At this time of year the presence of ice can be problematic for diving and getting out and about on the water, it's often a case of too much ice for diving but not enough ice to travel on foot or skidoo. Hangar Cove (one of our regular dive sites, near the Hangar) was full of pancake ice (when the surface starts to freeze it forms 'pancakes' of slushy ice) which is okay for boating and diving but large amounts of ice around the point made access tricky, so we decided to move the Nodwell over to Hangar Cove from it's usual location at the Wharf and launch our small RIB Nimrod directly into Hangar Cove. 
Pancake ice in Hangar Cove
Launching Nimrod with the Nodwell
Kelvin and I spent 35 minutes at -1.5 degrees C, successfully completing the task of photographing 12 "settlement plates" (plastic plates which have been in situ for 4 years to see which marine organisms will settle and grow on them). It was amazing surfacing through the loosely-formed pancake ice - pieces of soft ice broke off and sank down past us like snow. As we de-kitted we realised that a layer of ice had formed on our 1st stages.
Ice on the dive kit which formed during the dive
Thanks to Jim (boatman) for the photos :o)
1 comment:
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