Feasting off the Sea

A pair of Flabellina sp. nudibranchs feasting among the Oaten Pipe hydroids

The wildlife at this time of year is abundant everything is feasting & breeding, unfortunately this has also included the plankton. Signs of change are present, plankton is burning itself out, it is past the peak and is settling out, we are approaching the prime UK dive season, with clear waters & temperatures in the teens, bring it on!

I was diving the SS Salsette on the first Sunday in June with Skindeep Diving(boarding the boat just a stone’s throw from the O’Three factory). The plankton remains thick on the Salsette but I do think it is slowly getting better, I probably had 2m viz. Reports that the M2 dive not far away on the same slack window had 5m+ viz just goes to show how fickle the conditions are at this time of year, with patches of plankton swirling around. Just hang on in there!

P & O liner SS Salsette

Ever the optimist, I had a great dive, the wreck needs no introduction, for more information check out the Wreck tour here:

http://www.divernet.com/wreck-tours/p301702-wreck-tour:-11the-salsette.html

Hydroids, nudibranchs(look carefully) & anemones covering the wreckage of the Salsette.

The wreck is alive with critters at this time of year and I was delighted to find many Flabellina nudibranchs feasting on the oaten pipe hydroids that cover the wreck.

Oaten pipe hydroids

In poor viz look closely, I could barely make out wreck structure but it is an amazing artificial reef. you may be surprised by what you can find.

Flabellina feasting on Oaten pipe hydroids, with the nudibranch eggs on the stalks.

Beside the interesting macro sized critters, for me a real treat of this dive was the capture of a lobster and my own subsequent feasting on it.

I apologise now to those who do not like the idea of harvesting from the sea for your own consumption but I feel it is probably the most sustainable of all types of fishing; I was on the wreck, spotted the lobster, caught it, took it home, prepared, cooked & ate it. In addition, I had already found one that had a soft shell which I did not take and still lives on the wreck to grow & mature. You can also leave behind any females carrying eggs.

It isn’t always like that: Revenge of the Lobster….

Going back to past exploits, some years ago I was diving from Chris Lowe’s Atlantic Diver based in Newquay, Cornwall. I recall diving a wreck called the Vesuvius, this was a prototype motor torpedo boat built in 1874. She had a rather odd arrangement, having a submerged tube located within the bow itself. It also had a strange louvre type structure over the deck for ventilation and originally she was built without a funnel to keep her profile low & stealthy, this proved to be its downfall since the fuel was difficult to light and once lit the crew were continually smothered in toxic fumes. Soon after being built she was fitted with a tall funnel to assist raising steam, she never saw enemy action and spent her life at the Royal Naval torpedo school, HMS Vernon. She foundered whilst under tow in 1924, on her way to the breakers yard.

HMS Vesuvius, after the tall funnel had been installed

Back to the dive, the Vesuvius lies in about 50m, she is a small wreck easy to get around in a single dive. Just before the start of my ascent I spotted a lobster which looked in a fairly accessible position, I was sure I could get it into my bag easily. I managed to get hold of it and was in the process of transferring said beast into my goody bag when it got hold of one of the handset hoses of the rebreather(at the time I was diving with a Classic Inspiration, with 2 handsets that are connected to the rest of the rebreather by low pressure hose which carries the wiring for the rebreather electronics).

I watched as the cutting claw of the lobster grabbed hold of the hose and closed, it squeezed it down to barely 1mm thick. I was shocked and a little perturbed that this crustacean was fighting back! I was able to release the claw and the lobster did end up in the bag.

Portrait of a Lobster

This was not the end of this particular story though! At the time of the incident my rebreather didn’t miss a beat and I thought no harm had been done but in the weeks that followed quirky problems developed, I recall getting ready to jump in for a dive having gone through all my prep, only to look at the rebreather display to find it switched off, potentially a very serious issue. On another occasion one of the handsets switched off at depth for no reason, again not good.

I sent my rebreather back to the APdiving factory in Cornwall, telling them what had happened. After they finished laughing and they came to look at it they found the wiring had been damaged where it had been crushed but more significantly the hose itself had been punctured by the lobster claw. Not enough to affect the water tightness of the rebreather, it passed all its pressure checks; But a minute seepage of salt water into the electronics of the rebreather, this was what was causing the odd symptoms. The cure was a new hose & wiring loom for the rebreather, and cost me in the region of £600.00 to get it fixed. An expensive lobster!

For some time after, I gave lobsters a wide berth. Now if I do collect one I am very careful transferring it to the bag, there are just too many important bits of kit that could be caught! I also attach the bag to my SMB buoy at the end of the dive, this keeps it out of the way as I ascend.

Goody bag & lobster at the surface, rather better viz in the shallows.

Of course when you have your lobster you need to prepare it, there is no easy way to do this but I believe speed is the essence for dispatching your lobster.

For a fantastic grilled lobster place it on a wooden chopping board then taking a sharp & sturdy knife split the head into two parts lengthways, using a mallet if necessary to cut through the tough shell, after this (and the lobster will be dead now) split the tail into 2 halves. your lobster is now ready for cooking.

Tail meat, large claws with the succulent sweet meat, (this lobster had lost one, before I came across him). The green coloured material in the body cavity is the “Tomalley” and is an organ that functions as the Liver & Pancreas in crustaceans, it has a distinctive taste, people can be put off by it’s appearance but it is considered a delicacy, it can be eaten alone or is used in soups & pates.

Split lobster on the grill

So take your lobster halves, season to taste, for something a bit different you could try spreading finely chopped garlic, chilli & a squeeze lime juice prior to cooking.

I put it directly onto a gas barbecue, shell side to the heat then cooked with the barbecue lid closed until it has all changed colour and the flesh cooked, for this lobster it took about 20 minutes, the shell protects the meat from burning and it cooks in its own juices. Alternatively flip it from time to time to get a more charred flavour. Other items that need cooking can be done at the same time. Along side the lobster I cooked pepper slices, Haloumi cheese & asparagus and the whole lot was served with buttered Jersey Royal new potatoes and a bottle of chilled Muscadet sur lie, a real feast.

Lobster, Haloumi, sweet pepper & asparagus, what a feast!

The whole lot fed 4 of us and I gained valuable Brownie points for future underwater adventures!