Black Carrs

Black Carrs is a tidal reef just outside St Abbs harbour, one of the most reliable boat dives of the St Abbs and Eyemouth Voluntary Marine Reserve. The site consists of a series of granite pinnacles and gullies rising from a sand and pebble bottom at around 20 metres to within 6 to 8 metres of the surface. The walls and overhangs are densely encrusted with plumose anemones, jewel anemones, dead man's fingers, sponges and hydroids, and kelp forests of Laminaria hyperborea blanket the shallower margins. Visibility regularly reaches 8 to 15 metres in summer, exceptional for the North Sea, and water temperature varies between 7 and 14 degrees Celsius. Resident species include wolffish, lumpsuckers, ballan wrasse, cuckoo wrasse, pollack, butterfish, conger eels, lobsters, edible crabs, spider crabs and Atlantic grey seals. Currents off the reef are moderate, and dives are run from charter boats out of St Abbs harbour around slack water. The site is suitable for AOWD-level divers comfortable in cold water with drysuits.