CAPEL ROCK
POSITION 5742.001N 00248.768W (GPS) DEPTH Rock top at HW 4m Seabed at HW 18m
LEVEL Club/Ocean/Open Water Diver
NOTE The best place to launch is at Portknockie harbour and entails a ten-minute boat trip to Cullen bay. If divers out number the capacity of the boat the send the surplus to Cullen harbour. The rock is within sight of the harbour wall at Cullen and it makes shuttling divers to and from the rock very easy. Take care when approaching at low water as the top of the rock will be just under the surface. At spring lows it is found easily due to the floating kelp fronds.
A typical resident of Capel Rock
A marvellous scenic dive on a large pinnacle rising from a rock and sand seabed at 18metres to within a few metres of the surface. Following a shot placed on the top of Capel rock you will soon be swimming amongst the thick kelp covering the upper levels. Upon descending the western side the kelp gives way to overhangs and vertical rock faces. A diverse and numerous population ranging from squat lobsters to bright blue wolf fish inhabit every nook and cranny. It would be a very unobservant diver who surfaced claiming they hadn't seen a thing. On a single dive in the summer months it is common to see shoals of large Saithe, free swimming Ling, Conger eels, Cod, Wolf fish, Ballan wrasse, Blennies and Scorpion fish just to name a few! Along with the fish are the ever-present crustaceans including edible, velvet and swimming crabs, lobsters and hermit crabs. The rock surface is festooned with soft corals, anemones of all types and colours make it a photographers dream. You never know what you will see in the next hole. If you launched at Portknockie then the trip home may reward you with sightings of dolphins and porpoise and of course the wonderful scenery of the cliffs below the village. This area is also a scenic dive but strong current flows around the headland, make an SMB and boat cover a wise precaution. Log book entry 29th May 89.Dive 188 Buddy Lou; took Roy, his brother and Ray. They were impressed. We could see the boat clearly from 15 mtr. The vis was excellent. Saw wolfish (very ugly), lots of Ling, Conger, Lobsters (little uns) squat lobsters and shoals of pollack. Superb dive.(15 mtr 40 mins).
Free swimming Ling, Conger and Wolf eels are a common sight on Capel rock