St Abbs and Eyemouth Visibility and dive conditions
See bottom of page for explanation of headings and tips on how weather affects diving at St Abbs. The potential outlook for diving over the next few days is given in good faith and without any guarantee!
The Selkie has dive spaces this weekend. Call Peter Gibson to book, or for future dates.
| Date | Time | Site | Viz (m) | Cloud Sun |
Tide hr +/- HW |
Present Sea State / Swell / Dive conditions |
Comments / Potential Outlook |
| Thurs 31/05/07 |
-- | St. Abbs | ~5-6m+ | -- | -- | Good diving conditions, slight swell. Last Saturday (26th May) viz about 15m. | Viz will clear up more as swell contineus to die down. Check weather links in left hand nav bar for forecast. |
| Thurs 26/04/07 |
-- | St. Abbs | ~10m+ | -- | -- | Viz was estimated as 7-8m by divers on Tuesday, and over 10m today. No swell and light winds, excellent diving conditions. | Forecast for light winds, swell will depend on offshore winds, but at moment looks good for diving at weekend. |
| Sat 24/03/07 |
-- | St. Abbs | -- | -- | -- | Viz was 3-4m on Thursday. Swell today, so viz could be less. Shore diving closed today, some boats out diving. | Wind direction makes it difficult to predict how swell/diving conditions will develop. |
| Fri 09/03/07 |
-- | St. Abbs | ~5m | -- | -- | no swell, looks good today. | Weekend forecast for SW winds, should be diveable. |
| Fri 23/02/07 |
-- | St. Abbs | -- | -- | -- | swell, dirty water, not diveable today. | -- |
| Thur 01/02/07 |
-- | St. Abbs | ~3+m | -- | -- | calm sea. westerly wind. looking ok for diving. | at moment, looks like it should be ok for weekend |
| Thur 25/01/07 |
-- | St. Abbs | ~1m | -- | -- | about1m swell. viz poor. | uncertain for weekend; IF swell dies down may be ok, but not looking good at moment. winds forecast offshore for Sat (WNW/W) & Sunday (WNW). |
| Fri 19/01/07 |
-- | St. Abbs | 2m | -- | -- | 4ft swell. | forecast offshore wind for Sat (W/SW) & Sunday (W/NW), could be OK for diving. |
| Fri 12/01/07 |
-- | St. Abbs | 5m | -- | -- | still calm, little/no swell. | forecast offshore (W/SW) wind for Sat & Sunday, should be good for diving. |
| Thur 11/01/07 |
-- | St. Abbs | 4 - 5m | -- | -- | little/no swell. Southerly winds. | forecast offshore (W/SW) wind for Sat & Sunday, should be good for diving. |
| Sat 06/01/07 |
09:45 | St. Abbs Skellies |
6m | cloud 7 | +5.5 | sea calm, little offshore wind, sunny afternoon. good diving conditions. viz about 4-5m at West Hurkar, better at Black Carrs about 1pm. Sea temp. about 7-8°C. Many Tritonia hombergi nudibranchs on DMF. | forecast offshore (w/SW) wind for Sunday, should continue to be good for diving. |
| Fri 05/01/07 |
-- | St. Abbs | 5m | -- | -- | some swell, wind offshore, diveable. viz about 6-7m on the Glanmire. | forecast offshore (w/SW) wind for weekend, should be diveable. |
| Fri 29/12/06 |
-- | St. Abbs | 6m | -- | -- | Heavy SE Swell. Yesterday had 8m viz and 2ft swell. | forecast SW and S wind for weekend, should be ok if swell dies down. |
| Fri 15/12/06 |
11:00 | St. Abbs | -- | -- | -- | Slight swell, diveable | forecast offshore wind, should be ok for weekend. |
| Fri 08/12/06 |
11:00 | St. Abbs: Black Carr |
5 |
-- | -- | Slight swell, divers had 4m viz at Skelly. |
swell may increase Saturday as forecast NW wind, should remain diveable. Wind forecast WNW Sunday. |
| Fri 01/12/06 |
-- | St. Abbs: | ~3 |
-- | -- | About 1m or less Easterly swell, Viz about 2m in harbour, estimate about 3m in bay, likely clearer at West Hurker & Petticowick. |
forecast for wind to continue offshore-ish (S/SW), should remain diveable. |
| Wed 29/11/06 |
-- | St. Abbs: W. Hurker & Black Carrs | 9 4 |
-- | -- | Little swell, wind offshore |
forecast for wind to continue offshore, swell should stay low, should remain diveable. |
| Thurs 23/11/06 |
-- | St. Abbs Bay | ~5+ ( 5 on Wed) |
-- | -- | Viz looks better than yesterday. About 0.5m swell at midday today. | Wind forecast for Sat is 12kn S; Sun 12kn SW. If so, should be diveable & with present conditions, viz should also clear up. |
| Sun 19/11/06 |
-- | St. Abbs Bay | ~5 | -- | -- | about 1m Swell | was diveable and even with swell, viz cleared up... |
| Fri 17/11/06 |
-- | St. Abbs Bay | 3 | -- | -- | 1m NE Swell at about 12:00. Wind blowing south/SE; 2m swell more easterly by 4pm. | Viz likely to go due to increased swell today, though winds falling away by evening today. |
| Thurs 16/11/06 | -- | St. Abbs Bay | 3.5 | -- | -- | Some swell came in overnight. Little swell, Southerly winds. Diveable. | Swell likely to die down. should clear up & be diveable at weekend. |
| Wed 15/11/06 | -- | St. Abbs Bay | 7 | -- | -- | diveable. | -- |
| Sun 12/11/06 |
-- | St. Abbs | -- | -- | -- | Boat dives OK. Shore diving closed at harbour due to swell. | -- |
Visibility is the depth to which a white disk (secchi disk ) is visible from the surface, measured as average of two readings - depth to which it is lowered and just no longer visible, and the depth at which it reappears when raised. (Usually there is not too much difference between the two). A tilde indicates an approximate reading that is estimated rather than measured (eg: measured: 5, approx: ~5). Note that surface visibility is often different to visibility at depth. Cloud cover and the height of the sun (indicated by time of day) and sea state will also affect visibility. Cloud cover is measured in octas (8=8/8 = total cloud cover, 0=0/8 = clear sky). The state of the tide when the viz was measured is indicated as number of hours +/- HW Eyemouth and the approximate tidal cycle is indicated by the background: blue = Neaps, red = Springs, yellow = in between.
Tips on how weather affects diving at St Abbs
Swell - if there is much swell, the shore diving conditions can become dangerous, particularly the entry/exit areas. The harbour master closes the harbour at these times. Diving is very often still possible by boat even when the harbour is closed to shore diving.
Wind - anything with west in it is offshore and leads to calmer dive conditions. Even in strong westerlies, the sea below the cliffs tends to be sheltered (I've even had an great dive with about 5m viz in a force 8 gale - admittedly close in the bay where the sea was still sheltered, near Wuddy Rocks). If there is a strong southerly wind, a shore dive at Petticowick may be sheltered, (though there is a steep walk down to the shore, which could be treacherous in rain). Swell will develop if wind turns north or NNW. If there are strong easterly winds, the pub may seem like a more welcoming prospect! :-)