Loch Fyne – Day 1, Thursday 16 April.
So, after months of hard work planning and organizing, down to the minutest detail of crucial aspects such as spare car keys; replacement locks, in case anyone takes a landrover pickup; spare vehicles, in case anyone takes a landrover; and emergency rations, in case The George burns down; not to mention maps, charts and details of the best dive sites, the group rendezvoused at the Pit Stop Diner in Arrocher by 2pm, except that is for Hugh and Mickey who aimed for 2.30 instead and then claimed to be 7 minutes early. David and Sue had travelled up a day early and had spent the morning wandering as far over as Oban. Carl and Anja had also travelled part way the previous day but had the energy to have already taken in a Monro or two after spending a night in the most expensive bothy in the highlands. Irfon, Simon & Brian, with the longest overall drive and the detour through Porthmadog were the first of the long distance travellers to arrive, while David and Richard, travelling only from Liverpool, had time to detour around several lochs, stopping for lunch in Helensburgh, before stumbling on the amazing fortifications of the Faslane Naval Base and the most undulating stretch of road anywhere.
As soon as everyone was suitably refreshed it was off to the first dive site, the MOD reef on the SE shore of Loch Fyne. Trouble was the natives had been warned of our plans and the whole of the narrow roadway had been lined with a combination of logs and boulders, while the parking area was blocked off with locked steel barriers. We sort of got the idea that divers were not too welcome. We parked initially in the entrance to a timber yard across the road but as there was no one around to seek permission from and as this was the most likely source of the barriers we decided to drop off our dive gear and park the cars a few hundred meters away by the main road. Just as well as by the end of the dive a big logging truck was filling the entrance. The dive was not what we expected as there was not a reef as we know them. Instead, just a steep muddy incline with a few rocks poking out which was seen to continue down beyond 35 metres. The entire slope was littered with golf balls, which one or two amused themselves by collecting. Rather predictably, the single golfer in our midst won with 44 balls, many of which will next be lost on the courses of Liverpool. As with our last trip to the area it was however a good first introductory dive especially for those new to the gloomy depths of Scottish Lochs, and was seemingly enjoyed by all.
Then-on to Inveraray, where the accommodation at the Bank House proved to be not as bad as Carl had feared. Norina, the landlady, was away, so Brian mistakenly ended up in the spare bed in Carl and Anja’s room, i.e. until Simon & Irfon moved his bed across the landing into their room. Their attempts to move it back, with Brian on it, in the middle of the night, were thwarted by the wardrobe that Carl had placed against the door when he heard the snoring coming from across the way!! We had an excellent meal in The George, but when we tried to book for the next two nights we were told “no chance mate” by the stroppy Aussie in charge. He did relent enough to promise us a table for 11 in the bar, a promise which he duly kept, and by the end of the weekend he was actually talking to us. – David.
Loch Fyne. Day 2 Friday 17th April
Gortein Point, Lephinmore – http://www.congeralley.com/sites/gortein.htm
Leaving my wife behind to clean the hotel, the gang head out to the east side of Loch Fyne for the days diving. Our first dive was Gortein Point, just opposite pylon number 24 (sorry, sorry, 48!). Everyone carried their kit down the rock, via the toilet tissue covered faeces someone kindly left.
Once the vigorous buddy check was complete, Dave and I jumped in, heading North West to the ‘unmissable’ cliff face. We hit the rock and began to swim north along the face for approx 10 minutes, steadily venturing down to 28m when Dave noticed his gauge had frozen. We were on our ascent when Dave ran out of air and quickly had to swap to his pony regulator. Confused, Dave checked his main gauge to still find 220 bar, and worryingly the pony read a big fat 0! My octopus was reached for very quickly as he anticipated sucking a second cylinder dry on this dive. Yet, air still came flowing from his empty pony. Confused, yet again, he checked his gauges, which now read 200 bar and a big fat 0. It suddenly dawned on Dave that he had been diving the first 15 minutes at 28m on his 3litre pony cylinder! (I didn’t have a clue what was going on and just followed). We carried on with the dive which had some interesting sightings that we were eager to discuss with our fellow divers. Unfortunately, only 2 of the 5 groups found the ‘unmissable’ rock! Oh well, on to the second dive and to the second unmissable sight, yes, unmissable Mickey.
Anchor Point, Lephinmore – http://www.congeralley.com/sites/anchor.htm
After a short nap on the beach, everyone kitted up and Dave gave our briefing. Here are the exact words from www.congeralley.com: “Follow the sandy bottom on a bearing of 270 degrees down to about 8-10m, then turn right, and contour north at that depth for about 1 minute until you reach the south side of the reef. You can’t miss it.”
e and I were the first in again. On our descent we spotted the anchor at around 20m and Dave kindly placed it on the reef so that Mickey would not miss it and he could have his metal fix. Pity Mickey missed the whole reef again. The reef was full of life; we spotted 5 big congers hidden away in little gullies on the west face and a very bizarre crack where all the fish in the loch must have met up for a cuppa. It was the only spot on that dive where a variety of fish were seen in numbers. After a nice dive of approx. 40 minutes of zigzagging we surfaced and watched, group by group, our highly trained divers popping up here and there along the beach (some more Navigational training please David).
The days’ diving was over and we all went back to the hotel to sip on some fine ale. I’ve used up my quota so I’m going to summarise the night. Beer, Food, Beers, Beers, Drambuie, Mickey and a tambourine, Mickey buying a CD off some random band in the pub, “You look like a right posh b*tch”, Free champagne off posh b*tch. Bed. – Rich.
Loch Fyne. Day 3. Saturday 18th April.
Boat Dive. Stallion Rock. The day started as had the previous with a dawn chorus from outside the window and Brian snoring from inside the room (Carl and Anja, Irfon and I were very kind to you). Anyway an early breakfast had been arranged the previous evening and was waiting for us at 7.30 as promised. With the bulk of the party staying under one roof and all having been given our seating arrangements at the table it did not take long for us to realise that one of us was missing! The Duke was nowhere to be seen, so a plan was hatched and off went the cook to look for him.She returned saying that a good shaking had been administered but to no avail. So up went Norina (the landlady) not one you would want to mess with and even after delivering a good firm Scottish Wedgie returned a looser. So there he stayed (picture to follow).
The rest of us met next to the slipway at the caravan site where 2 boats were awaiting our arrival and after loading up off we went into the sunshine heading for Stallion Rock. 30 minutes or so later we arrived on site and what a site!! A pine edged wood running down to the loch, almost flat calm waters and 160mtrs of water below us-does life get any better; I doubt it. On our boat was Irfon and myself and Carl and Anja. Irfon was first ready with myself and a full BAR was duly carried out. We were to leave the boat from the same side so Irfon went first with little effort. Then came my turn and a very quick realisation that due to me being vertically challenged had no hope of ever getting over the side of the boat without being manhandled by Carl, which was duly done by hoisting me up and pushing me over. Thanks Carl job well done!!!!
Anyway again lots of squat lobsters seen but no drop off found anywhere which I am sure had formed most of the briefing from Irfon. So after 40 minutes of searching we raised our SMB and were back on board with little effort to be informed that Big Willie had got the drop off point wrong!!! So there we were thinking that for some unknown reason the other skipper had cocked up his GPS positioning. Things turned out not to be so technical as what had actually happened is Willie lined us up on 2 dark green fir trees only to find that he had used the wrong 2 dark green fir trees. Silly Big Willie! Anyway with all 9 divers safely back on their respective boats off we went to a little bay for lunch. With the 2 boats tied together conversation turned to the need to find the 25mtr drop off we had been promised in the morning with the added excitement of adding a 40mtr dive to our log books and after a very enjoyable lunch in the sun, 15 minutes back up the loch and another piece of fine manhandling executed by Carl on myself to get me over the side Irfon and myself were teetering at 12mtrs over the edge of what seemed an endless drop. After all checks, a few calming breaths,over we went and down we went to hit bottom at around 34mtrs and with a short swim it was not long before 40mtrs was on screen and we were turning only to be met by David and Richard, closely followed by the Loch Ness Monster-honestly it was and no I I was not narked!!!!!!!!
A very enjoyable dive followed at shallower depths along the reef where Carl and Anja came into vision after reaching +40 as well. After another 40minute dive where among the lobsters,wrasse and crab, a large double figure cod was seen we surfaced and were back on board grinning like kids.
Back on land an hour or so later David and Richard,Carl and Anja and Irfon and myself had taken up the offer of a free air fill in return for checking some of the moorings for the owner of the site and after an extended surface interval were back in the water checking links, chains and couplings followed by a dive to find the Pachycerianthus, which was well worth the effort!!!
Upon returning back to Inveraray we discovered that the Duke was alive and well and back in the pub. After a quick change we were all there seated around our table. With food very much on everyone’s mind the conversation went to who was going to attempt all 3 courses. Congrats goes to Dave and Sue Hursey and Hugh for nailing all 3! Congrats also has to go to Richard for attempting to nail anything in a skirt (warning for you Richard, next time be aware of the kilt!!!) Also big thanks to the person from Inveraray for not stealing David’s car keys; leaving them on the doorstep of the co-op was very kind. I’m also pretty sure a new record was set as Micky was back in bed by 9pm after wishing us all a pleasant evening. Overall a very enjoyable day which ended as it started with the odd bird still singing and Brian snoring. Simon
