castle sween May 2009

This was planned as an inexpensive weekend to do some training and as a social event. We were based at Castle Sween Holiday Park which is sited on Loch Sween some 12 miles south of Crinan. Eleven of us made the trip and we were accommodated in Ally & Debbie's static caravan and another brand new hired 6 berth caravan on the site with panoramic views over Loch Sween and over to the Sound of Jura. As well as his role as DO, Tom was nomnated CO for the 2nd van [Catering Officer] although we suspect that he delegated the duties to Stuart

We towed the club boat over on the Thursday evening and together with Ally & Debbie's boat they were both put on moorings ready to go on Saturday morning. As we had a fairly tight schedule this saved a lot of time. We hired a box trailer and Andy Stenhouse brought this through on Friday night with a load of kit. The directions to the site were clear but in Lochgilphead Andy's navigator instructed a right turn instead of left and some fun was had trying to turn the trailer in a housing estate. Tom, Gavin and Lorna all travelled from their workplaces in Glasgow and arrived in good time.

There had been an east wind all week and this continued over the weekend so the dive sites had to take this into account. It was decided to do the first dive as a shore dive to knock off some of the training. Andy had his final dive leading exercise for Sports Diver to do and Tom gave him a suitably hard time - however he showed up well and got signed off as a Sports Diver - well done! This was a fairly relaxed dive with some going out to have a look at the reef at about 12 metres some 150m out in the loch and Ronnie taking out Stuart who had not dived for 9 months and Ross for a shallow dive in Castle Sween Bay. Cylinders were changed, pre-packed lunches gathered and the boats loaded before we set off up Loch Sween to the next dive site. A bit of time was spent at the head of the loch looking at the Osprey's nest perched on top of an old dead pine tree and one of the birds give us a close-up display as it hovered above. We went into a sheltered spot, tied the boats together and in warm sunshine enjoyed our lunches.

A short journey took us to Cala Island which lies of Eilean Loain which is the home of the Mackinon family of Drambuie fame. This site is sheltered from winds in most directions but being near the head of Loch Sween there is little current making it a fairly silty site easily stirred up with careless finning. This proved to be the case and it was generally agreed that it is probably not a site worth doing again. However as a training area it was fine as the drop in area is around 3m and by swimming round the north end of the island you come to the steep sides which form an underwater wall dropping to a maximum of 22m. By swimming south this gradually reduces to around 10m. Andy had his usual freeflow from his suit inflator hose, Gavin [our newly qualified OWI] took Lindsay for some Dive Leader training with Lorna in tow, and Ronnie again took Ross and Stewart. On this dive Ross completed his final Ocean Diver dive and was duely signed off - well done Ross!

We were by now running about half an hour ahead of schedule and we had a quick dash back to base to load up the trailer with 21 empty cylinders. Ally and Tom made the journey for air fills at Inverary while others had a beer, visited Castle Sween or took a car to Kilmory Chapel to look at the gravestones with Celtic carvings. We had dinner booked in the site restaurant and despite the chef leaving the week before we were treated to a fabulous meal. Some had thought that a night dive would be good but after a couple of refreshments that was bombed out. A wee dram [or 2] was the order of the day for some of us and that ensured a good night's sleep.

Sunday morning saw light SE winds, but strong winds forecast so after bacon and egg rolls [cooked for our van by Lindsay] and packed lunches by Debbie it was decided that we should venture out of the loch to look at conditions off the point of Knapp to dive the "Christine Rose". Things looked good so after dropping the shot on the GPS mark Gavin was volounteered to go down to have a look. A couple of minutes later his DSMB came up and he surfaced with his delayed tied off on the wreck. The shot was moved about 15 metres to the new mark which was re-marked on the GPS. We dived in 2 waves as the strengthening wind made surface conditions a bit choppy. However everybody agreed that this was the highlight dive of the weekend. The boat lies in only 12metres but because she hit a reef and then dropped onto her port side at the foot of a wall she is fairly well protected from south westerly swells. All the classic wreck features which some of us had recently learned more about on the Wreck Appreciation Course were there. The keel, the mainly intact boiler, some 2 metres in diameter, the triple expansion engine, the propellor and rudder all clearly visible. The wheelhouse has mainly collapsed but some of the features are still visible. What looked like a white plastic bucket proved to be a porcelain tiolet bowl hanging upside down. Some sealife has taken up residence on the wreck with lots of deadmans fingers, plumrose anemones, a large Ballan Wrasse, a conger eel and the biggest lobster some had ever seen. Visibility was around 5 metres but with lots of ambient light it is an easy site to navigate.

Back to base at Castle Sween it was decided that there was not enough time for another boat dive with 2 waves so a few opted to do the reef off Castle Sween. By now the sun was shining and the others washed their kit while Ally, Tom and Andy helped recover and wash down the boats.

Many thanks to Gavin, Ronnie and Tom for their time and effort in taking the training. In the main we achieved what we set out to do with final qualification of an Ocean Diver and a Sports Diver and other Dive Leader training being carried out. Thanks also to Andy Stenhouse for towing the trailer through. This was a well worth while weekend and with great company the social side was a resounding success. Having 2 boats available was a real bonus and using a trailer to cart kit to and fro was a great success - saved cars from continually getting salt water in them - hope a Andy washed it out before returning it!

Most managed to be on their way home by 4pm and the club boat got back safely to Livingston by 10pm.

Ally MacGregor