Diary of a Deckhand

There is something magical about dolphins.  Ask any diver and most of them will say they are at the top of their favourite marine animals, so many people seem to want to come back as a cetacean of some kind the queue must be huge.  Me personally would settle for being a seal, sitting on a rock all day eating fish, farting and the only thing to worry about is remembering to keep your bum shut when the tide comes in or you will fill up with water and drown backwards…..

All this said and done, having a pod of dolphins actually choose to come and see us as we float around takes some beating.  Sighting the dolphins some 500 meters from us, we came to a halt and watched the grey fins break the surface, the huff of blowholes taking another gasp of the summer air.  Slowly they came closer and suddenly they were so close, only feet below me.

Dolphins in Clestrain Sound

Right beside the boat

Beneath the lift

I seem to be so madly busy to not blog a whole lot these days.  Maybe this will change when I find this mysterious beast “spare time” which seems to happen to other people and not to me. 

My lack of diving has continued, with the grand total of three and a half dives this year.  The half comes from aborting a dive because the one thing I really wanted to do with my camera was never going to happen unless I developed the dexterity of an octopus at the bottom of the shotline to set my white balance with the new housing.

Today was spent up at the Stromness Academy doing the first half of my community first responder course, the second half being tomorrow.  All very good, learned a lot especially about airways, suction and defibs.  So dont keel over in Stromness from now on, because it could be my ugly mug you wake up to.

Here are some pics taken last week at Lyness Museum.

A macro of some of the markings on the HMS Hampshire propeller at Lyness

More propeller markings

Looking up at the prop

More markings and an adjustment screw

Close up of a gas mask

HMS Royal Oak brass lettering

Porthole from HMS Vanguard