Gaelic Rose and a new wreck
Day 1: Waking up to the boat steaming out of Lochaline we enjoyed breakfast as we headed over to our first dive, SS Rondo, always a favourite. After, as we enjoyed our lunch we headed out of the Sound of Mull accompanied by pods of porpoises. Our second dive that day was Bofascadale, a large pinnacle offering deep walls covered in life!
We moored that evening in Mallaig. Being Good Friday we enjoyed a tasty salmon dinner from the girls cooking on the boat. The Gaelic rose turned into a gin palace as everybody revealed they had all bought a bottle from home, that didn’t stop a few of us from trying the local ales at a nearby pub though.
Day 2: Our first dive of the day was at a site called Eirlean Grubhais, which offered a deep wall dive encased in thousands of brittle starfish. After lunch we headed into Loch Nevis where we spied the RNLI practising manoverboard recovery proceedures. Our next dive was in Loch Nevis where we completed another enjoyable wall dive. New toys were all the play as Joe has recently bought a scooter and offered an Uber Scuba experience to his buddy!
We moored that evening in Port Longaig where we visited Britain’s most remote pub, which ironically was packed! The reason why it was is because it was Easter Saturday and there was a Ceilidh dance on down the street which we of course went to bust a few moves!
Day 3: Staying in Loch Nevis for the morning dive, Bob the skipper had recently discovered a newish wreck that TSAC hadn’t dived before- The Dunan Star. A 11m fishing boat that sank in the entrance of Loch Nevis in 2012, it lies 10m down fully intact on it’s starboard side.
The weather was glorious as we headed out and across to the Isle on Muck. The foreboading mountains of Skye crowned the horizon looking like Mordor! Windmills was the name of the next site due to the windmills that look down upon you from Muck as we jumped in. This was a deep wall dive covered in jewel anemones, a favourite of many divers.
That evening we moored in Tobermory where we enjoyed an onboard German techno disco before making the obligatory mooch to the Mishnish!
Day 4: The next morning we headed down the Sound of Mull to dive the SS Hispania, a beautiful wreck covered in life. We waited for an hour all kitted up on the deck, waiting for the slack! It never came and we made an adventurous descent on the shot down to the ship. Our second dive that day was SS Shuna, an old coal ship with its huge propeller intact.
That evening we moored in Lochaline under a carpet of stars.
Day 5: We awoke in Lochaline and ventured back out into the Sound of Mull. Our first dive of the day was SS Thesis which was full of life and offers a nice swim through. Our second and final dive of the trip was a scallop dive off Ardtornish bay. We enjoyed a delicious lunch after that as we headed back to Lochaline to unload and depart home.
As always the food was great, the company was great and the diving was spectacular, thanks to all that came and to Bob and the girls for looking after us, roll on to the next one!
Post by Jack Irlam
