Once a year I’m presented with an extra day. This is intended to give people a day Christmas shopping. As I would rather eat my own arm then face the likes of the Trafford Centre, I take the opportunity to go to one of my favourite sites in the country – Loch Long.
The itinerary is simple
Friday
07:00 – Leave home
11:30 – Prepare and do first dive
14:00 – Prepare and second dive
17:00 – Arrive hotel, shower change
18:00 – Beer in the bar
18:30 – Curry
21:30 – sleep
Saturday
07:00 – Leave hotel
11:30 – Arrive home
Ignoring the madness of a four hour drive to Scotland for two dives the real madness is that we could get there and the dive sites wouldn’t be worth it? The area is great for diving, but a little bit of rain can bring brown mud streams into the loch and destroy visibility completely. The trip would be a wash out.
However, putting a little faith in British weather and Loch Long we arrived at the first dive site, The Caves. This is a site I have been wanting to visit for a while but for different reasons I haven’t managed it, mainly due to access.
Today we were lucky, the layby was clear so pulling in we unloaded kit, set it up and lowered it down to the rocks. Once all was there, we put on dry suits and clambered down behind the bridge, and under the tunnel. On the other side there is a steep slope to the water’s edge. A stream runs through the bridge making the surface slippery, but previous divers have put in a rope handrail to grab hold of.
On entry we descended a slope down to 30 meters and came across a large firework anemone, form here we turned left and made our way along the base of the wall. The caves are really a misnaming as there are no caves, it is a series of overhanging rocks which give the impression of caverns, but what life. They are smothered in sea loch anemones, peacock worms and fluted sea squirts. It is swarming with marine life and fish of all sizes can be seen, the negative to this is that the cliff and the location means that there is a lot of lost fishing line and weights so care is needed.
We scrambled out, repacked our gear and then headed back towards Helensburgh for the second dive at one of my favourite dive sites, Finnart (A frames).
This dive is a simple entry, get out of the car and walk in, the walk is between one to ten yards, depending on tide, but it’s very easy.
On entry we headed straight out and descended to 30m at which point a gentle current meant we could drift and slowly ascend. As the current dropped off, we began a zig zag ascent and made our way past the old pier debris. At one point a seal dashed off into the dark leaving a cloud of silt behind it. The concrete posts and metal attachments were full of life, large edible crabs hid in every crevice and every nook and cranny contained a squat lobster or blenny. Several ling and a cod slunk into their holes and large wrasse and pollack swam around the debris.
We made our way to the safety stop and surfaced to a stunning view and mirror like calm.
Two wonderful dives were followed by an amazing curry at Annaya’s Indian Restaurant in Helensburgh reflecting on two good dives.
By the time the clock had struck 11 the next day we were back home.
A great day out.
