Day 2

The sun was out and the sea was calm, so what better dive site then Hand Deeps. We headed out over a sea that was calm enough not to have one fleck of foam. On arrival there were about five other dive boats and couple of private fishing boats, Richard (the skipper) set the shot down on the top of the rock and we rolled off into the water.

Relaxing on the way to Hand Deeps

Descending down the wall is wonderful. It is covered in jewel anemones and with good vis. they mad for a wonderful site (for me the purple ones are the most stunning). The crustacean life (crabs and shrimps) was plentiful and every nook or cranny had a variety of crabs ramming themselves into the cracks.

At about 37 meters I started to head back up the wall reaching the kelp line at about 12 meters. Slowly meandering through I was suddenly embroiled in a frenzy of fish completely absorbed in mating. They shot pass hurling themselves forwards in an attempt to get impregnated.
We set the SMB up and surfaced a good start to the day.
On the surface it seemed a shame to waste the opportunity of a good sea so we changed plans and headed out to the Eddystone lighthouse for our second dive.



Approaching Eddystone Lighthouse

Eddystone gave us another great dive with good visibility. The tide was running so we hugged the pinnacle working our way round and staring enviously at the fish lazily swimming against the current and then whipping away when bored.

The swallow taking a break

On the way back we were visited by a swallow. It landed on the boat, had a rest and then skimmed off across the waves on it's journey home.
The dive ended with us sending up the SMB and drifting off the pinnacle as we ascended.
Back to the bar for a beer and cheesy chips followed by a curry on Mutley Plain.