Guernsey 2006

[Andy.R]

I havn't been in at all this week. Am taking the afternoon off and going in and staying in till I catch something worth photographing!!

Well done Dave - The undoubted flatfish king :king

3 bass, nice one Marcel

Tom are frozen ones any good? If I see any this aft I'll give you a call

 

[Magpie]

Thanks but no thanks Andy, already got some frozen ones. Really don't know what I'm doing wrong! You'll have to teach me one day, though it'll probably have to wait to next year.

Good luck safty!

 

[Andy.R]

Went in as planned. Interesting dive. Went in Chouet at 4:30 out Ladies Bay at 7:00.

Came home with OK Plaice and Brill of just over 2lb. Saw loads and loads of small sole. No Bass at all or Red Mullet.

I entered at chouet down the slip by the Kiosk. Swam out to the rocks in the middle of the bay, then out across to the main reef in the middle of the bay, over that and into Ladies Bay. Was working the bottom, and enjoying my first solo night flight, 30 secs down 30 secs recovery. Swimming along the bottom on one dive I 'felt a presence' I looked up and nearly soiled myself. There in mid water were 3 nets of crabs, jeepers creepers all the talk of nets...phew.

Coming back in I had someone with a powerful torch on me shouting "Are you allright?"

An 'interesting' dive

Andy

 

[badlander]

I'm really curious about night diving and i'd like to give a shot next year....any pointers would be appreciated.....obviously i'd try it it out on well known ground,it must be whole different kettle of fish.(no pun intended)

 

[Old Man Dave]

Andy, nice brill. Something to photograph at last :t . I love solo night dives although I enjoy a bit of company sometimes. It really feels exciting, even scary, but that just adds the extra bite to the whole experience.

Badlander, first off I'd say do it. It's one of the best things I've ever done diving wise. A cheapo £15 torch about 6 watts power is fine for starters. You can use it with the ordinary batteries for a couple of trips and if you want then upgrade to a £50 to £100 torch with rechargable batteries. Keep the cheapo torch as a back up. Go with a mate for a few times and choose a flat sandy bay on a calm night with good vis. Low ish tide rising is generally best but one of the beauties of night diving is the way fish come in shallow and to places you would never see them in the day time. Some of the best dives in terms of fish seen have been swimming over flat sand in 10 foot of water just shining the torch from the surface. Avoid tide, deep dives, long swims and unneccessary gear. Keep it simple at night. No floats, net bags, guns with reels etc. I use a little 75 with one wrap that I bought just for night diving but originally I just used my standard 90 gun.

Could go on for ever but give it a go. Always the best way to learn.

Dave

 

[badlander]

Thanks for that Dave,i've got a spot in mind that ticks the boxes....but thats for next year....i'd imagine there's a certain fear factor to over come but it sounds good.

 

[beardy241]

"fear factor"
My first night dive was with George. Was a little apprehensive - not sure what I'd make of being in the water in the dark.

It was a great night to be out. Nice and quiet and really good vis. My fears soon melted away. My enduring memory was of seeing George on the bottom at 10m silhouetted in pool of the most beautiful iridescent green light. Pure magic.

FWIW I'd recommend the Underwater Kinetics rechargeable C4 (c.£100) but there's some smokin' LED lights around now. Ask Ed.
Just got a second torch from a car-boot(!) so we can get in some night-time when all you foreign chaps come visiting in July!

Go. Enjoy.
[m]

 

[badlander]

i'm sold.sounds magic...got all winter to prepare which isn't a bad thing....
Also...you Guernsey boys are so keen you always inspire me to keep fishing,it doesn't go down too well with the Mrs but hey.....what does....thanks!

 

[Andy.R]

Not sure about the solo night dives, last night being my first. I think I prefer some company. Its not the spooky bit which gets me its the disorientation.

Take last night I was OK most of the time as I had the Vale Church and Chouet Toilets as refence points, but if you get in close to the reef than you loose these and its the thouight for a moment that you potentially have no idea which direction you are swimming in. Its comforting to at least see another divers light.

It won't stop me going in solo though, and I'll probably get used to it.

btw I took my float with me last night in case I got hooked on a net and could use it for surface bouyancy, I also took a very sharp pair of serated kitchen scissors.

 

[Sarnian]

Nice fish Andy. I would have thought it might be a good idea to have a float with a light on, but then I haven't been on a night one yet and I have to bow to others' experience! I had thought of trying somewhere like Chouet or l'Ancresse this afternoon, when you could at least go in in daylight and kind of turn it into a twilight/night dive over the low tide. Trouble is, the weather this weekend looks not only pants (where did that expression come from?) but bras, corsets and suspenders too!:vangry

As for torches, I think I saw a cheapo Shakespeare headlight at North Quay, but good old e-bay also seems to have some like this one [ame="http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/SCUBA-DIVING-EMERGENCY-STROBE-FLASH-TORCH-WITH-SHEARS_W0QQitemZ200044768456QQihZ010QQcategoryZ19303QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem"]http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/SCUBA-DIVING-EMERGENCY-STROBE-FLASH-TORCH-WITH-SHEARS_W0QQitemZ200044768456QQihZ010QQcategoryZ19303QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem[/ame]

which also has shears and strobe! or this:http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/2-WATERPROOF-HEADLAMP-DIVER-TORCH-LIGHT-8-LED-HEADLIGHT_W0QQ
Or even:
[ame]http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/New-iRiver-128MB-MP3-Player-Scuba-Underwater-Housing_W0QQitemZ330047485121QQihZ014QQcategoryZ19303QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItemitemZ230049616867QQihZ013QQcategoryZ29575QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem[/ame]


Don't know if any of them are any good though.
After my recent disorienting experience at the Knife in daylight don't think I'll go on my own !

p.s. nice adapted motto Andy!

 

[Old Man Dave]

With the wind having gone WNW force 5 to 6 looks like this weekend was going to be a bust. Decided to cancel the planned boat dive tomorrow and having looked at the west coast this afternoon couldn't see much future in a spearo session either.

Decided the only chance was a night dive in a sheltered east coast bay. Went in at 5.30 and home by 7pm. Vis was better than I feared but worse than I hoped, at about 10 foot. With the dead neaps I had to go a little further and deeper than I would have liked bearing in mind the poor vis. Max'ed out at about 25 foot on the edge of some tide but decided that that was no fun (actually a bit scary) so came back in a bit and worked the 15 to 20 foot range. Even here you couldn't see the bottom from the surface, not even to identify the sand/weed edge, so it was dive blind and hope. Also meant if you saw a fish you just got the one chance.

Finished up with some smallish plaice and a fat red mullet. Saw a jumbo red but that was in the scary bit and suffice to say I didn't get it. Left 3 well size but smallish soles as have plenty of sole in the freezer at present and personally think they are a bit overated in the culinary department. Saw a few other things; crabs, baby sole, smelt, pout etc. but was satisfied with my catch and pleased to have a workout doing what I love doing best .

Dave

 

[Sarnian]

Nice one Dave. Doesn't look much better tomorrow... I thought of getting up early and trying a sheltered spot at high tide.

 

[foxfish]

Nice mullet Dave but I do worry about about the safety factor when you guys dive alone at night!
Andy's idea of a float seems like a good one & Colin's idea of a light on the float makes sense.
Floats are a hassle in the day light & I realise the more equipment you carry the more complicated it all becomes. However I dont want to loose a friend forever, at least someone could find your body if it was still attached to a float.

 

[Sarnian]

Nice thinking Mart!
Well - the little corner of Grand Havre Tom discovered looked relatively sheltered this morning, so went in at about 9.40. Home by 10 am! You know the expression couldn't see a hand in front of your face - that was it. All stirred up even further out. (p.s. Ed was that you arriving to do some work on the house?)

Very furstrating now I've finally got kit sorted out - also the other half's away for the weekend and I could have gone in all day. Never mind, back to the DIY I should have been doing.

If anyone's thinking of going out today, looks like it's not worth bothering, also going by OMD's report of the East coast. At least he got something! Let's hope it clears up for the next few weekends - haven't been in this late before - do we stop at any stage?(apart from oremering season!)

 

[Magpie]

Sounds like all you boys have been havnig some fun over the weekend while I've been sat on some rocks shivering not catching any fish big enough for the competition!

From last year spearing does slow somewhat come the first 3or so months of the year, there just isn't the fish around to make it worth while, but as you say, the ormering makes up for that!

Don't worry about the fear factor Badlander, as soon as you're in you're so concentrated no the pool of light in the torch beam you forget abiout everything else. Its great fun as long as the viz is ok. I've been on plenty of solo night dives and it does get unnerving at times, but as Dave says, thats all part of the fun.

 

[Draenog]

When Marcel and Ed took me in for my first night dive over there the fear disappeared as soon as I got my head under the water, despite their best efforts in the car park to scare me with tales of Porbeagles .

That said I did tend to prefer being able to see at least one torch in the distance, and made an effort to keep close enough to the others to be able to.

The only other night dive I've done was in crete. I was on my own, on a deserted beach with no one around, one feeble streetlight visible at the top of a vertiginous cliff surrounding the beach and very aware of the fact that there are sharks (including great white) in the med. I couldn't bring myself to go out of the shallows (2 or 3 metres) and after 20 mins realised I wasn't really enjoying myself and just forcing myself to do it, so got out. Did see the biggest bass I've ever seen though!

Definitely looking forward to getting in at night here in the summer when the viz clears- thinking of buying a spare light so I can bring mates along.

 

[Sarnian]

Tom I wouldn't exactly have called it fun - quite the worst dive I've had! Nice story Draenog!

I've just got around to watching an excellent DVD called Secret Seas of The Channel Islands, full of amazing photography by Sue Daly. If you haven't seen it I recommend putting it on your Christmas list - excellent film of triggerfish, flatfish, bass etc all in their natural environment. Or if anyone wants to borrow it let me know. Here's a link to her website to give you a flavour of the quality of photography: http://suedalyproductions.com/

 

[Andy.R]

A friend pointed this out to me, I thought it worth posting.

"8. Sale and Supply of Cross Bows and Spear Guns to Person under 18 Years

The Chief Officer of Police has advised the Department of concerns regarding the use and control of weapons such as cross bows and spear guns. These categories of weapons are not firearms but can be equally lethal. Their use is currently controlled under section 1 of the Summary Offences (Bailiwick of Guernsey) Law, 1982 (as amended), that is, carrying an offensive weapon without lawful authority or reasonable excuse.

The Department shares the Chief Officer’s concerns and proposes, for the avoidance of any doubt, a new offence should be created making it illegal for a person under the age of eighteen to purchase, hire or possess a cross bow or spear gun or for somebody to sell, let on hire or supply a cross bow or spear gun to a person under the age of eighteen.
Here again, the Department recommends that provision should be made for persons under eighteen years to use these weapons when participating in supervised sporting activities controlled by a recognised sporting club or organisation. "

I'm sure that health and safety would have a field day over night diving solo with spearguns :t

 

[Sarnian]

I found that quite interesting Andy, as my 15 year old son has been on to me to let him use my old gun - but of course at that age they don't want to do anything with you ( not with me anyway!). I told him he wasn't allowed to use it on his own, but had to come out with me. At least I can quote this ( without mentioning it's not actually law!) although it would appear he can't technically come out with me either, unless we form a club ( of two!).

I also noticed that recently they were talking about restricting weapons powered by gas cartridges - so presumably any of you that might have pelletiers etc. might have problems!

Seriously, I have thought about the potential offensive weapon problem before - normally it's quite clear when we just go from the car down to a quiet beach, that it's a sporting activity,but walking along L'ancresse in August is a bit different! I know the gun isn't loaded ( or shouldn't be!) but I suppose the spear on its own could be an offensive weapon. I was also very conscious of this when I once had to take my old gun back to Fletcher's in the middle of town! It lloked even more suspicious wrapped up!

 

[Magpie]

I knew about these proposals a while ago and have made my thought on them, as a spearo and as a shooter, known.

OMD and Foxy have also had their say.