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I HAD WAITED A LONG TIME TO DIVE THE SITES. The opportunity came, with brilliant topside conditions, but under water the viz proved surprisingly bad, only 2m at best. This unusual state of affairs was caused by a plankton bloom.
So I returned two months later, to find sunshine, calm seas and viz of more than 10m, which enabled me to explore properly a fantastic undived area of St Abb's Head.
I managed to pack in around eight dives over two trips. I took in a couple of wrecks, but it's mainly scenic diving up here, not only below the waves but also above. Dramatic sea stacks stand tall, and headlands thrust out at right angles from the tall cliffs.
There are many islets up here and these are crowded with good populations of grey and common seals, which are not so often seen around the usual St Abbs dive sites.
As I headed north in the North Star, a fast charter-boat out of Eyemouth, we passed St Abbs Harbour and its daily assortment of dive RIBs and local day-boats. Not one of them was heading further than the usual sites.
I suppose that with such excellent diving just out of the harbour, there is no need for the local boats to bother trying further afield.
Thankfully, however, owner of the North Star Iain Easingwood has other perspectives. Iain is happy to take you anywhere you want to go within his 60-mile limit, and this easily includes the following rarely dived areas of St Abb's Head.
I liked the look of the Brander. It's a massive finger of rock that sticks out at right angles to the sea cliffs. It points to the east for around 250m, before it slips under the water and continues down to a maximum depth of 27m.
This is a big site and I completed three dives on it. The walls to the north and south are completely different in terms of the marine life that inhabits them, and both sides make excellent but different dives.
Starting on the north side, I dropped in around halfway along the visible bit of the Brander. Further inshore, gullies form and large groups of ballan wrasse flirt about in the kelp. They are inquisitive but not as tame as the wrasse found at the regular St Abbs sites.
Today, however, I was heading out into deeper water, intending to round the submerged point of the Brander.
I dropped straight down the near-vertical north wall to 16m, where a clean sandy sea floor abuts the smooth rock. This is a continuation of what you can see topside.
The sun shone down through the bright green water, and lion's mane jellyfish drifted overhead. I noted pollack and solitary ballan wrasse without having to look too hard.
The wall was completely encrusted in brittlestars punctuated by sea urchins and massive dinner-plate-sized dahlia anemones. I could look straight up the wall and see the surface.
As I finned out to sea, the sea floor dropped away and I decided to make my maximim depth 18m. I finned on for another 50m or so, enjoying all the cracks and fissures that were home to edible crabs, squat lobsters and the odd leopard-spotted goby.
It was here that the reef top had sloped down to 18m, and I took advantage of a deep crack to break through to the south side of the Brander. At first, all that happened was that a hole opened up in the top of the reef, begging to be explored. The first swathes of plumose anemones were noted here, along with a few mating velvet-backed swimming crabs.
I followed the crack through the reef and emerged at the south side, where the dull brittlestars gave way to glorious coverings of dead men's fingers. It's such a contrast to the north side, like starting another dive.
The Brander is a huge site, and here I noted that I was in a gully rather than on the other side of the Brander. What appears to happen is that the long single finger of rock seen above the surface splits into multiple fingers once submerged, creating a series of very impressive gullies.
These have walls that rise up almost to the surface, and every square centimetre is a blaze of orange and white dead men's fingers.
I followed the gully inshore for a while and soon encountered groups of pollack, and a ballan wrasse that cut in front of me, enabling me to fire off the camera a couple of times. The walls had now come in close together, making the gully around 4m wide at best.
Rather than continue further inshore, I rose and ducked out througha crack on the south side of the gully.
Here the sea floor turned to a mass of large boulders, and I soon found a wolf-fish under one of these. An octopus was doing its best to impersonate dead men's fingers on the wall nearby.
This was top-class diving, but my time was almost up, so I decided to rise back up the wall to the north.
Here I finned offshore, along the jagged alpine ridgetop formed by one of the fingers running between two deep gullies.
At the point where the reef turned down to the seabed, and the dead men's fingers died out to be replaced by brittlestars once more, I sent up the delayed marker buoy and slowly rose through the jellies back to the sunlight above. I would strongly recommend this dive to anybody wishing to do something a bit different.
Back on board the North Star cradling a nice mug of coffee, we moved north again. It wasn't long before we saw the sea stack called the Souter. It's like a miniature version of the Old Man of Hoy.
Finning offshore from the stack, the water deepens all the time to 20m and large sandy-floored gullies form homes for lobsters, though they were presumably out for a walk. This part of the dive was interesting, but the shallower stuff was much better.
Retracing my fin-strokes into around 10m of water, beautiful kelp-fringed gullies opened up, running in a north-westerly direction from the Souter stack.
I chose to explore the 30m-long gully on the left first, and soon came across a length of chain that ran the length of it, culminating in a large iron anchor and other remains of an ancient sailing ship.
I happily finned around for half an hour, noting small bits of wreckage.
There were lots of small nudibranchs here, too, and schools of small pollack darted through the kelp on top of the gullies. The Souter is a pretty site with lots of marine life and wreckage to identify.
The Swiss motor vessel Nyon didn't get very far on her voyage from Leith to Dakar in 1958. After only 40 miles, 5000 tonnes of potential shipwreck was sitting high and dry on Meg Watson's Rocks, just north of the Souter.
Over the next 11 days, salvage experts tried to save the ship, but bad weather hindered the tugboat's attempts.
Rather than have the Nyon become a total loss, it was decided to cut her in half amidships. The intact stern was towed to Tynemouth shipyard, where it was fitted to a new bow section.
This ship was destined to sink three years later in the English Channel.
The original bow remained on Meg Watson's Rocks, until the first storm of December swept the bridge from the wreck and broke the ship up. The bow section was sold to salvors who took some of it up the cliff, but what was left behind now lies in 6-15m.
It's a very scenic spot, with red fronds of kelp wafting above the gullies. Ballan wrasse swim about, using the huge steel girders that litter the seafloor as cover.
I soon found winches and a fire hose reel, and then one of the Nyon's massive anchors.
Examining a photo of the stranded Nyon and looking down the anchor-chain, it was easy enough to pinpoint where I had been diving.
There was certainly plenty of wreckage to see, and with information gleaned from the photo, there looked to be potential to find even more further out. The wreckage will also be more visible in deeper water, as it won't be shrouded by kelp.
I enjoyed this dive's scenic beauty, and the fact that I was diving the wreckage of a ship the loss of which was extremely well documented. It makes a cracking second or third dive of the day and there is certainly potential for making new finds after the winter storms have shifted the sandy seafloor.
I had heard reports of fantastic diving from a local diver, but taking a trip to Fast Castle Head is almost worth the effort on its own. Not much of the castle remains today, but enough is left to help you conjure up an image in your mind.
The history of this small castle is impressive. Before James V was old enough to ascend to the throne, Cardinal Beaton ruled Scotland as regent. He did much to protect Scotland from the megalomania of the English King Henry VIII.
These were dangerous times, and Cardinal Beaton ended up hiding right under Fast Castle, rumoured to have been holding a vast fortune in gold.
This small snippet of history was enough to fuel an expedition by Eyemouth & District SAC in 1969, accompanied by a BBC film crew. No gold has been found to date.
I snorkelled into the cave and took a look around but the slippery rocks were too dangerous. I didn't fancy breaking a leg in there.
With this wonderful mixture of history and scenery colouring the scene, I couldn't wait to dive. My first dive was right under the castle but it hardly warrants a mention. All I found was a kelpy, boulder-filled scour, completely lacking in life or gold.
After five minutes I got picked up and dropped in again onto an interesting-looking pinnacle 300m north of the castle. This turned out to be disappointing as well, as the pinnacle was bare of life other than kelp.
I finned south, back to the castle. The tide soon came to my assistance, and the dive started to improve. I ended up in a gully with soft corals starting to appear.
Off to my right, clearly seen in the excellent viz, a fang rose from the seafloor covered in life. But the tide took me past this, and the seafloor became a flat bed of brittlestars.
It was disappointing, but the site is worth further exploration. Iain knows were the fang is and can drop you in there. There also appears to be an impressive reef running back inshore from it.
Another possibility could be that I was too shallow at 13m and should have headed deeper to 20m, where massive boulders form gullies. It's certainly one of the most impressive areas above the surface, but the underwater experience couldn't live up to that view.
The best diving is out there, I'm sure - it's just another part of the Fast Castle mystery that needs to be solved.
We travelled north, and the scenery was fantastic. Iain's grandfather and uncle ran a salvage business after the war, and Iain had photos of his relatives salvaging a wreck. From the shape of the rocks, we identified the site.
It was beautiful under water. A large sandy patch led off into gullies, where a large lesser-spotted dogfish finned past me, interested only in hunting.
Iain's relatives must have been good at their jobs, because apart from scraps of wreckage nothing sizeable from the wreck remained.
This undived area of St Abbs is full of mystery, and if you are a keen explorer and want to try something different, this makes a great trip.
The Brander is magnificent, the Souter beautiful and the Nyon will give you plenty of scenic metal to ponder.
Fast Castle, when it finally reveals its mysteries, I'm sure will also yield a great dive site. It's just a case of going into these unknown areas and seeing what turns up.
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Mike Clark with his camera
The Brander
A diver returns to the boat
A big adult wolf-fish
On top of the Brander
An octopus tries to fit in with its surroundings
Red Scorpionfish
GETTING THERE: Eyemouth is about five miles north of Berwick-upon-Tweed, off the A1, and 50 miles south-east of Edinburgh
DIVING: Marine Quest dive boat North Star's range includes Burnmouth to Fast Castle, Bell Rock and Forth wrecks (018907 71676, www.marine-quest.co.uk). Air is available at Aquastars Dive Centre, which is a shop and service centre as well as a dive school. (018907 50904, www.aquastars.co.uk)
LAUNCHING: There is a huge harbour in Eyemouth to accommodate its fishing fleet. There are two slipways, but the one leading onto the beach outside the harbour is tidal. The slip in the harbour is a far better launch point.
ACCOMODATION: Caravans or tents at caravan parks are a popular option in summer. For hotels and B&Bs, contact Eyemouth Tourist Information Centre (0870 6080404).
WHEN TO GO: May to October..
COSTS: North Star charter rates are £25 per person for two dives at weekends and £20 in mid-week.
FURTHER INFORMATION: www.scot-borders.co.uk
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