St Abbs - Scotland

Ok..so it is a little bit of a trek to get up there..but it is well worth the diving when you do.

Located just over the border in the land of the haggis, the bagpipe and the tartan skirts ( about 7 miles in), St Abbs is a small harbour but with a big underwater nature reserve (which incidentally was opened by David Bellamy). There are a number of boat operators sailing from there but it is also an excellent location for shore diving.

We arrived on saturday afternoon to find that the harbour master had closed the port for shore diving due to the rough nature of the seas. There had been a storm out at sea and the rough aftermath was hitting the shore. It was also low tide, so to access any form of shore diving meant a little bit of a walk over the rocks anyway. As it was low tide, famous dive sites such as Cathedral Rock were visible..but it was a shame we were not able to get to dive it. There were a few boats still going in and out at it was not so bad further round the coast..so we booked with Paul Crowe to go out on the sunday..and even then he was unsure if he would be allowed to sail due to the weather. It costs £12.50 a dive. Most of the boats are hard boats rather than ribs and most of them have lifts so you can avoid that heavy old climb out of the water.

There are 2 entry points in for shore diving..the first one is right next to the harbour car park ( costs £5 per day to park there with money being collected by the harbour master..if he is not around, there is an honesty box in the harbourmaster's hut..please don't abuse that). Entry is quite easy and alot of trainee's use this area. The main attraction is Seagull Rock but there are lots of little gullies and rock pools ranging from about 5m down to about 12m to swim around in and the area is teeming with life. The other entry is right round the other side of the harbour wall and it is a trek and a half, especially if you were carrying all your gear. You have to be careful where you enter here as most people want to go in right at the corner of the harbour wall, but we were advised against this by Bob Gray (the harbour medic and resident fixer of everything..lovely chap and very helpful and knowledgable) as the swell hits that corner and wooshes back leading to many an accident for divers. He showed us a little pathway just a few metres away, and a compass bearing of 120 from that would lead you to Cathedral Rock and all the other little gullies and underwater arches on the way to it. it can be done by surface swim, but it is abit of a way and generally, the rock cannot be seen at all so it would be easy to miss..and besides, you would miss out on seeing all the underwater life.

There are now 2 filling stations for air, the little one next to the cafe and the one at Rock Diving School which is opposite and also has its own guest house. Cost is £3.50 per air fill..don't know for nitrox. There are public toilets just a short walk up the hill and also there is a delightful little cafe that serves all your usual snap that divers want and is definitely more classy than any of the dog burgers you get from any of the inland sites. For the non divers, there is also plenty to do as there are loads of places to walk and up the hill are a couple of shops/post office. No Pub tho...

So, visiting there to dive, you would need somewhere to stay as it really is alittle bit far to do in a day!

There are plenty of places to stay, loads of B & B's etc, especially in Coldingham which is a little town about 2 miles away from St. Abbs. All of these can be looked up on the internet..but Rock House is quite popular. There are a couple in St Abbs itself which I am led to believe are quite pricey. For those of you wanting to stay in the hotel de la tent..there is a 5 star campsite at Coldingham called crosslaw Caravan Park..excellent facilities and very reasonable..£13 to pitch the tent and £1 per person to kip in it. Each pitch has hook ups for the electric and also they have facilities on site..
To eat, well there is a chippy in Coldingham near the Scoutscroft centre at the bottom of the hill and there are 2 watering holes..The Anchor and The New Inn, both of which do food. The Anchor tends to be the most popular pub with both locals and divers. There is also a Spar shop for extra provisions..and that also has the only cash machine for miles around in it..so beware if you are going up there without cash and are planning to withdraw once you get there.

and now the diving......well, on Sunday, the sea was still rough and shore diving was still banned, the fog was so bad that it was touch and go whether we would sail..mainly due to the risk of being missed when it came to pick up..even with SMB deployed. Anyway, it was better further round the coast so the harbourmaster gave permission to sail..and there were just 4 of us on our boat. The sea was rough with a 4m swell, but we went out to somewhere called Blacks carr. Maximum depth was about 16m so this would be ok for all diving levels. The viz was not so good but there was plenty of wildlife..but it was such a
shame that the current was so strong on the drift dive that you got little opportunity to admire all the Anemone's, Dead man's fingers, crab. lobster, wrasse, pollock etc. The second dive, we went to The Skellies..and this was truly magnificent and well worth all the hassle. maximum depth was about 12m and this was a gentle drift dive all along the coast line level with the lobster pots. The viz was much better and the place was just teeming with wildlife..and we met this one wrasse that just wanted to play and kept posing for the camera..and then kept having a nibble at your fingers and kept coming back for more. We got all the way down to Anemone Gully, which are like 2 rock pools about 9-10m deep..but then we surfaced, not due to lack of air after 50 mins..but due to the fact I was freezing. The water temp was 8 degrees..and if I had realised that I only had 10 minutes left to do my hour, I would have toughed it out a little longer..especially as it was my 100th dive.

I would recommend this venue to anyone looking to start sea diving..or even if you are already an experienced sea diver..there is still so much to see ( but I never saw the Wolfish that legend has patrols there!)

Thanks Val for another informative report - much appreciated