SOUTH EAST SCOTLAND
An introduction
Eyemouth to Montrose
The area around Berwick upon Tweed is the gateway to Scotland from the North East of England. The South East of Scotland has a wealth of dive sites which remain little known to the travelling diver who is, understandably, distracted by the attractions of the Farne Islands or St Abbs. The area, being protected from the prevailing westerly winds which often bring heavy rain and Atlantic squalls, generally has better weather conditions than the West Coast. However, the area does not benefit from the warming effects of the Gulf Stream and consequently the water temperature can be much colder. Strong Northerly or Easterly winds can bring large swells, which adversely affect visibility and make access to some sites very difficult. The geology of the area, hard rocks and coarse sand, combine to give visibility on this coast which can often be in excess of 20 Meters.
The offshore islands of Bass Rock, Fidra, Craigleith, Lamb and May reward the diver with sightings of wolf fish, conger eels are common and walls covered in large dahlia anemones of many colours together with orange and white deadmans fingers can be seen. Seals are commonplace in some of the areas and can be quite friendly. Wrecks of ships and submarines suitable for various levels of divers are available but those close to shore can be very broken up and sometimes hard to find as they have fused with the underwater scenery. Depths of 6 to 40 metres plus can be found on some extremely interesting sites.
St Abbs and Eyemouth are undoubtedly the best-known diving locations in the area and are very popular due to the pleasant and mostly shallow types of dives available amongst some stunning rocky scenery with prolific marine life. The richness of the marine life led to the area being established as a voluntary marine reserve (St Abbs & Eyemouth Voluntary Marine Nature Reserve). This was set up in 1984 having been previously founded and operated by Barefoots Marine Reserve some six years earlier. Many of the dives site are accessible from the shore making this a very busy site during the summer. There are more ambitious dives offshore including the wreck of the Glanmire lying in around 30 meters of water.
Leaving St Abbs headland the coastline is a series of lonely rocky headlands broken up by sandy bays and due to their exposure to weather from the northeast and distance from launch sites are rarely dived although some excellent dives can found by the more adventurous.
The Firth of Forth is the major inlet on the south east coast of Scotland extending from Dunbar in the south to Fife Ness in the north and reaching as far in as the Forth Road Bridge in the west within which there is a large concentration of shipwrecks due to heavy shipping to the area over the centuries. It has a very varied coastline ranging from rocky headlands to industrial foreshores the latter of which is muddy and uninteresting. The coastline is low lying and therefore access to the water is easily found from the shore. The main attraction of the Forth is the number of shipwrecks the major ones being the 12,884 ton liner HMS Campania, the armed trawler Chester II and the 11,9938 ton tanker Salvestria.
Some twenty miles to the East of Edinburgh the area around Dunbar harbour provides a number of scenic dives, including Johnstone's hole, which boast numerous sightings of butterfish, scorpion fish, squat lobsters, edible crabs and even a small resident colony of grey seals.
The Isle of May, a nature reserve in the Firth Of Forth, rewards the diver with scenic archways and stacks which, above water are home to thousands of seabirds. Grey seals dart among shoals of Pollack and Saithe below water. There are wrecks in profusion too. Most of the shallow wrecks are well broken but are nonetheless interesting dives. A mile or so offshore you will find some exciting wrecks, a few of which are almost completely intact. Because they are deep and often in strong currents, they are suitable only for the more experienced diver.
If conditions don't allow diving in the sea a number of interesting alternatives are available. Scotland is blessed with numerous inland Lochs, which provide protected, if often chilly alternative dive sites. If you really want to try something different how about trying the river Tweed where, if you are lucky, you can see giant spawning salmon.
Facilities for Divers are available from St Abbs, Eyemouth, Edinburgh, North Berwick & Anstruther.
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Books and guides to help you plan, and to take with you - buy on-line.
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Green Ends Gully, Eyemouth by Ben Panter
St Abbs by Neil Smitham
The Stars of St Abbs by Kay Rainsley
BEDSAC Dive St. Abbs by BEDSAC
Fabs at St Abbs by BEDSAC
Bank Holiday w/e St Abbs by Richard Booth
Bank Holiday Monday, May 2006 at St Abbs by Helen Dainton
Bass Rock
St Abbs Harbour
Eyemouth
Farne Islands
The Isle of May
Anstruther
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