Scotland

Clawed lobster typically have two differently-sized pincers. The larger of the two is the crusher, and it’s used for -- you guessed it -- crushing through the shells and carapaces of its prey. The smaller of the two claws, the cutter or seizer, grabs onto meat and shreds it.

Take a walk around a historic harbour and ancient castle to enjoy a dive (but only at high tide!), as Lawson Wood explores Dunbar

Photographs by Lawson Wood

Dunbar isn’t usually on most diver’s want-to-do list,

but for those who love shore diving, this was one of the first areas that local divers did as it was so convenient. There was ample parking nearby, fairly quiet and easy access off the shore, but preferably at high tide, as like many of the coastal sites along the southeast coast of Scotland, the lower shore is a mess of algae-covered small rocks and rounded boulders. With this stretch of coastline having a six metre tide, this is really significant for this type of shore dive.

This is quite a simple dive as the entry bay is sheltered from the worst of any sea swell by a protective outer ring of rocks, as well as a secondary barrier further out to sea. The entry is at the seaward side of the harbour, so there is a bit of a walk with all your kit on. Almost at the end of the harbour is a small sea wall between two outcrops of rock on the right-hand side (seaward side), a small scramble over this and you are into the water at high tide.

Once in the water, the seabed is covered in kelp and green algae-covered boulders with sea urchins, edible crabs, small lobster and plenty of squat lobster and juvenile fish. The protective rocks are cut with fissures and here you can find the strident squat lobster (Galathea strigosa) with its brilliant orange/red shell and almost-fluorescent blue markings. The kelp above has a huge amount of nudibranchs and this congregation changes during the season as the water warms up. The largest of these is the Triton nudibranch (Tritonia hombergi) as it grows over a second season and lives exclusively on dead man’s fingers soft corals.

Swimming over the algae-covered rocks at the start of the dive you will see small beadlet anemones (we used to call them ‘blood-suckers’ as kids!), a brilliant dark blood red in colour surrounded by a ring of bright blue eyes. Winkles, whelks, small green crabs and thousands of small two-spot gobies (Gobiusculus flavescens) and the white-stripe shrimp (Hippolyte inermis) swim over this moving green mat. Hermit crabs are everywhere, scavenging on any dead pieces of algae or marine critters, but look out for the ones with a fuzzy coat, as these are covered in a particular hydroid that only grows on a particular shell, this is the hermit crab hydroid (Hydractinia echinata).

The rocky reef is cut with small fissures and holes for critters to hide in, but once you swim around to the far side the depth drops to around 15m and the marine life changes, with large plumose anemones, dahlia anemones, brittle starfish beds and large sun starfish which are quite rare to be able to find on a shore dive.

This region of the outer rocks channel is almost an entirely different ecosystem. The upper regions have kelp, but below the kelp line you can find Devonshire cup-corals, once considered quite rare in this region as it is predominantly a British west and south coast species. Similarly, the long-clawed squat lobster and feather starfish or crinoids were also exclusively west coast, but over the years, these and many more species once considered rare are now found on virtually every east coast dive.

The rock strata is more open, making it the perfect habitat for leopard-spotted gobies and various shrimps, living quite happily together. Here you can also find plumose anemones, deep water dahlia anemones and tons of elegant anemones in various colours. This line of rocks is nice and open, so if you have had enough, you can just turn back in towards the shore gully. For those wanting more, you can turn in the opposite direction, turn out to

Plumose anemone

This is quite a simple dive as the entry bay is sheltered from the worst of any sea swell by a protective outer ring of rocks, as well as a secondary barrier further out to sea

Ballan wrasse Colours you’d expect in the Caribbean

Flabellina pedata nudibranch

Aerial view of Dunbar harbour

Hermit crab hydroid

There are some great diving spots just outside the harbour with good shore diving and four small islands nearby worth exploring. If you have a boat there are some wrecks a little further offshore that are rewarding dives.

Diver in the kelp beds

Velvet swimming crab

sea and locate the outer line of this three-layer reef, which runs parallel to the harbour wall. Larger schools of juvenile pollock and sand eels are found here and again, the dive has an entirely different feel. Among the seaweeds you can regularly find the snake pipefish (Entelurus aequorus).

On the more scrubby rocks, Dunbar is one of the few places on the southeast coast of Scotland where you can find the northern polycera (Polycera faeroensis). Looking very much like its cousin Polycera quadrilineata, which are seen in abundance feeding on hydroid-covered kelp fronds, the northern polycera is more uniformly white in colour with brilliant yellow tips to all its appendages, of which it has many. Ballan wrasse (Labrus bergylta) are everywhere

The upper regions have kelp, but below the kelp line you can find Devonshire cup-corals, once considered quite rare in this region as it is predominantly a British west and south coast species

and very synonymous of east coast diving, but in the summer months, various other inshore species show up. So keep diving the site to enjoy it in all seasons.

What started out as a fairly easy dive is able to evolve into an area for greater exploration, a wider range of marine life encounters and overall, a perfect place for all levels of expertise - and all above 18m!

As this dive is quite far from the public eye, it is better to let someone know where you are going – just in case! There are no hazards per se, except perhaps for some small lobster and crab boats which also only venture near these rocks at high tide.

There is no current to speak of, but the dive can be greatly influenced by any sea swell as this does stir up the visibility of this shallow site and can be troublesome on entry and exit from the water. n

Two-spot goby

Harlequin shrimp

Got gas?

There is no air compressor in Dunbar, so divers must take everything with them and get air or enriched air elsewhere. The closest place is at Eyemouth, where Dive Stay at Eyemouth operate the Ship Hotel, Home Arms Guest House and the Glenerne Guest House in Eyemouth. Contact email: gary@divestay.co.uk

Vivid strident squat lobster

The entrance to the harbour