The Long Walk to Freedom - 29/05/2014

“For to be free is not merely to cast off one's chains, but to live in a way that respects and enhances the freedom of others.” ― Nelson Mandela

Tonight The Zookeeper, K-Pep and myself dived Furnace Quarry, Loch Fyne. I'd never dived it before, but I had dived the neighbouring site Dogfish Reef. The Quarry has a similar underwater topography - essentially a steep giant boulder slope dropping down into the abyss well beyond 40m.

We entered the water after battling though a cloud of midgies, so diving into the water was a considerable relief! Before entering I had realised I'd left my computer at home, fortunately K-Pep carries a spare Aladdin 3G which he let me use.

K-Pep, a veteran of over 1,500 dives when he stopped logging, led us down to 25m where we encountered the usual variety of Loch Fyne life. As we began working our way back up the reef we started to encounter some stunning deeplet anemones which I identified thanks to this handy ScotSAC guide.

Moving back into shallower waters the Zookeeper spotted a number of large edible crabs dangerously entangled in discarded fishing line. I think it would be great to take fisherman under the water to show them the damage their pastime has on the environment. Regardless, we drew our knives and set to work. I cut the long lines, in part to ensure that neither of my buddies became entangled leaving them to touch the crabs. I'm not a huge fan of anything with that many legs, so the role of documentary film-maker suited me fine.

At one point, Laura let the largest crab go and it fell lifelessly to a rock. I feared the worst, but then it slowly came too realising it was free and proceeded to do what edible crabs do best - find a hole to sit in. In my head, I had the chorus of "Born Free" buzzing away. I think this has been the first time that I've felt like an environmental/animal rights activist.

Continuing on we started to encounter some large ballan wrasse - the probable targets of the fishermen. However, if you think they are hard to catch on a line, try catching them on camera. They led me a very merry dance indeed!

Then, after 67, minutes it was time to get out the water and head home. En route home I stopped in, to my eternal regret, at Mr Pia's Fish 'n' Chips in Inverary for a bag of chips. *BOAKS*

Deeplet anemone

Lobster

Deeplet anemone

Battling to save crabs

Ballan wrasse

The Zookeeper