IanStevenson
26-04-06, 12:40
Lochaline Trip Report
Another weekend, another dive trip [:D]
Once again, we were diving with Deep Blue Scuba out of Edinburgh (www.deepbluescuba.co.uk). We were staying at the Lochaline dive centre, the old post office on the seafront (www.lochalinedivecentre.co.uk) and diving off the MV Brendan (www.lochaline-boats.co.uk).
Ruth and I took the Friday off work and in glorious sunshine meandered across the country, taking in Bonawe Iron Furnace and Dunstaffnage castle (next to the chamber!) on the way over to Oban. We looked in on Puffin Divers with future trips in mind, and they certainly have a very well stocked shop and a good range of dive boats! The drive up the coast to Lochaline, and the trip on the Corran ferry, were just wonderful on such a lovely summery day. Once we arrived, we were even able to sit outside the pub while we waited for the lasagna to cook!
By Saturday morning the wind was whistling around the eaves of the house, and the sea had got a bit choppy. We weren't too sure we were going to have a pleasant day as we loaded the Brendan up with our gear, but Alan is a good skipper and its a very seaworthy boat so the ride out to our first site was pretty smooth.
The first dive we did was on the Thesis, a wreck lying on a slope with the bow at 16m and the stern at 30m. There was a strong surface current so we had to descend clinging onto the shot or be swept away. This was my first wreck dive, so I was pretty excited as the hulk came into view in 5m+ vis. Ruth hovered off the side as I struggled to convince myself lettin go go of the shot was a good idea - my mind wasn't quite accepting that there was little current at this depth! She's pretty in tact and boat shaped, althougn many of the iron plates have fallen off since she sank in 1891 so in parts the deck is in tact but the hull is just ribs. There is a lot of growth on the wreck, and some large wrasse lurk under the winch and other deck fittings. It was great to descend into the holds and be able to see out through the ribs. We descended cautiously towards the stern having never been below 23m in UK conditions before we took it easy, but we were both under good control and there was plenty of light so in the end we went right down to the stern rail at 29.7m, then worked our way slowly back up.
The second dive was on a site called "Grey Rocks" that Alan apparently only started putting divers on in the last year or so. He tells us afterwards that he misjudged the drop point and we missed the best of the site, but that is a bit like telling a £1m lottery winner that they are being charged £5 for posting the cheque out! The site is just amazing. We descended onto a kelp forrest at 5m then swam down into a rocky gully at 18m or so. The floor was coated with dead mens fingers and plumrose anemones with occasional kelp to add atmosphere, and as we drifted gently along the gully with the current it gave way to a spectacular wall, with loads of anemones, devonshire cup corals, urchins and starfish, sunstars... The seabed was grit and rock with large edible crabs and scallops. Drifting a little further we were over a kelp forrest. Afer a bit of a swim round we followed the reversing current back almost to the entry point before sending up the blob! It was a truly amazing scenic dive.
On returning we once again had a couple of quiet pints while dinner (curry) cooked and an early night as we were all exhausted after being out and about all day!
Sunday dawned sunny and still - hurrah! Alan assured us that it was like this on the Sound of Mull 364 days a year and we'd just got unlucky. Would you buy a used car from this man?
The first dive was on the steeply sloping wall of an island - Sligneach Mor. We dropped in just off the shore and swam until we could see the kelp below us (to make sure we didn't miss the wall!) then descended to about 6m. Vis was great (8m+) so we had a nice easy descent with good visual reference, then swam down the slope onto the wall and descended to about 25m. There was lots of life again, soft corals, crabs, some small blennies, and a scorpionfish! There were also lots of wee nooks and crannies that I hoped might yield a conger or lobster, but nothing doing. About half way through the dive some less experienced divers (yes, that it possible) came past us bouncing off the wall and bottom and generally crapping out vis (and knocking off sea urchins), so the last part of the dive was in 3-4m vis :-(
Last dive of the trip was the cliff wall at Auliston Point. Did this at about 20m, and this time Ruth and I were diving with two other divers, Jan and Derek. Jan was excellent at identifying interesting little bits of life and pointing them out, so we saw more scorpionfish and a lot more small scale life, like tube-worms, devonshire cup corals, and several different types of nudibranch. We even saw mating nudibranch, and several nudibranch egg strutures (one with the nudibranch still laying!). Very nice scenic dive with lots of life! Several times we saw large fish at the extremes of vis (5m+ again) often above us on the wall, but never close enough to identify.
Jan shot her DSMB at the end of the dive, so unusually for me I was making a free ascent (usually I do the reel when it's just Ruth and I). I was a bit nervous I would make a tit of myself in the company of more experienced divers trying to hold a safety stop with no shot or reel to hold on to, but it turned out to be no problem at all! Much easier to concentrate on bouyancy when you've not got a reel to worry about. After the dive one of them commented we both looked very still on the safety stop (hurrah!) but it was Ruth who got the ultimate accolade from an experienced DM - "you were so still in the water I had to keep checking you weren't kneeling on something!).
The sun stayed out for our drive back across Rannoch Moor and down through the trossachs for Edinburgh, the low sun bringing out the relief of the mountain peaks.
My only regret is not taking my camera, but I had made a very concious decision to concentrate on my diving over the weekend, and I really think it paid off. I feel like master of my new kit after the weekend. Maybe the camera will come to St Abbs with me this weekend....
We had a glorious weekend, and although it's a long old haul for many of you I would wholeheartedly recommend the diving in the Sound of Mull, tHe MV Brandan, and the Lochaline Dive Centre. For me it was wonderful to have some spectacular scenic diving in decent vis, and to lose my wreck virginity. Thanks to Beth, Alan etc for making it all possible, and to everyone else on the trip for making it fun!
Ian
Another weekend, another dive trip [:D]
Once again, we were diving with Deep Blue Scuba out of Edinburgh (www.deepbluescuba.co.uk). We were staying at the Lochaline dive centre, the old post office on the seafront (www.lochalinedivecentre.co.uk) and diving off the MV Brendan (www.lochaline-boats.co.uk).
Ruth and I took the Friday off work and in glorious sunshine meandered across the country, taking in Bonawe Iron Furnace and Dunstaffnage castle (next to the chamber!) on the way over to Oban. We looked in on Puffin Divers with future trips in mind, and they certainly have a very well stocked shop and a good range of dive boats! The drive up the coast to Lochaline, and the trip on the Corran ferry, were just wonderful on such a lovely summery day. Once we arrived, we were even able to sit outside the pub while we waited for the lasagna to cook!
By Saturday morning the wind was whistling around the eaves of the house, and the sea had got a bit choppy. We weren't too sure we were going to have a pleasant day as we loaded the Brendan up with our gear, but Alan is a good skipper and its a very seaworthy boat so the ride out to our first site was pretty smooth.
The first dive we did was on the Thesis, a wreck lying on a slope with the bow at 16m and the stern at 30m. There was a strong surface current so we had to descend clinging onto the shot or be swept away. This was my first wreck dive, so I was pretty excited as the hulk came into view in 5m+ vis. Ruth hovered off the side as I struggled to convince myself lettin go go of the shot was a good idea - my mind wasn't quite accepting that there was little current at this depth! She's pretty in tact and boat shaped, althougn many of the iron plates have fallen off since she sank in 1891 so in parts the deck is in tact but the hull is just ribs. There is a lot of growth on the wreck, and some large wrasse lurk under the winch and other deck fittings. It was great to descend into the holds and be able to see out through the ribs. We descended cautiously towards the stern having never been below 23m in UK conditions before we took it easy, but we were both under good control and there was plenty of light so in the end we went right down to the stern rail at 29.7m, then worked our way slowly back up.
The second dive was on a site called "Grey Rocks" that Alan apparently only started putting divers on in the last year or so. He tells us afterwards that he misjudged the drop point and we missed the best of the site, but that is a bit like telling a £1m lottery winner that they are being charged £5 for posting the cheque out! The site is just amazing. We descended onto a kelp forrest at 5m then swam down into a rocky gully at 18m or so. The floor was coated with dead mens fingers and plumrose anemones with occasional kelp to add atmosphere, and as we drifted gently along the gully with the current it gave way to a spectacular wall, with loads of anemones, devonshire cup corals, urchins and starfish, sunstars... The seabed was grit and rock with large edible crabs and scallops. Drifting a little further we were over a kelp forrest. Afer a bit of a swim round we followed the reversing current back almost to the entry point before sending up the blob! It was a truly amazing scenic dive.
On returning we once again had a couple of quiet pints while dinner (curry) cooked and an early night as we were all exhausted after being out and about all day!
Sunday dawned sunny and still - hurrah! Alan assured us that it was like this on the Sound of Mull 364 days a year and we'd just got unlucky. Would you buy a used car from this man?
The first dive was on the steeply sloping wall of an island - Sligneach Mor. We dropped in just off the shore and swam until we could see the kelp below us (to make sure we didn't miss the wall!) then descended to about 6m. Vis was great (8m+) so we had a nice easy descent with good visual reference, then swam down the slope onto the wall and descended to about 25m. There was lots of life again, soft corals, crabs, some small blennies, and a scorpionfish! There were also lots of wee nooks and crannies that I hoped might yield a conger or lobster, but nothing doing. About half way through the dive some less experienced divers (yes, that it possible) came past us bouncing off the wall and bottom and generally crapping out vis (and knocking off sea urchins), so the last part of the dive was in 3-4m vis :-(
Last dive of the trip was the cliff wall at Auliston Point. Did this at about 20m, and this time Ruth and I were diving with two other divers, Jan and Derek. Jan was excellent at identifying interesting little bits of life and pointing them out, so we saw more scorpionfish and a lot more small scale life, like tube-worms, devonshire cup corals, and several different types of nudibranch. We even saw mating nudibranch, and several nudibranch egg strutures (one with the nudibranch still laying!). Very nice scenic dive with lots of life! Several times we saw large fish at the extremes of vis (5m+ again) often above us on the wall, but never close enough to identify.
Jan shot her DSMB at the end of the dive, so unusually for me I was making a free ascent (usually I do the reel when it's just Ruth and I). I was a bit nervous I would make a tit of myself in the company of more experienced divers trying to hold a safety stop with no shot or reel to hold on to, but it turned out to be no problem at all! Much easier to concentrate on bouyancy when you've not got a reel to worry about. After the dive one of them commented we both looked very still on the safety stop (hurrah!) but it was Ruth who got the ultimate accolade from an experienced DM - "you were so still in the water I had to keep checking you weren't kneeling on something!).
The sun stayed out for our drive back across Rannoch Moor and down through the trossachs for Edinburgh, the low sun bringing out the relief of the mountain peaks.
My only regret is not taking my camera, but I had made a very concious decision to concentrate on my diving over the weekend, and I really think it paid off. I feel like master of my new kit after the weekend. Maybe the camera will come to St Abbs with me this weekend....
We had a glorious weekend, and although it's a long old haul for many of you I would wholeheartedly recommend the diving in the Sound of Mull, tHe MV Brandan, and the Lochaline Dive Centre. For me it was wonderful to have some spectacular scenic diving in decent vis, and to lose my wreck virginity. Thanks to Beth, Alan etc for making it all possible, and to everyone else on the trip for making it fun!
Ian