Your first thoughts to the above statement might be"Why? Isn't it cold and murky?". Well truth be told - Yes the Water is cold, but YOU won't be, as you'll be wearing a nice and warm Dry Suit. Yes it can be murky on occasions, but you can also be offered stunning visibility. Even though Scotland's weather isn't the same as the Caribean, the diving can still be awesome.

The Pecten Sub-Aqua Club is based in Aberdeen, so quite a few dives in the year will be organised around the Aberdeenshire and Moray coasts. Those beautiful sandy beaches and rivers do not, however, help with underwater visibility although conditions on the east coast are best in the mid-Summer, May through September. The Moray coast has less problems with visibility and can be dived all year around. Underwater visibility in the Moray Firth can be as good as 20m. The easiest diving is off the beach or rocks and there are some excellent sites with access to water depths of 25m within a few meters of shore. A boat can access more sites and there is a charter hard boat now operating out of Lossiemouth.

What can you expect to see?

First of all there are the places, historic harbours and villages steeped in history like Stone Haven, Dunnottar Castle (the scene of the Hamlet movie with Mel Gibson), Todhead Lighthouse and the Spring Sea bird nesting colonies on the cliffs, with Puffins, Shear Waters, Razor Bills, Fulmars, Terns, Cormorants, Shags and on the beaches Dunlins, and Eider Ducks in the sea. Then there are the town and villages of Rosehearty, Pennean, Banff and Macduff, Portsoy and Postknockie and the bird massive bird sanctuary at Newburgh with several species of Tern, and migratory ducks.

But you came for the diving. Underwater south of Aberdeen, the rocks are conglomerate, with stones smoothed from river action, fused into a softer red binding rock. The sea has created deep cuts into this rock, with caves, gullies and islands. The sea life consists of shrimps, crabs, lobster, star fish, lump suckers, sand eels occasionally, Saithe, Plumose anemone and urchins.

From Boddam north and west the rock changes to granite, where the sea has had more difficulty crafting out its sculptures, but there are some islands like the Scarries off Boddam light house which are good dive sites. The Sea is usually very clear here except when the wind has been from the Northeast for a few days. Expect to see every fish that inhabits the North Sea, Cod, Haddock, Pollock, Ling, Conger eels, Wolf Fish, Wrasse, Saithe, Dabs, Monk Fish, Octopus and more. There is even a family of Dolphins living in the Moray Firth and you see them from time to time.

There is also Fresh water diving, in the River Dee at the Linn of Dee, 45miles upstream. The Dee pours through a labyrinth of rock caverns, now open to the sky, but, over time, whirlpools and entrained rocks and sand have hollowed out circular holes and underwater smooth rock contours. The rock has Mica in it so it reflects torchlight like underwater frost. It is not uncommon to see fresh water eels, Brown and rainbow trout, and if you are lucky adult sea salmon on their way upstream to spawn.

We also go further a field than Aberdeenshire and the Moray Firth, and organise about 6 expeditions per year to such places as the Sound of Mull, Shetland, the Sound of Sleat at Mallaig, Cape Wrath, the Garvellachs, Summer Isles by Ullapool, the Firth of Clyde wrecks, the Bass and Creige Rocks off North Berwick and the Marine reserve by St Abbs. Diving the Scottish west coast is fantastic above and below the water. The scenery is unsurpassed in the UK and totally unspoilt and you may see Whales, Seals, and Dolphin, dive with Basking Sharks and see wild Otters.

Some of the sea lochs hold fascinating secrets, with their steep walls and varying underwater vegetation, rock and sand formation and fish and vertebrate life. Visibility is usually more than 10m but often as good as 20m. There is excitement also as you do a drift dive in Kyle Rhea between Skye and the mainland, where the tide runs at about 6 knots at half tide and which feels like an express train ride underwater.

Underwater, the rich currents up welling from the Atlantic driven by the Gulf Stream feed an enormous variety of sea life. The sea floor can be covered with a carpet of Brittle Star fish, so many they look like a well cut lawn, or a vertical wall of Plumos anemone as big as footballs, cream, peach and white. Walls of dead man fingers (each as can be 30cm long and 10cm diameter) and jewel anemones can often be seen with so many colours that they create a living painting.

There can occasionally be additional rewards with some fresh Scallops or the occasional crab to take home for a fantastic meal.

It’s too cold you say, but with a good Dry suit you do not feel the cold. The west coast is usually warmer with the Gulf Stream, and you can stay underwater for upto an hour if you control your air and depth. The East Coast is colder, as low as 5C in Winter but fine in May, June, July and August.

And how do we do our Xmas shopping? We go to Edinburgh for the day, then in the evening go to the North Queens Ferry, Deep Sea World and dive in the tank with the Tiger Sharks while tripping over the Flounder and Skates and Halibut with the rest of the family taking pictures of the divers from their clear plastic walk through a subsea passage.

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