I'd been looking forward to today in fairly equal measures of anticipation and trepidation. Neil has a double kayak and has been threatening to take me out on the water in it sometime. With the tides being as ridiculously low as they have been over the past few days, and with the wind dying down to a mere breeze ('gusting' to 6mph according to the weather forecast), now was the perfect time for me to get out on the open sea with him. Gulp. I've kayaked around a lake before, but that was nine years ago and I've not picked up a paddle since. And I've certainly never been on the sea in one before, ever!
Ok, so here's the back story. I tried snorkelling in the sea once, about fifteen years back I guess, the full wetsuit, flippers and mask combo. It was ok for the first few minutes, but then my mask started filling up with water and I realised I couldn't touch the bottom to stand up and tip the water out. That's when I had what I can only describe as a mild panic attack. I started breathing too heavily and headed straight back into the shallows, which is where I stayed for the rest of the time I was in the sea. My mind was telling me I was being stupid and I was fine, which clearly I was, and I knew that too. But my mind was also telling me that people drown every day and to stay exactly where I was, clinging onto a partially submerged rock for dear life. Eventually I manned up and started snorkelling again. As long as I could touch the bottom I was quite happy and it was brilliant watching fish swim through the swaying weed, but that's about as far as I progressed and I've not been in the sea again since, other than up to my shins whilst rock-pooling. I've bungee jumped and I've skydived with no fear whatsoever, I've been on small boats in huge waves and I've powered across waves in powerful RIBs, but actually into the sea itself? Nah, that's not for me, thanks.
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Me - not at all phased at falling 120mph at 16,500ft. Plop me into six foot of water though... |
Fast forward to today and here I was carrying a kayak to the water's edge with Neil, then shoving my head into a life jacket and being shown how to use a paddle properly. I had a slight 'I'm about to die moment' clambering into the kayak as it wobbled back and forth under my weight whilst I settled into the seat. Happily, seeing as I was only in about eight inches of water at the time, I soon settled down and within moments we were powering out into the open sea with eelgrass and then kelp beds passing below. Really quite fantastic!
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Seventeen feet of pure sexiness |
I think Neil did most of the actual paddling, I just kind of splashed water all over everything, but it was fun and I was looking forward to journeying across to Harlosh Island, situated an entire half a mile or so offshore. Then we cleared the coastline and hit open water for the first time...oooh, suddenly I found myself outside of my comfort zone and with no contingency plan. Neil probably wondered why I'd fallen strangely quiet, but then I saw the beach we were heading for and regained my composure once more. My paddling technique had by now improved and a short while later we were riding the surf onto the beach and clambering out onto Harlosh Island itself. Made it, thank fook for that...
We did a bit of a tramp over and around the island, I caught a female Scathophaga calida and noted lots of young wolf spiders and a large Field Vole scurrying through the undergrowth.
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Young Piratula sp. having a close encounter with my finger |
We did a quick bit of rock-pooling finding the diving beetle Hydroporus nigrita in a pool that was surely salty, but really we were just loitering until the tide fell far enough for us to take advantage of the super low levels. The area of high pressure currently sitting over Skye possibly helped lower the sea level even further than expected, which sounds a bit daft but could actually be true. First mystery species, one which I've still to try and identify, was this encrusting weed growing in the upper rockpools. It seems to be parasitising the rusty coloured stuff, I'd be glad to hear any thoughts regards a determination in the comments.
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I tried a bit. Tasted salty... |
By now the tide was really starting to drop away, so we headed back to the beach and hit some nearby rocks and the exposed kelp beds bigtime. It didn't take us too long to start finding some proper decent sublittoral species. I started strongly with this beauty, a lifer for both of us
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This is the sea spider Pycnogonum littorale |
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Same individual, but lit by LED lights back at my desk that evening |
I've only seen one species of sea spider prior to this, and only three individuals in total. So I was really rather thrilled to find that species here too. In fact, it was here in numbers with maybe a dozen or more seen during our time in the exposed sublittoral zone. Even Neil finally got his eye in and started finding them!
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Nymphon gracile aka 'The Gangy Lancer' with the Pycnogonum littorale |
I heaved one large rock over and found FOUR Nymphon gracile on the underside! Quite ridiculous really, I took two home to confirm the identity seeing as there are two very similar species that could occur here. They wander around like a slo-mo Pholcus, roughly the same size too. They have the cutest ocularium, much like that of a harvestman, and are fascinating creatures to watch as they scrabble and tumble around in a pot of seawater. Of all the animals I've ever seen, I think sea spiders may be the most alien-like of them all.
Here's a (poor) video clip of a Nymphon scrabbling around on the underside of a rock I just heaved over. The voice is Neil watching a skeleton shrimp in a glass pot, he was completely unaware that I was filming - excuse the camera shake as I start giggling!
And here's a quick clip of the Pycnogonum clawing at its temporary prison back on my desk. Sorry for the music, I just let YouTube auto-play whatever it likes when I'm at the microscope. I think it's Dream Theater by the sounds of it.
Dream Theater with sea spiders, now there's something you don't get to experience every day! But there were plenty more species awaiting discovery amongst the rocks and kelp, the curious and the wierd, the plain and the sublime.
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Trivia monacha - the Spotted Cowrie amongst a bed of hydroids |
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A nicely coloured Long-clawed Porcelain Crab Pisidia longicornis |
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A Peanut Worm (Sipuncula) - probably Phascolosoma granulatum which is common up here |
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This is the Orange-clubbed sea slug (Limacia clavigera) |
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Caryophyllia smithii, the Devonshire cup coral. We found quite a few of these under rocks |
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Worm Pipefish, a close relative of the seahorses |
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Unusual yellow form of Botryllus schlosseri the Star Ascidian |
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The sea slug Doris pseudoargus with Desmarestia aculeata, the latter a lifer for me |
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Neil amongst the rocks with exposed kelp bed behind him |
Eventually, sea spidered to the max, we once again hit the kayak in order to visit a rockface that is ordinarily five metres below the surface. Our target was Harlosh Skerry and I was VERY excited at the prospect of encountering a certain species that dwells there.
To my eternal credit, I refrained from bursting into the Hawaaii Five-O theme tune (du-du-duu-duu-DUUH DOOOO....) as we powered towards the skerry. Probably just as well too, otherwise Neil would have heard the gulp I took as we cleared Harlosh Island and were side-swiped by huge waves that I swear were almost seven inches high - wowzers, this was proper scary shizzle all over again! Somehow I managed to largely ignore the fact that we were almost certainly going to capsize and die in the fierce swell, and a few minutes later we were safe and sound in the leeward side of the skerry. And wow...I mean WOW!!! I found myself peering upwards at a vertical cliff face that rose maybe thirty or forty feet above the sea with Edible Sea Urchins somehow clinging to the cliff way above my head height! Ha, how crazy is that?? The rockface I was bobbing up against is ordinarily several metres below the surface, this was a rare opportunity to view an otherwise hidden world and its denizens. Man, this was spectacular!
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Plumose Anemone colony with an Edible Sea Urchin and a small Spiny Starfish to the left |
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Edible Sea Urchins - somehow attached to a vertical rock face! |
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Dead Man's Fingers Coral with a wall of Jewel Anemones beneath!!! Note the drips... |
Here we were, gently rising and falling with the waves, in an overhang full of corals and anemones and urchins - this completely blew my tiny mind! The fact that I only had to extend my arm to touch a coral that is normally hidden several metres below the surface...wow, just incredible! I felt really privileged to be here at a super low tide. Even Neil, who has been here before, had never been here at such a low tide and it was the first time he'd seen the luminous green Jewel Anemones too. It took me a couple of minutes of careful squirming to dig the camera out of my pocket, still attached by carabiner and cord to my belt hoop, but I'm so very glad I was able to record this amazing scene. Oh, I did a bit of an impromptu video too...
Despite what I said on that clip, I think Neil meant something else and not the Beadlet Anemones that were smothering the rocks. Trouble is that it's not massively easy to turn around in a kayak, so I'm not convinced we were looking at the same things. Gratuitous overhang pics now follow...
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You can see the coral's open polyps beneath the surface in this last image |
Finally we had our fill and swung back out into the open water. It seems the corals only grow along this one short section of rock face on the north side of the skerry, maybe as filter feeders they require the protection from fast currents that is provided on the leeward side of the skerry. We did a quick paddle to the exposed southern tip where I was delighted to find a huddle of four Purple Sandpipers up on a ledge. I bet they weren't expecting to see humans today!
A mile or so later and we were back at Harlosh slipway, slowly edging our way through the kelp and hidden rocks in less than a foot of water. Then, having effectively grounded ourselves in the shallows, our adventure was over. Man alive, that was a fantastic introduction to sea kayaking! Many thanks to Neil for the invite, what a guy and what a day!