Two for One

After yesterday's little test swim to sort out the drysuit I thought that would it be as far as snorkelling went for a while as I have other commitments for the next two weekends.

Then at 9:50 this morning, just by chance I checked my emails in between other tasks, there was an email from Penny saying that she was going to be going out at 2:00 pm with Anne Bignall, was I interested in joining them. Of course I was, so a reply was sent back asking her to let me know when and where.

Then at 10:20 am I got another email to say that there was a change of plan and that they would be going out earlier than planned. Then at 11:20 I got a call from Penny to say that they were just about to set off and that they would meet me at Swanbister and if it wasn't too choppy we would be swimming around the old pier.

By midday we were suiting up and heading for the water.

Anne and me setting off by Swanbister Pier

After swimming around the pier we then headed off to the right of the pier moving from sand to rocks with quite a variety of seaweeds, some sea urchins and a young Great Spider Crab.

Me taking a look around

A young Great Spider Crab

 After a while we grouped up and decided to swim back to the pier and the area to the left as Anne had seen some anemones that she didn't recognise. While we were chatting a seal leapt out of the water behind Penny and Anne but at a reasonable distance. Still hoping to see one up close just hope it doesn't suddenly appear from under me and scare the life out of me.

I found the swim back to the pier quite tough as it was against the current. But got there eventually albeit a little bit out of breath. I should find it easier the more I do and the better my fitness levels get.

Once back at the pier Penny investigated the mystery anemones and concluded that they were a Burrowing Anemone (Cerianthus lloydii) which she hadn't seen in Orkney before. After counting 75 of them Penny stopped counting.

Burrowing Anemone (Cerianthus lloydii)

We emeged from the water after about an hour and decided to move on to Houton and take a look to the right hand side of the harbour and the tidal flow between the mainland and the Holm of Houton.

Although the water here was fairly shallow, arms depth a lot of the time, the current was very strong. Fortunately this stretch was quite rocky and the were some big rocks to hold onto while seeing what was about.

Having got almost to the Holm we decided to go with the current and let it take us back towards the beach near to where we had parked our cars.

Some of the things we saw  included Long Clawed Porcelain Crab, Brittle Stars, Peacock Worm, Heart Urchin (sometimes known as a Sea Potato), Common Urchin, Common Whelks, Periwinkles, a Plaice and a Dab both of which blended in very well with the sea bed. We also saw Sand Mason Worm tubes, Lugworm casts, and a Paddleworm.

 We also came across a piece of old drainpipe lying on the sea bed which contained plumose anemones.

Time seemed to fly by and before we knew it we had spent nearly two hours in the water.

I had a great time and thanks once again to Penny for being my guide and providing the photos including the one in the Blog header.