St Kilda, July 1997

“Its a long way there!” by Neil Smitham

Our destination to meet up with our live aboard, The Gaelic Rose, for a week, was Leverborough on the Isle of Harris.

TSAC St Kilda trip, 1997

To get there alone would be a good trip and after leaving Manchester required a stop over in Fort William at The Ben View B&B (01397 702 966) before continuing our journey early the next day. We then had to drive the remainder of our journey with cars to Uig on Skye, taking us over the new Skye bridge on the way. Uig would be where we left our cars behind and so all diving equipment, clothes for the week, booze etc then became hand luggage. Luckily we were allowed to drive down the pier to the entrance gate to leave all our things before returning the cars to a small car park half a mile away at the terminal. The only problem then was getting on the ferry, we had about three journeys each to make laden with gear up the narrow gangplank, along with all the other people that wanted to get on and pushing our way back past them to collect our next loads was not too appreciated. The steward showed us an area where we could store our gear near the gangplank and shortly after the ferry set sail on the trip over to Tarbert on Harris. Crossing The Minch was lovely and flat which helped the journey time of about 1 hour 45 mins. This also helped in catching up with some sleep on deck.

We unloaded in Tarbert, again having a few trips each and took over a good portion of the small pier. Time to look round before being picked up. This didn’t take long though as a visit round the craft shops, grocers and tea room led us to the pub. After a few drinks and a few phone calls we found out we were there too early and our skipper, Bob Jones, thought we were coming in on the afternoon ferry – more time in the pub ! By now though it had started to rain and with all our gear on the pier still there were some hasty runs to retrieve dry bags back to the pub. During this time, Phil, Les and Neil decided to buy penny whistles to try and learn on the weeks trip – this proved to be a bad omen later – ever heard the saying “Whistle up the wind” – we did, when we didn’t want it !

Tarbert, Isle of Harris

Bob turned up in his van and was able to get all the gear and a couple of the divers in – more time in the pub for the rest of us ! When he returned an hour and a half later we rolled out of the pub and slid into the van for the 24 mile trip across Harris to Leverburgh. Not a comfortable ride for those standing in the very back of the van. All this was forgotten though as we got out at Leverburgh and some of us were seeing our first views of the Western Isles and it’s spectacular scenery. There is a good website about Leverburgh and it’s surrounds. There is also a good site here with lots of information on the Scottish islands and rather than me just copy information about St Kilda, it’s history and evacuation on August 29th 1930.

The forecast for the week wasn’t promising and it looked like we may only get a day or two out at St Kilda so we set off early the next morning to reach our destination. Our plan was to have a dive on the way out to Kilda and we dived the East tip of Sgeir Ghomhnard which was a few gulleys between some rocks where there were alot of seals. The Atlantic swell had taken its toll on me and kitting up I threw up a few times, I felt dog rough, my UK600 torch flooded, but I still had a brilliant dive in 20m viz (torch not needed anyway !) with hundreds of crabs of different varieties and a few lobsters as well. This is where I learnt that air coming out of demand valve exhausts really is uncomfortable trapped in your hood, luckily my buddy Jill understood my sign language and had a steady hand using her knife to cut a slit in the top of my hood.

Boreray, St Kilda

Back on The Gaelic Rose it was time to resume the eight hour trip out to St Kilda (St Kilda is 41 miles West of North Uist) and as we got closer I don’t think anyone will forget the views as we approached Stac Lee (172 meters high) and Stac an Armin grew and grew and grew ! It was calmer in these waters now as the skipper manoevered us round some of the rocks and islands to get a good view of the sheer rock faces, covered in gannets, guillemots, kittiwakes and puffins. So sheer are some cliffs that Bob could take the boat right up to the cliff face and you could reach over the bow and touch the rock.

We did a dive that evening, going in at about 20:30, torches certainly not required in viz of 20 meters plus. We dived on the East side of Boreray looking round a cave first before swimming out along a reef. We were joined briefly by a seal that played around us before shooting off.

After the dive Bob took us round to the bay at Hirta, the only anchorage around these islands, where it was abit too late too launch the inflatable and go ashore to look at the remains of Village Street. There were the Army huts, some derelict stone houses and the Puff Inn pub (not actually a pub but a private (ex-army) club). Towards the other end of the street was the cemetry with it’s graves of many infants. Since our trip the Army has moved out (April 1998) and the Scottish National Trust have been renovating the old cottages, there is a museum in House Number three, a souvenir shop and some of the huts are occupied by the National Trust work parties. To stand there looking at history though was quite an experience.

Village St, Hirta, St Kilda

Early the next morning the weather forecast wasn’t good for the rest of the week and it was decided by Rick and Bob that we would have to head back to The Hebrides by afternoon. That morning we dived “Sawcut” in Village on the Dün bay. This was a narrow gulley a few meters wide and getting in there first with viz of 20m+ was well worth it for the view of looking back at the following divers. Loads of life, a fair few lobsters, lots of Mackrel and Pollock and a seal at the end.

We hung round awhile longer to do another dive and this turned out to be the best. We dived on the East face of Stac an Armin, again in 20m+ viz and we immediately had the company of two seals as we swam along the cliff face covered in life. Time to head back and on our way towards North Harris we were joined by a White-nose dolphin swimming along the bows for a short while.

The next morning the weather was quite grey and drizzly. We had dropped anchor overnight in Loch Resort and the mornings dive was round some fallen boulders at the foot of a cliff in the mouth of Loch Tamanavay. After the stunning viz out at Kilda and the grey skys the 4-10m viz was abit disheartening. Still, there were loads of mussels and crabs and my buddy George swears she saw a seal.

The weather decreased and became poor as we were heading for another dive site. With rain now falling and winds increasing we were going to have to moor up quite far down a Loch to give ourselves some shelter. Loch Amhuinnsuidhe was our destination and on the way we dived below Taran Mór in Loch Cravadale. Here there were loads of Squat lobsters, Queenies, Goose Foot starfish and whats described in my dive log as “bright green stuff” – now I know it as Soldier Frond (Derbesia marina). To get round to our shelter for the night in Loch Amhuinnsuidhe Bob had to bring The Gaelic Rose betweeen the Isle of Scarp and Hushinish on North Harris. Quite a task in itself, the water depth was only eight feet and the draft of the boat 6 feet. The sand slick that we left behind us showed how lucky we were to get through and the good navigating that got us through and out of the channel.

The next day was worse. The forecast was grim and the rain fell and fell. It was decided that we weren’t moving for the day and so out came the books. It gave more time for Phil to practice his juggling and try as he might he still couldn’t throw one overboard. The Penny whistles had been banned and blamed for the bad weather – we didn’t mind anyway as none of us could play them when we started off and had been shown-up by Debbie who could reel off whatever tune you wanted. We had a go at launching the inflatable with a view to walking on land for the first time in four days but the engine didn’t want to start so we stowed that away again. Undetered Jen and Jill snorkled ashore for a walk round in their dry suits whilst everybody else, read, drank tea, snoozed, watched some Stags on the hillside and waited. The weather didn’t improve and we lost a days diving.

The next day, conscious of the weather, the skipper wanted to get us back to Leverburgh so that we could pick and dive where we wanted to. The weather though had other ideas and although the sun was out the wind was still up. We had to tie everything down on deck and in the galley before setting off and without the protection of the Loch the sea turned rough and quite often we would be looking skywards and then pitching.

It took about two hours to get round Toe Head and into the Sound of Harris and it’s a journey I’ll not forget. My fingernail marks are probably still in the wheelhouse. Rick thought it would be a great opportunity to get some video footage of a rolling sea for Have-a-go night presentations and having since seen the video I’m surprised anyone has wanted to join us. On the way over to Toe Head we passed by the Isle of Taransay, where the BBC had their Castaway 2000 participants. It looked a lovely island with some great beaches (as has all this area) but it is remote and you can see how easy it is for the weather to cut them off. Towards Toe Head we also saw a baby Basking shark but there was no chance of stopping to have a look.

When we were in the Sound of Harris things were alot more plesant, we had some shelter from the rough sea and the sun was out, letting us stand around on deck and enjoy the scenery and for those of us that felt abit wobbly from the crossing we could breathe again ! We were all keen to dive and so we carried on past Leverburgh to Rodel Bay where we were going to dive on The Stassa.

This was going to be a special dive for some of our crew as John Ulyatt (JU) who was with us, had worked on salvaging the timber from this wreck when it sank. John used to live and work as a diver in the Hebrides and he gave us stories of how they recoverd it and how they lifted it and how they had it all lay out round the bay to dry out. Also on our trip was Rick Scarsbrook, who along with JU and a number of other divers had camped in Rodel Bay and dived this wreck alone for 10 days in 1983. So we had some pretty good guides to show us the way round it.

An absolute gem of a wreck to dive, lieing in a max depth of 25m we had a good dive time and covered lots of the wreck. The guide describes it better but it doesn’t say anything about the Conger eels, Dublin bay prawns and other life that was on the wreck. The only slight disappointment was the 6m viz, no doubt due to the stillness of the bay it lies in and the rough weather there had been.

Sunset at Leverburgh, Isle of Harris

We stayed down in Rodel Bay for a few hours as the rain came down and we had lunch before the next dive. The site this time was Renish Point, Renish Island just outside Rodel Bay. Again the viz was down to about 4m because of the rough weather and also a Plankton bloom that was around. The area was quite bouldery before opening out into a nice rock face. Lots of edible crabs and lobsters. Back on board it was time to head back to Leverburgh and to stand on land for the first time in five days. As Bob manoevered the boat alongside a sand dredger at Leverburgh pier I offered to step over with the bow line to tie off, stood on the gunnell for the step across and promptly slipped and fell in the water, fully clothed ! Bob was quick to throw the boat into reverse to save me being crushed and as Phil and Les dragged me back up the side Bob’s roar of laughter could be heard. Luckily for me there was no cameras or video cameras around to capture the moment as I lay blame with the Seagulls that had regurgitated black pudding on that part of the gunnell making it slippy.

Finally all ashore, dined and showered it was time to make use of the pub back in Rodel Bay. A good walk down the cliff path from Leverburgh to Rodel took about an hour and before going in the pub there was the church of St Clements built around 1500 to look round. A big warm fire and a few games of pool in the pub raised the spirits for the walk back to the boat.

The next day was departure day and time for the long trek home, but not before we had again gone to dive on “The Stassa ” as it is an excellent dive and one we all wanted to do again.

After that it was back to Leverburgh for unloading of the boat, team photos, loading up the van for the trip across to Tarbert to get the ferry. Loading gear on the ferry for crossing The Minch (flat again) back to Uig, collection and then loading of cars for the drive across Skye to the mainland and the drive down to Fort William where some people would stay over whilst others pressed on home. It was a brilliant trip well organised by Rick Scarsbrook and Bob Jones, the weather could have been abit better for us, but we still managed to get done what alot of other divers miss out on and the purpose of our trip, to dive out at St Kilda.

Neil Smitham