Ness End Reef and Rum Fauds Bay
A concrete walkway leads right up to the waters edge with a drop-off
into about 4m of water and a very easy exit at the end of the dive.
The walkway leads you into a channel between the shore and the reef,
allowing you to head up the channel and around the end of the reef
in either direction.
Heading north, you will pass over a series of gullies and sandy
areas, commonly inhabited by crabs and lobsters in the rocky parts
and dabs and flounders on the sandy patches. Huge shoals of sand
eels are often found. It is possible to swim around the north end
of the reef and head back up the seaward side of the reef, where
conger eels and large cod are often found.
At the southern end of the reef is a series of rock walls that
form the north side of Rum Fauds bay and provide homes to huge numbers
of squat lobsters, blennies and shannies, with occasional lobsters
and large crabs
Green Ends Gulley
This shore dive is easiest accessed at high tide and provides a
series of interesting gullies to explore. At the end of the gulley
you can head south and navigate back into the Ness End Reef channel,
or head north along the shore towards the harbour entrance. This
is a favourite spot for lobster creels and is inhabited by many
of these wonderful creatures. Walls encrusted with soft coral and
sponges make this an attractive dive.
Weasel Loch
By parking on the cliff top adjacent to Northburn Holiday Centre
access to the sea is down a series of wooden steps to a boulder
gully where entry to the water can be quite difficult at low water,
so this site is best dived at high tide if not for this reason alone.
The loch is a wide sided gully with a coarse sandy bottom, which
is home to a wide variety of hermit crabs, flat fish and starfish.
The steep walls with deep fissures and ledges also house Norwegian
squat lobsters and in the early season (march to may ), male lumpsuckers
can sometimes be found diligently guarding the eggs that have been
laid by the larger female.
Conger Reef
This is a submerged rocky reef system, which can be found from the
entrance of Weasel Loch or by entering the water down the track
into Leeds bay. This site is well known for the diverse amount of
sea life that can be found and is a good area to see wolf-fish,
conger eels, lobsters and large shoals of white fish as well as
brittle stars and plumose or dahlia anemones. Tides can be strong
along the reef so the site is best dived at slack tide, and good
navigation skills will reduce the risk of a long surface swim back
to your exit point.
