The Bass Rock, Firth of Forth
| The Bass Rock can be reached easily from North Berwick by boat and offers many different and varied dives. The Rock its self is the home of one of the largest bird sanctuaries in Britain. As you get closer you will hear, and smell the thousands of birds that make the rock their home. Where are you diving today? 'The stinky island!' One of our group replied when asked by a curious onlooker when we were loading our kit into the boat. Once on the boat and out of the safety of the harbour The Bass Rock is 25-35 minutes travel by hard boat or 10-15mins by RIB depending on the state of the tide and wind. It's wise to take into account the tides and the sea state when you are planning to dive the rock. The North east face offers a cliff that drops of to 40m+. Misjudge the tide and you will be sweep along at a fair speed. Chose the time correctly and you will have a gentle drift east to west on the flood or the reverse on the Ebb. The cliff face is alive with every type of sea life you can imagine. Orange and white deadmans fingers, brittle stars, huge sunstars dahlia anemones of many different sizes and colours make this dive one of the most scenic in the area. Keep a sharp eye open and you will see wolf fish, conger eels, butterfish, crabs, lobsters, octopus and shoals of fish of all types. The East face of the rock offers a shallower dive with boulders and gullies sloping gently down to around 20m+ before bottoming out on sand. You will find just as much life there and a dive here can be more sheltered from the tide or the Westerly winds. There is also a cave from east to west through the rock. On any of the dive sites you will be joined at some time by at least one of the many seals that live in the area, curious to find out what you are doing. The club has dived The Bass Rock several times over the past few years, and no doubt we will return again as it can offer dives to suit all levels. Chose the site carefully and watch the weather, on a good day you can dive during flat calm conditions with visibility at 10m +. After heavy rain the visibility can drop to almost zero and strong easterly winds can make the seas to rough to dive. There are several operators who sail from North Berwick, we have dived with Aquatrek, Thistle B11 and Dive Safari, Pegasus Both craft are well equipped and their skippers have an excellent knowledge of the area. Or you can launch your own boat or rib from the beach. . |