Wreck Logs - Light Houses - Eddystone
I descended the shot line to a kelp-covered slope at just 8 metres. One last pull on the line and a quick flick of the fins and I was over the ridge and beneath the gentle current. The change in marine life was instant. The wall below me was covered in tightly packed clumps of orange, cream and pale green plumose anemones, stretching down to a rocky seabed at 20 metres.
Staying half way up the wall we drifted slowly south with the current. Soon
the wall had become a steep slope of large white plumose anemones. Not wanting
to get too far down current we looped out across the sand and back toward our
starting point.
Facing me on the sand were a pair of dozing dogfish. Hovering above and just
behind them was a ling, long and thin, light brown with a distinctive barbel
just below its chin. The dogfish ignored us. The ling kept a wary eye on us
whilst finding a clear patch, then dipping down to scratch first one side and
then the other against the sand. At the time this behavior was new to me, but
I have since been told that fish do this to remove parasites from their skin.
Perhaps this ling had that smug smile of satisfaction that comes from a good
scratch at an itchy back.
Altogether just about as good as a reef diving can get. We were diving my favorite part of the Eddystone reef, just few tens of metres south of the famous lighthouse.
A few miles to the north west of the Eddystone is Hand Deeps. Another large reef about half a mile across, but this time there are no rocks actually breaking the surface. Like the Eddystone, it is possible to have a good dive on many different parts of Hand Deeps, but the really special site is a wall on the north corner of the reef. Here the reef peaks at 9 metres, gently slopes to 15 metres, then plummets vertically to 40 metres. The predominant coverings on the wall are brightly coloured patches of large jewel anemones and clumps of dead men's fingers. Sea urchins cling to the vertical face and munch their way through this carpet of life. Fish life includes goldsinney wrasse, cuckoo wrasse and ballan wrasse. At the points and corners where the current is strongest there are often shoals of pollack. Cracks are home to crabs and lobsters.
Cuckoo wrasse can be very curious, often approaching to less than a metre away and looking straight into a diver's eyes. If you hold a hand still they may even be bold enough to peck at a finger.
From Hand Deeps, several miles further to the west lies Hat Rock. This is a much smaller reef that rises mostly vertically from the seabed to a minimum depth of 20 metres. Once again the main dive site is the north face of the rock. Marine life is very similar to Hand Deeps, dense patches of brightly coloured jewel anemones, occasional clumps of plumose anemones, sea urchins, hydroids, nudibranchs and lots of fish.
Unlike the Eddystone or Hand Deeps, the flat top of Hat Rock is a little deep
for serious kelp growth. Although there are the occasional sprigs, the carpets
of jewel anemones extend across the top of the rock. With a greater average
depth, this also makes Hat Rock a potentially more serious dive.
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