View Full Version : The Caves, Loch Long @ Night.
Our night dive at the caves on Loch Long (Friday 28th April) turned out to be rather fruitful.
On the second dive, with my buddy. We saw a large ghostly white image lurk amongst the gloom of what was relatively poor viz; some 4 meters or so.
There it was again! only 30 seconds later, “Beryl the seal” had returned!
We have met before & named her Beryl, however I suspect she has several names.
She gained a few more by the end of the dive.
We had countless sightings of the seal, well over twenty I guess, I gave up counting them after 15 as she appeared almost every 40 seconds. :)
With ever decreasing circles & confidence to approach us I did wonder
what she was up to & more importantly, our safety at 25 meters.
We soon ascended to the shallows of 10 meters to discover
this was where most of the fish life was.
Beryl the seal was more & more sighted here chasing fish which wriggled helplessly as they swam for their lives.
Some survived, I saw her actually catch two which did not. An amazing sight to see.
We assume she was fishing with the aid of our torches.
One moment was quite alarming as my buddy & I ascended over a rock to be confronted by the seal on a head first collision course; homing in with torpedo like speed :eek: she altered her course
at the last moment & dived past me on my left side only to return from behind a rock
with a fish hanging out either side of her mouth; the fish then disappeared almost instantly.
What a great dive; cant wait to do it again.:D
p.s. if anyone finds or found a pair of 5mm gloves there, let me know.
Our night dive at the caves on Loch Long (Friday 28th April) turned out to be rather fruitful.
On the second dive, with my buddy. We saw a large ghostly white image lurk amongst the gloom of what was relatively poor viz; some 4 meters or so.
There it was again! only 30 seconds later, “Beryl the seal” had returned!
We have met before & named her Beryl, however I suspect she has several names.
She gained a few more by the end of the dive.
We had countless sightings of the seal, well over twenty I guess, I gave up counting them after 15 as she appeared almost every 40 seconds. :)
With ever decreasing circles & confidence to approach us I did wonder
what she was up to & more importantly, our safety at 25 meters.
We soon ascended to the shallows of 10 meters to discover
this was where most of the fish life was.
Beryl the seal was more & more sighted here chasing fish which wriggled helplessly as they swam for their lives.
Some survived, I saw her actually catch two which did not. An amazing sight to see.
We assume she was fishing with the aid of our torches.
One moment was quite alarming as my buddy & I ascended over a rock to be confronted by the seal on a head first collision course; homing in with torpedo like speed :eek: she altered her course
at the last moment & dived past me on my left side only to return from behind a rock
with a fish hanging out either side of her mouth; the fish then disappeared almost instantly.
What a great dive; cant wait to do it again.:D
p.s. if anyone finds or found a pair of 5mm gloves there, let me know.
I think the caves at night ranks as the best dive in central scotland and its only 1 hour from glasgow or less if u drive faster not that I would do that
:rolleyes:
Absolutely. Thanks for the report about Beryl, Stewart.
Bubblemaker has seen as seal a few times at Conger, possibly the same one?
I love the dramatic scenery at the Caves: well worth the awkward entry. Although how many times have I been lazy and just done Conger because I couldn't be rsed goin down that pipe ...:rolleyes:
Get a few divers on the Caves with good viz, at night, preferably with Light Cannons, and it looks like a scene from "Total Recall" ... plutonium miners on Mars.
... maybe I should ease of the medication ...
I also did the Caves on Monday morning, the viz was around 5 meters & showed very little fish life.
the temp was 8 degrees, brrrr.
i love the caves, i agree it is also one of my favourite dive sites & being so close makes it more appealing. it took us 2 hours last friday to get there due to the bank holiday weekend traffic.:mad:
Beryl the seal is more of a grey colour with black mottled flecks.
she was sporting a "golf ball" size gash on her back.
most likely from bouncing of a rock.
there is a brand new shiney blue nylon floaty rope in place. which runs all the way through the tunnel, round a few trees & down to the water.
i have dived the Caves many times & fortunate never to have had an incident decending or ascending the rocks.
although one of our dive party (who will remain nameless)bounced on his rse:eek: on that very night.
isn't that right Jimmy?
Great, have not dived this site for over a year and glad to hear she is still out and about.
The caves has to be one of the finest dives, it is like floating over a mountain range, amazing and truley exhillerating. With her presance and many a large Pollock or Saith slinking beside you using your body as protection it's brilliant.
Can't wait to dive it again
Great, have not dived this site for over a year and glad to hear she is still out and about.
The caves has to be one of the finest dives, it is like floating over a mountain range, amazing and truley exhillerating. With her presance and many a large Pollock or Saith slinking beside you using your body as protection it's brilliant.
Can't wait to dive it again
Its amazing how few divers have actually been in the cave most just look in and swim on. I used to dive the caves with wilson and u know wilson no hole to small, he went in every hole he found. and I'v herd of people diving with wilson who waited until he came round from the other side because they would not go in. I miss not having wilson in the club.:cool: :cool: :cool:
Been chatting with others about the caves & heard the same old story about a lower set of caves.
I have dived in the region of 18-28 meters (depending on tide) to find the usual caves however the perhaps mythical or true story about some caves around the 50 meter mark has raised it’s head again.
What I know of these is:-
Surface swim to the left, around the 2nd point then ascend to around 50 meters & you will come across them after a drop off within the silt.
I have been to 32 meters around that area & swam out from the reef to around 38 meters but this is rather slow & tedious as the ground is rather shallow gradient.
There is nothing to see except darkness & silt on the bottom. A compass bearing was taken to find the way back to the reef.
When I did this I was in the area just after the caves & the start of the scree slope, before the pinnacles & swim through cave.
Can anyone shed some ‘light’ on whether they have been there or is this just a mythical story after all.
Did the caves again last night 05/05/06 no Beryl the seal but plenty of fish life.
The viz was good, then crap, then good, then crap, you get the idea.
hey, i'm a dogfish now:D
Been chatting with others about the caves & heard the same old story about a lower set of caves.
I have dived in the region of 18-28 meters (depending on tide) to find the usual caves however the perhaps mythical or true story about some caves around the 50 meter mark has raised it’s head again.
What I know of these is:-
Surface swim to the left, around the 2nd point then ascend to around 50 meters & you will come across them after a drop off within the silt.
I have been to 32 meters around that area & swam out from the reef to around 38 meters but this is rather slow & tedious as the ground is rather shallow gradient.
There is nothing to see except darkness & silt on the bottom. A compass bearing was taken to find the way back to the reef.
When I did this I was in the area just after the caves & the start of the scree slope, before the pinnacles & swim through cave.
Can anyone shed some ‘light’ on whether they have been there or is this just a mythical story after all.
Did the caves again last night 05/05/06 no Beryl the seal but plenty of fish life.
The viz was good, then crap, then good, then crap, you get the idea.
hey, i'm a dogfish now:D
Never got deeper than 33m at the caves and that was a good distance out
over the bottom the caves are only big enough for 1 person and are only in 26m approx:cool: