Stoney Cove
Scotland’s weather looked appalling.
Amber weather warnings, flooding and heavy rain made a five hour journey look unappealing adding to that the possibility of dive sites inaccessible we abandoned the Scotland idea. Not wanting to waste the opportunity two of us decided to head to Stoney Cove for the day.
With Stoney they have an online booking system, so ensure we got in and didn’t waste the journey we paid in advance.
Arriving at 8:30 we joined the queue and made our way slowly into the car park on, what was proving to be, a bright sunny day.
We decided to target 3 dives dependant on the visibility, which can be quite variable at times.
The target of the first dive was to find the Staingarth, a small boat which is synonymous with Stoney. From a giant stride entry at the bus stop we headed straight out in 6/7 meter visibility and descended to the 22 meter plateau. The visibility dropped down to about 3/4 meters and we missed the bus so circled round to the east eventually finding the helicopter. From here we followed the cliff and eventually found the chain that lead us to the Staingarth. Incredibly the visibility improved here and we gained some great views of the boat. Finally we made our way back up the cliff and out via the landing.
For the second dive we headed over to the plane wreck on the western plateau. This route took us away from most of the divers and we followed the cliff past the remains of the mining equipment, over the deep pit. Upon reaching the far plateau we circled round passing over the plane and heading back to exit via the landing.
To make a day of it we decided to have a third dive but keep it reasonably shallow so headed out to the west following the cliff round and rising to the 5 meter plateau swimming past the Gresham Wreck remains and through the two buildings. The second proved be full of juvenile fish and made for an incredible scene to finish off our day.
Three good dives and good company, I must return again, I had forgotten how good a dive Stoney can be. The map is off Stoney Coves website – Home – Dive & Swim Stoney Cove.
Keep an ear open as I will be heading back soon.
