number of golf balls that littered the seabed.
All in all even with leaky drysuits we had a fab day even getting the chance to enjoy a drink from the cafe before heading back!
Jake trying to remember how to set kit up after months off… Photo: Emily Cruse
0 Comments