Snorkelling in the snow

Am I cracking up? Snorkelling in the snow!!

Having just got back from a business trip South Marc was keen to get me back in the water as soon as possible so that I didn't suffer too badly from withdrawal symptoms.

We agreed that tonight would be good for a snorkelling session and that we would go down to Churchill Barrier No 2 where he had been the other day and seen some interesting stuff.

We put the word out that we would be going and invited anyone else from the Orkney Snorkelling group that might be interested in joining us. Helen said that she was up for a session as it had been a while since she had been snorkelling.

Yesterday the Met Office had issued a Yellow weather warning for snow over Orkney today and tomorrow but  a weather forecast this morning had revised that to say that most of Scotland except Orkney and Shetland would get snow. The weather was certainly looking good this morning however as the afternoon went on the weather started a downhill slide and by 5 o'clock it was definitely snowing.

By the time Marc had arrived the snow had eased and we decided that we would still go for it. So we loaded my kit into his car and set off for Barrier 2. When we got there Helen was already waiting for us.

We got kitted up and headed for the water on the East side of the barrier. As we swam along the side of the barrier there were a wide variety of seaweeds with a range of colours. These plants included the Thong Weed and a species of Wrack.

Thong Weed/Sea Thong - Himanthalia elongata

Wrack species - to be confirmed

The seabed was quite varied too going from sandy bits to rocky areas to areas of weed and the level of the seabed also varied from a couple of feet to probably 8-10 feet maybe more (I've not got the hang of judging distance under water yet).

Marc pointed out my first Sea Hare (a type of sea slug). I then swam over to where Helen was taking pictures and she pointed out a whole load of Sea Hares on the weed.

Sea Hares - Aplysia punctata

I also saw a few Hermit Crabs, a couple of which were quite big, and a Common Shore Crab.

Common Shore Crab - Carcinus maenas

There were the usual limpits and barnacles but I didn't see any signs of the Cuttlefish or any of the other fish that were seen last weekend.

The other thing that surprised me was the size of the blocks used for the lower parts of the barrier. Unless it was my eyes being tricked by looking through the water the blocks looked a lot bigger than the ones you see above the water. From an engineering point of view it makes sense to have larger blocks at the bottom and smaller ones on the top, but as you only ever see the smaller blocks when driving over the barriers you just assume that the same sized blocks are used for the whole structure.

After about an hour in the water our hands were starting to feel the effects of the cold so we returned to the beach and left the water for the snow!! Definitely an incentive for getting out of the snorkelling kit and into a warm car as quickly as possible. As we left the parking spot the car thermometer was showing just 1C!!

Another good session and a new site for me. It will be interesting to compare what was seen with what is on the West side of the barrier.

A big thanks to Helen Hadley for allowing me to use her photos.

If you fancy doing some diving in Scapa Flow check out Helen's website: MV-Valkyrie