View Full Version : Where did we go wrong with Triple Reef?
alexmaclennan
19-11-06, 18:29
Alan and I definitely stopped at the right parking site according to Dings new divesite guide - Telegraph pole No 29 with '3R', just as on the photo. Slithered down the rock slabs and did two dives. Both times headed out about 300/330 degrees and did a big circle round - once to left and once to right. One was to 27m for 40 mins and the other to 23m for 30 mins. All we saw was a silty shingle slope, a set of small rock steps at 25m amd a boulder slope between 12 and 8m when coming out.
No reefs. Where did we go wrong?
Am I wrong in assuming that the CUSAC drawing that shows three reefs with a cable running across them is the underwater topography at this site?
We were 9.8 miles from the B8000 turnoff.
Grid Ref 94841, 88319
56:02:373N, 05:17:611W
Vodaphone signal available.
alex
That map definitely matches the site that our club calls Gorton Point. Unfortunately, I've never examined the telephone poles there but will do next time we visit! :eek:
The intrigue deepens... :rolleyes:
Hi Alex,
What we done with the Cusac Dive Site Sketch(s) was to get lots of people to draw what they thought represented the underwater topography of the main run of the mill dive sites that the clubs uses. The sketchs were then pulled together and common features defined the chart.
In general the main bearings and key landmark features are reasonably accurate. (Until someone tells me different). I have dived Gortan point many times from these bearings, and normally find the reefs that we look for (I think :) ). The cable shown on the sketch represents the underwater cable running East to West along the site, and usually if you find the cable you can work out you relative position..
Need to go and look at the other photos on CA to see if we are talking about the same site.
Hope that is of some help.
Regards
Jim
alexmaclennan
19-11-06, 21:07
Jim,
I don't doubt that your map of the divesite you call Gortan Point is accurate. I guess that that site is not 'Triple reef' as Ding called it on the divesite directory. It was my assumption that your drawing of 'Gortan point' must equate to Triple reef because:
a) three reefs
b) the Gortein Point divesite drawing shows a wall not reefs.
I'll remove the link on the Triple Reef divesite I put to to your drawing of Gortan Point
We still enjoyed the dives but wonder what we missed.
alex
Well have u guys worked it out yet? As I remember gortien point has one cliff going down to to the right as u face the water to 50m+ and triple reef does what it says on the tin...
Gortein Point has an uneasy access sliding down the rocks before entry. Our club does not use it very often for that reason whereas Twin Reef as we call it has an access which although not as easy or good as Lephinmore is a lot easier.
alexmaclennan
20-11-06, 14:05
Diver Dan,
I need to go out with you some Sundays over the winter and be shown some of the Dumbarton Scot SAC Loch Fyne sites. I find the descriptions of the sites on the B8000 too confusing apart from Anchor Point which we did identify - both by Alan's recollection and by speaking to the group diving there.
alex
Gortein Point has an uneasy access sliding down the rocks before entry. Our club does not use it very often for that reason whereas Twin Reef as we call it has an access which although not as easy or good as Lephinmore is a lot easier.That definitely sounds like the same site as we know as Gorton Point. The access to the water is certainly tricky and could end up with trauma to less than robust dry suits I'm sure. :eek:
You pass over a power cable and there are at least two reefs from my recollection if you head out from the entry & then turn right.
When we were there in May of this year, our kids found newts and tadpoles in a rock pool and were having great fun with some other divers there (not sure where they were from but they had big strobes on their cameras). We took some of the tadpoles home and surprisingly enough they metamorphosed into frogs: must be a popular site for amphibians too! :p
Gortien point is the site with the power cable
Why dont we have a conger alley dive day on both these reefs and we can put this to bed...Maybe we could do U/W maps of these sites as well...