August Bank Holiday 2002
For those who also like to sail old boats as well as dive, the Whitstable oyster smack Rosa & Ada is an ideal combination. Built in 1908 as a gaff cutter, she is about 48 foot on deck. She has been fitted out with six berths in the main cabin plus berths for two crew in a separate cabin aft. Although there are coach roofs over the hold to give standing headroom in the saloon and galley, the deck layout and rig remain as they would have been when she was a working fishing boat. There is also a clinker built tender, which is carried on the starboard side-deck which can be used for a run ashore under sail, oars or outboard. Dives are usually made from the deck as she has a low freeboard returning using a removable dive ladder. The boat does have a small compressor but it is usual to take three bottles and fill up ashore whenever possible.
The Rosa & Ada
The usual cruising ground is the Firth of Clyde out of Troon. This offers a good range of diving mixed with sailing around Aran (where the skipper has a mooring) and Bute with added interest of places such as Brodic castle to visit if diving and sailing aren’t enough. You can chose what to do depending on the conditions, sailing when the wind is fair or motoring if not. There is always plenty of good food and a stove if it turns chilly.
I have, so far, had two long weekends on Rosa & Ada. On both occasions we dived on the wreck of the Ahdeek which is not far from Troon and was our first dive. She was a 245 foot iron steamship launched in 1881. After hitting a reef while trying to enter Troon in a south westerly gale in December 1898, the crew was taken off and she was taken in tow but sank before she reached the harbour. She and her cargo of iron ore now lie in 24 metres about a mile west of Troon. The hull of the wreck is still quite intact but the superstructure is gone. We explored the stern where the propeller is exposed with the rudder detached and lying on the seabed. Going forwards we explored the boilers and condenser which are now full of holes and stand up above deck level. On returning to the shot line at the stern, we came across a conger eel in a hole just aft of the boilers.
Jen Scarsbrook on deck
We had a good scenic dive off the south end of Trail Island. This is a reef with lots of crevices full of life on the edge of a drop off at about 20 metres. We finished the dive by letting the current carry us up the slope of the reef where at 2 or 3 metres the tidal current picked up speed to 3 or 4 knots.
After a night on the pontoons on the east side of Great Cumbrae we had a morning dive on the nearby wreck of a Catalina flying boat in 22 metres. All that could be seen were the remains of the centre section of the wing and the lower part of the hull with some debris and cables lying about on the sand. The engines have been salvaged long ago and there was no sign of any under carriage. We saw quite a lot of fish and lots of crabs but the visibility was only a couple of metres.
Back at the mooring in Lamlash Bay south of Holy Island there are a couple of good dives. The first, north west of Kings Cross Point, is a rock wall that drops off from about 10 metres to around 30 metres. The top of the reef is sandy with lots of hermit crabs and razor clams in amongst the kelp. As we descended the wall we saw a nice conger eel at about 20 metres and lots of large edible crabs. One of these crabs decided to lock onto my thumb leaving it numb for weeks! (Next time that happens, I will take him home for tea…)
Kerry, making sure tea is fresh !
The usual rounding off dive here is a scallop bed at about 18 metres. The sandy bottom slopes up to rocks and kelp nearer the shore where there is a great variety of marine life to explore if you don’t want to chase scallops.
The only drawback with this boat is that it can only take six divers. However, I’ve already got my place booked on the next trip so book early if you fancy learning to sail a traditional fishing boat between dives. Alternatively, contact the skipper Duncan Baillie via his website and organise another trip… but save a place for me.
Richard Watters
