Loch Broom and the Summer Isles

A long weekend diving with Brian, Alison and Sarah. We stayed at the lodges at Ardmair, just north of Ullapool, and launched the boat there too. Although the air temperature was chill, and the water even colder, the sun shone the whole time and I got sunburnt!

	The view from our accomodation - snow on the top of Ben Mor Coigach.
	Brian attempted to use his new lift bag to send part of the shot back to the surface and stop it getting tangled. Unfortunately the lift bag wouldn't fill!
	The Fairweather V, a fishing boat that sank in 1992, viewed from the bow.
	Plumose Anemeones on the Fairweather V.
	The wheelhouse entrance on the Fairweather V.
	Bollards on the deck of the Fairweather V. These are the colours seen with a torch (or camera flash).
	The same shot as last time, but without flash. (Bollards on the deck of the Fairweather V). This is how it looks without a torch.
	The inside of the wheelhouse of the Fairweather V, showing the skippers chair and the green water outside the windows!
	Coiled and ready on the Fairweather V.
	The bridge of the Fairweather V.
	The foredeck of the Fairweather V, showing one of the holds sitting open.
	I hate abandoned lobster pots - they just keep catching and killing for no reason...
	.. so if I find one I try to open it and leave it open.
	A sea urchin approaches a Sand Mason worm at Priest Island.
	A Sand Mason worm at Priest Island.
	I wasn't the only one with a camera at Priest Island.
	The urchins at Priest Island have a very pronounced star pattern.
	This is the top of a Sea Cucumber - the rest is buried in a crack in the rocks.
	A common sea urchin at Priest Island.
	Exhaled air bubbles in all shapes and sizes.
	There's not much kelp at this time of year, and it looks pretty tatty. A few Painted Top Shells cling on...
	Brian at the ready to pick us up after our dive at Priest Island.
	That pink thing is a piece of Maerl - a hard coralline red algae that forms in fragments and rolls around the seabed. This dive at Fox Point near Old Dornie harbour is the first time I've seen it.
	We stopped for lunch on Tanera Mor, one of the Summer Isles, with this rather spectacular view over Coigach to the mountains (scroll right to see it all...)
	Tanera Mor.
	Our afternoon dive was a Conservation Cave.
	Conservation Cave is filled with very colourful anemones, but the swell and surge was so strong we could stay long.
	A Seven Armed Starfish reaches out towards an urchin at Black Rock.
	Another island lunch stop - this time on Isle Martin.
	A flatfish on a rocky ledge.
	A Cushion Star appears out of the darkness deep down on the wall opposite Isle Martin.
	A rather elegant anemone.
	A Spiny Starfish throwing rather interesting shapes.
	A large edible crab flees in a cloud od sand at Secret Garden.
	A Squat Lobster at Secret Garden.
	A not-especially-well concealed scallop beside a burrowing anemone.
	A Dahlia Anemone at Secret Garden.
	Plumose Anemone.
	Featherstars. I find their waving arms rather beautiful.
	The mouthparts of a Plumose Anemone.
	Wild fires on the heath near Ullapool.
	We saw a lot of smoke from wild fires all areounf Loch Broom and Coigach - the ground is remarkable dry. I hope no serious damage was done.