The Expedition
The plot was hatched on a cold, windy winter evening in the Vic by a group of Dive Leader trainees who had secreted themselves away in a dark corner.
The rational was that they needed somewhere warm and sunny where they could find deeper depths for their DL experience dives. So, Loch Fyne in Scotland, just after Easter, it was, for a few shore dives, as all of the boat diving centers were already booked up. It did give us the opportunity to stay in relatively luxurious accomodation at the George Hotel (1 night) & the Paymaster’s House (2 nights) in Inveraray. (The majority of Scottish diving involves bunks or rented houses).
Thursday 11th April – Loch Long
There were six takers eventually who were, somewhat predictably in order of arrival and departure, Robin & Irfon, David & Carol, & bringing up the rear in Wyn’s new landrover Hugh & Wyn. We travelled up on Thursday 12 April, meeting up at the Pitstop Cafe in Arrochar for a first ever Club dive in Loch Long. This was a shallow dive to 15 meters only, as Robin’s camera wasn’t allowed to go any deeper, on a silty slope which was a horse mussel bed, livened up by a variety of anenomes, the occasional large edible crab and a few fish. Under an old pier we located masses of obese starfish pigging out on those mussels which had been unfortunate enough to fall off the pier legs. Not a brilliant dive but a reasonable introduction to Loch diving.
On the next two days we did manage to find the much wanted deeper diving and hence the nitrogen narcoisis that goes with it. Robin, Irfon & Wyn each experienced a different effect, one became very happy, one somewhat anxious, and one just a little bit morose. Read on to find out who got what, who took to snacking on bananas at 20 metres and who thought that he might he just might be doomed. Contrary to Robin’s forecast of snow we had the same hot dry weather as the rest of the country, so after lunch they did flag a wee bit, as the photographic evidence clearly shows!! – David
Friday 13th April – We’re doomed! Stallion Rock, Loch Fyne.
“There’s nothing like the smell of neoprene in the morning”, well damp and musky neoprene that is, to accompany us on the half an hour or so drive from Inverary to Furnace and finally down the rutted forestry track to the Stallion. This was to be our site for the day, we were first here and therefore it really was going to be ours, as limited parking spaces would have made it difficult for other groups to join us.
A leisurely stroll down through the forest to the shore of the Loch revealed the dive site, a quick reccy of possible entry and exit points was followed by a not so leisurely slog back to the car. Two further gear carrying return journeys saw us kitting up on the edge of the loch. David and Carol were first in, quickly followed by Irfon and Robin and then Wyn and Hugh. Each pairing had similar dive plans but had selected different maximum depths.
A fairly steep sloping slope gave way at about 15m to a sheer drop into the abyss, we were at The Stallion and the only way to go was to venture over the edge and freefall down to 31m where another slope started, presumably leading all the way down to the bottom of the loch at 165m. Irfon, Robin, Wyn and Hugh bottomed out the dive at 36m, it was the first time that Irfon and Wyn had sampled depths greater than 31m and both their first encounter with the dreaded narks. One had the 10 pints of Guinness effect whilst the other felt that he was surely “doomed”.
A gentle ascent across the wall gave us sight of some of the Stallions’ critters, being a lone lobsters, trillions of squat lobsters, brown crabs, echinoderms, anenomies, gobies, pollacks, starfish to name just a few. Upon reaching 15m the light returned and the reminder of the dive was spent gently working our way to 6m for a safety stop and then back to shore.
The surface interval was spent at the car park, basking in the sunshine and lunching on prawn sandwiches. By now the tide had ebbed and had left a longer trek down to the water’s edge for a repeat dive, only this time with slight variations. Irfon and Robin decided on a planned decompression dive and to test the patience of the DO by going slightly deeper (38m). Wyn, the DO, Carol and David did the sensible thing and went shallower. The extra depth was worth it for Irfon and Robin however as they came across the only conger of the day.
An excellent experience for all Dive Leader trainees of deeper and a differing dive site to what is usually experienced around the Llyn, well worth the trip up to Scotland and the arduous climb back up from the shore to the car park. – Irfon.
14th April – Lephimore, Loch Fyne
The third day of the Loch Fyne expedition found only 2 of the 6 divers turning up for the full Scottish breakfast (haggis included – whether ordered or not), while the rest munched on their muesli.
Then it was off to Lephinmore which is on the opposite side of the Loch. David and Carol led the way, but unfortunately the dive site had moved since their last visit, and after a few U-turns and discussions with some local divers who were kitting up, the dive site was located.
The dive plan was to explore the reef and also following discussions in the bar the previous evening and after a few pints of “80 shillings” – or was it “30”? to find out :
Hugh and Wyn deployed their bananas at 20 metres, but after a few bites, decided they were too salty. Irfon and Robin’s experiment proved that what might be a good idea in the pub doesn’t always work out as expected!
The reef itself had plenty of life, squat lobsters, crabs and anemones. Numerous prawns were spotted on a rock face and close by a large conger eel was illuminated by the light of the mighty D8 torch. It was noted that the conger was not in the best of health so we left the remains of the 2 bananas for him.
A leisurely lunch then followed in the unseasonably warm weather. Afterwards some slept or read a little, but one decided the best way of off-gassing was to try his hand at dry stone walling!
The plan for the second dive was to navigate the reef in the opposite direction, which David, Carol, Hugh and Wyn managed with no problems, and were escorted ashore by a lone seal. The other two failed to locate the reef, but found another one further north which was as good if not even better – AS IF !!!! The day ended back in the bar of the George Hotel, where we were served by an Austrian barmaid with an Australian accent who thought that Wales was a county where everybody sang “Sosban Fach” in the bath. The two who started the day with a hearty breakfast finished off with a wee dram of a local single malt –well when in Rome do as the Romans AYE…
Wyn
