DM – Anna
Location – Sound of Mull, Scotland
Dive Sites – Various walls, wrecks and drifts.
Charter Boat – Brendan/Peregrine
Weather – Grey, wet and Scottish all week with one day of sunshine
Who went – Anna, Chris H, Jo W, Suse, Rich P, Briony, Lisa and Chris J
The trip began on Friday evening with the loading of the van and Jo’s car with a fair amount of kit before heading to the pub. A nice 5AM start on the Saturday to set off on the 550 mile, 12 hour trip to Scotland, with plenty of caffeine and food stops along the way. Eventually we make it to Lochaline, our base on mainland Scotland for the week, and the wonderful Rahoy cottages, a bit of a step up from the usual novice trip caravans. As nobody has dived in a while, we decide to warm up with a shore dive outside Lochaline Hotel. A nice colourful wall dive from 6-90m with plenty of feather stars, sun stars, squat lobsters, crabs and fish (I’m not a marine biologist sorry). Retired back to the cottages to attempt making pizzas and to lure the pine marten out of hiding.
Monday marked the start of our charter boat diving on the Brendan with skipper David, a lot less hassle than taking the rib, but not as fast. First dive was a wreck called the Shuna, it can be quite silty, but the vis was great and I managed to spot a large conger eel in a hole, along with plenty of other life. As Suse’s drysuit had decided to be a wetsuit for the dive, we went into Tobermory on Mull for lunch and to get spare parts. For those of you that don’t know, Tobermory is where the TV show Balamory is filmed. After all the drysuit repairs we had our afternoon dive on another great wreck called the Hispania. Lots of tiny starfish, sea squirts and Devonshire cup coral, and no huge drysuit leaks.
On Tuesday we move onto a larger boat, Peregrine, with a new skipper, Alan and head out to the Thesis wreck. Another great dive with plenty of swim-throughs, spotted a fair few nudibranchs. The afternoon dive was the “best drift in Scotland” around Grey Rocks, or so we were told. In reality, there wasn’t much of a drift, and we gradually got taken shallower from a wall covered in Dead Man’s Fingers into sandy kelp (apart from Jo/Suse who decided to go against the current. (Edit by Anna - we must keep the wall on our right whatever is thrown at us! Glad you listened to the skippers instructions ladies!). Ended on a high when we spotted 4 dogfish weaving their way around the kelp, possibly mating as they really didn’t care we were there. Back in Lochaline, Rich spots a load of dolphins around the pier as we were getting ready to leave.
We begin Wednesday with another wreck, the Rondo. This one is a bit different as it stands upright on its bow, stretching from 6m down to 60m, time for a deep dive. We all head straight down to 35m (45/50m for Chris/Anna) and weave our way back up the wreck, spotting plenty of sea squirts, cup coral, starfish and other life. Back in to Balamory for lunch, spotting some sea eagles on the way and taking a rather close look at a waterfall. The Spar in Tobermory is closely tied with Lochaline Catch-a-Snack for the best cakes in Scotland. The afternoon is a really pretty wall dive around Calve Island, loads of fish, cup coral, starfish and a lobster!
As the weather is relatively good, we decide to head out of the Sound of Mull for Thursday, beginning with a wall dive with a complicated Gaelic name I’m not even going to try and write (Edit by Anna - Sgeir beulna h-uamhaidh. That’s straight from the chart so who knows how it’s pronounced!). En route to the site we’re called to the bow by the skipper, Alan, to see another load of dolphins, this time really close and personal, playing in the bow wave of the boat! A very good dive, perfectly planned and executed by Suse and myself, even saw another dogfish at the end. The second dive is another wall dive with a weird Gaelic name (Edit by Anna – Dun Chonuill Sound – again that was straight off the chart!), spotted a John Dory, loads of squat lobster and wrasse, a couple of large lobsters and a ling. On the way back into Lochaline we stop for a third dive at Englishman’s Point to get some scallops for dinner, not as successful as previous attempts, but enough for a starter. See a lot of deer and antlers (stags) on the way back to the cottages.
For the final day of diving, Friday, we finish on two great wrecks, the Hispania in the morning and Thesis in the afternoon. Plenty of wildlife on both, including a selection of nudibranchs on the Hispania and a butterfish on the Thesis. A great end to a great week both above and below water. We head back to finish off the food and booze in the cottages before packing up on Saturday morning and trekking the 12 hours back to Southampton. Many thanks to Anna for organising the trip, Chris H, Anna, Jo W and Suse for driving and everyone else for coming, I look forward to next year!
Chris J.
P.S. More Photos are on the SUSAC Facebook group for those interested.
