Читать книгу Into the Abyss. Diving to Adventure in the Liquid World онлайн

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For us, as divers, to get down to Gardenstown towing a dive boat, was something of an art form. We had to manoeuvre down a hugely steep road off the main Elgin to Fraserburgh trunk road. This road way meanders down through a confusion of old fishermen’s houses with a couple of surprisingly tight hair pin turns which, towing a boat, we could only make by the barest of margins by taking a wide swing at it as slowly as possible.

Once down at the harbour we were able to launch our boats and then motor down the coast to the east along plunging cliffs dotted with a white confusion of seabirds until we found a convenient sheltered cove to anchor in, within a stone’s throw of the cliffs.

Once kitted up, we would roll over the side of the boat into perfect visibility. It was often possible to see the seabed 20 metres below as soon as you entered the water. I never got over the sensation of weightlessness as I floated suspended in the sea, looking down some distance to the seabed below.

I was always amazed to be able to see other divers exploring far down below in the distance. Their columns of brilliant white and silver exhaust bubbles belched and broke into smaller bubbles as they expanded and strained upwards towards the surface.