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A weekend in St. Abbs with DiveStay
When I entered the postcode into my satnav given to me by Gary at DiveStay in St Abbs, Scotland and it told me I had a three and a half hour drive before arriving… I sighed, having had a very busy stressful week and having unanticipated the distance between Sheffield and St Abbs and hoped that the diving would be worth it.
The drive actually felt like no time at all, most of it was on the same road down the A1 and there are plenty of nice little towns to call at for a break enroute for those all important ‘caffeine stops’. We arrived in St Abbs around 12.30 and dropped all of our equipment at one of the prettiest little harbours I’ve ever seen and moved the car to the nearest car park (free car park – 20 seconds down the road).
Not long after, the boat arrived: a white and red 11m long catamaran, named Wavedancer II. She had seating on the deck for 12 divers and ample seating inside the wheelhouse which is fitted out to yacht standards (and by this I mean tea, coffee, heating and spacious toilet). We met Gary for the first time, and were welcomed aboard to start our day’s diving. We were introduced to all the divers and they were all very friendly despite me and my dive buddy being the only ones not in their local dive group and therefore the ‘newbies’ on board!
We set sail. The cliffs along Berwickshire’s coast are spectacular and seabirds dance alongside the boat diving into the water and then going to rest on the cliffs. It is a truly beautiful landscape and when the sun came out it really came into its own.
It was then time for our much awaited first dive and actually it turned out that it was also the first dive that my partner Ed and I have ever done without a guide in the UK! But it was the perfect place to start, with no current, easy enough to navigate, and SO MUCH to see! I had been told before entering the water that the diving off St Abbs Head is truly excellent in some of the very best sub 30m dive sites in the UK and Europe and that this is due to cold Arctic currents and warmer currents from the south swirling together and supporting diverse and abundant marine life. Even so, I really was not expecting it to be so beautiful. The sites are a Marine Reserve and while diving we saw wrecks, kelp forests, sandy bottoms covered in starfish, huge ballan Wrasse, short spined sea scorpion fish, crabs, lobsters, neon jellyfish, bright purple anemones, flat fish and everything in between. If you are lucky you will even see the seabirds shooting past you under the water as they dive for fish.
Check my YouTube video here for the footage:
We had our eyes peeled from the boat as that same day the group before us in the morning had seen dolphins!
When we surfaced, both myself and Ed were elated, partly because we had survived out first dive alone… but mostly because of how incredible the dive had been. Gary expertly maneuvered the boat to pick us up… and the twin lift, makes getting both you and your buddy out of the buddy effortless.
Back on the boat, there is plenty of help from the lovely ‘Duggie’ if needed to get your kit back into position, and then you are ushered into the heated…. Yes you read that right… HEATED inside area of the boat. Tea and coffee…. and homemade Scottish shortbread is available in abundance for those surface stop munchies… absolute luxury.
The second dive was just as amazing and I spent the (rather turbulent) journey back to the harbour drinking tea in the warm, chatting with the other divers about all the amazing things we had seen.
We had planned to stay over that night in the Home Arms guesthouse, which is owned by Gary and his lovely wife Zoe. Being able to stay at accommodation, which is linked to the diving is amazing, because everything runs incredibly smoothly. There is an amazing drying room at the BnB and we unloaded all of our dive gear from the boat ready for the next day’s diving and went upstairs to our room. The room was HUGE, it had seriously beautiful views over the incredible Eyemouth Bay. It was probably the prettiest BnB we have every stayed in and the perfect place to relax after a day’s diving.
Straight outside the guesthouse, you can walk into a beautiful town centre with plenty of picturesque little shops, cafes, pubs and restaurants. We had a beautiful pub dinner overlooking the Bay with a local Scottish lager. A perfect day.
Sunday morning, we had an amazing breakfast at the Home Arms, home-cooked in front of us in the kitchen diner…. And I couldn’t believe my luck when they even had vegetarian sausages for me! We were well fed, well slept, and happily ready for another amazing day’s diving.
The lovely Mr and Mrs Seal were waiting for us in the harbour to wave us off and yet again we had a fantastic morning diving through some of the most beautiful diving that all of Europe has to offer.
All in all, our weekend with DiveStay and the Home Arms guesthouse couldn’t have been any better, and we cannot wait to get our next trip booked to return… and hopefully next time we will be lucky enough to see the resident dolphins.
See www.divestay.co.uk for more information.
Free Octopus with every purchase of a SCUBAPRO regulator system
Just in time for the spring season, divers can save money with the FREE OCTOPUS SPRING PROMOTION! Until July 31st SCUBAPRO offers an Octopus for free
with every purchase of a regulator system!
Get a free S270 OCTOPUS with purchase of these combinations:
MK25 EVO or MK19 EVO with A700
MK25 EVO or MK19 EVO with S620Ti
MK25 EVO or MK19 EVO with D420
MK25 EVO Din mit S620Ti-X
Get a free R105 OCTOPUS with purchase of the following combinations:
MK25 EVO or MK19 EVO with G260
MK25 EVO or MK17 EVO with S600
SCUBAPRO offers a 30-year first owner warranty on all regulators, with a revision period of two years or 100 dives. All SCUBAPRO regulators are of course certified according to the new European test standard EN250-2014.
Available at participating SCUBAPRO dealers. Promotion may not be available in all regions. Find an authorized SCUBAPRO Dealer at scubapro.com.
More information available on www.scubapro.com.
Jake Davies boards Ghazala Explorer for an unforgettable Red Sea diving experience…
Overnight, the wind picked up, making the planned morning dive a bit bumpy on the Zodiacs to the drop point on Thomas Reef. There, we would dive along the reef before descending through the canyon and then passing under the arch before ascending the wall with a gentle drift. The site provided great encounters with more pelagic species, including shoals of large barracuda, tuna, and bigeye trevally.
Once back on the boat, it was time to get everything tied down again as we would head back south. This time, with the wind behind us, heading to Ras Mohammed to dive Jackfish Alley for another great gentle drift wall dive before then heading up the coast towards the Gulf of Suez to moor up at the wreck of the Thistlegorm. This being the highlight wreck dive of the trip and for many onboard, including myself, it was the first time diving this iconic wreck. I had heard so much about the wreck from friends, and globally, this is a must on any diver’s list. Fortunately for us, there was only one other boat at the site, which was a rarity. A great briefing was delivered by Ahmed, who provided a detailed background about the wreck’s history along with all the required safety information as the currents and visibility at the site can be variable.
Kitting up, there was a lot of excitement on deck before entering the water and heading down the shoreline. Descending to the wreck, there was a light northerly current which reduced the visibility, making it feel more like the conditions that can be found off the Welsh coast. At 10m from the bottom, the outline of the wreck appeared as we reached the area of the wreck which had been bombed, as our mooring line was attached to part of the propeller shaft. Arriving on deck, instantly everywhere you looked there were many of the supplies which the ship was carrying, including Bren Carrier tanks and projectiles that instantly stood out.
We headed around the exterior, taking a look at the large propeller and guns mounted on deck before entering the wreck on the port side to take a look in the holds. It was incredible to see all the trucks, Norton 16H, and BSA motorcycles still perfectly stacked within, providing a real snapshot in time.
Overall, we had four dives on the Thistlegorm, where for all of the dives we were the only group in the water, and at times, there were just three of us on the whole wreck, which made it even more special, especially knowing that most days the wreck has hundreds of divers. Along with the history of the wreck, there was plenty of marine life on the wreck and around, from big green turtles to batfish, along with shoals of mackerel being hunted by trevally. Some unforgettable dives.
The final leg of the trip saw us cross back over the Suez Canal to the Gobal Islands where we planned to stay the night and do three dives at the Dolphin House for the potential of sharing the dive with dolphins. The site, which included a channel that was teeming with reef fish, especially large numbers of goatfish that swam in large shoals along the edge of the reef. These were nice relaxing dives to end the week. Unfortunately, the dolphins didn’t show up, which was okay as like all marine life they are difficult to predict and you can’t guarantee what’s going to be seen. With the last dive complete, we headed back to port for the final night where it was time to clean all the kit and pack before the departure flight the next day.
The whole week from start to finish on Ghazala Explorer was amazing; the boat had all the facilities you need for a comfortable week aboard. The crew were always there to help throughout the day and the chefs providing top quality food which was required after every dive. The itinerary providing some of the best diving with a nice mixture of wreck and reef dives. I would recommend the trip to anyone, whether it’s your first Red Sea liveaboard in the Red Sea or you’re revisiting. Hopefully, it’s not too long before I head back to explore more of the Red Sea onboard Ghazala Explorer.
To find out more about the Northern Red Sea reef and wrecks itineraries aboard Ghazala Explorer, or to book, contact Scuba Travel now:
Email: dive@scubatravel.com
Tel: +44 (0)1483 411590
Photos: Jake Davies / Avalon.Red
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