Ross Coventry organised a Weekends Diving with Marinequest, the Friday was to be a large Wreck in 90 metres, but the weather was too bad to get out, Saturday was ok big long 2m swells so we headed out 30miles to a mark 47 metres long lying intact in 58 metres. The visibility was superb even with a bit of snot in the water...we found an old Steam Trawler lying on a sany rocky seabed with a slight list to Starboard, lots of Trawl gear on the wreck and lots of Fish, nice helm and EngineRoom Telegraph but all deck structure looked to have been trawled away...very picturesque with deck beams covered in life, lots of portholes and various brass bits...nice Shaving Mug, but no Bell...looks to have been a victim of a WW1 U-Boat at a guess.

Sunday Weather was predicted to pick up from North, so we set off at 09:00 to dive a close in Wreck about 5 miles out, known as the Competition Wreck by Locals, and thought to be the Ringholm sunk in 1917 by UC41...sun was shining and Sea was as flat as it gets and we dropped into stunning vis it was like Diving in Malta I could see the strobes on the Shotline Flashing from 15 metres, dropping down it was great until at about 50metres it got a bit murky, on the wreck vis was maybe 7-8 metres but looking up there was lots of light...cracking big wreck covered in life, lots to see but Ross had some Computer issues so we cut our Bottom time to 15mins..ascending up the line and while removing my Strobe looking up the line i could see Divers all the way up on their stops, from 40m we could see the surface! after a runtime of about 50mins back on Boat i found that a bell had come up, it was an interesting time as we tried to work out who's lift bag it was...finally when all Divers were back onboard it was found to be Lornes, a lovely Brifge bell which is being cleaned to see if it will give a name...

Great weekends Diving, my unit performed superbly, looking forward to next one in October

Just back from Lochaline, we had 3 days great Diving in the Sound of Mull on Lochaline Charters MV Brendan, staying at Morvern Lodge which was brilliant, a house that sleeps 12 nice comfortable accommodation at a great price.

We all arrived on the Friday afternoon/Evening and some had a Dive on the famous Lochaline Wall which is a Shore dive onto a sheer wall which reaches from 6metres to over 90metres. Visibility was pretty good and the Divers had a decent Dive. We ate in the Lochaline Hotel which has a real 'cheery welcoming' atmosphere....

Saturday we were ropes off at 0900 and Debbie had a bit of a Cold but when she heard the Dives were the Rondo and the Hispania she got much better.

Rondo is normally diveable at most states of tide and we jumped in to maybe 5m vis which is poor on this wreck...after 35metres it was reported the vis improved but is till think Narcosis played a part in the vis clearing...

Hispania again was 5-6m and was poor for this wreck, the particles in the water looked like it was the end of another Plankton Bloom...lots of jellyfish about and i noticed a lot of change in the Hispania with the stern really rolling over to Starboard...a good dive even with the tide picking up on the shot.

Saturday Night we had another meal at the cheery Lochaline Hotel, the excitement that night being caused by Andy from Durham locking his keys in the Car...luckily the AA managed to get in via a window and he got his keys back.

Sunday 0900 Ropes off and it was Thesis and Shuna, we arrived at the Thesis an Hour before Slack to find that the Sound Diver had his Divers in already Tide had slackened over 90mins before it should have! so a frantic scramble to get in and we managed a decent dive...i lost my Buddies so was watching a Conger in a Pipe when i suddenly felt the Tide began to run, the Fish all began to disappear...i headed over to the shot, which on descent was vertical, now was at an angle of 45degrees, i headed up the line then decided the tide was too strong so l;eft the other Dive pair heading up the line...I met my Buddies at the bottom and i was ready to send up my DSMB, not sure what they thought I was up to and they headed up the line. I sent my DSMB up and set off, i soon drifted over the four Divers on the line all holding onto the Buoy at 20 metres....certainly made me laugh all the way up.

We arrived at the Shuna which again can be dived any state of tide, normally a 'dirty' wreck i knew it wouldnt be great vis, everyone dropped in when they were happy with their Surface Interval..dropping down the line it wasnt great vis and we arrived at the Stern Winch, one hold back and we were at the spare Prop and the Steering gear, again I lost my Buddies so had a look at Prop and then along to Bow and back after 30mins i headed up the line and met my Buddies who had well over 15mins of stops...being on my Rebreather i had no stops but i waited with them until they were clear, after a 50min dive time we surfaced.

I headed home about 1600 and got back to Edinburgh about 1930...on the Monday I think they Diver the Hispania again and a scenic Dive on a Wall which was excellent as vis had improved.

It was a good weekend and was spooky as our Skipper Robin was the Skipper when i organised my first Trip up there 11 years ago...it was good to catch up with him.

Good trip, Great Company and even after 10 Trips up there it is still Good Wreck Diving

Al had answered my call for a dive buddy who was keen to dive up around Loch Sunart and Lochaline. We headed off early Saturday morning and caught the Corran ferry across. No solid plans on dive sites, just armed with a few possibilities from the web. We were blessed by some excellent sunny weather. Travelled the length of Loch Sunart up to Portuairk. Lovely white sand beach, clear water, but it did not look promising for any sort of depth. Potentially a good snorkelling site. We turned around without getting wet, and headed back along the Northern side of the Loch. The geography in places is fantastic. Steep sided hills straight down into the loch, plenty of small islets just off shore was very suggestive of some interesting dive sites. Biggest issue we had was trying to find easy shore access and parking space. 1st dive was opposite Ardnamurchan Charters around a jutting headland. Descended down a boulder slope that continued down to at least 30m. The site was quite silty. A number of large linked chains descended over the slope at regular intervals. There was also a large amount of net lying across the boulder slope. Usual loch life although it must be mentioned the featherstars had a remarkable diversity of colours from bright yellow to dark puples. Second dive was at a picnic site called camas torsa. Nice easy stroll in over a shingle beach onto a sandy slope. There is a description of a wall at this site below 25m, but we stayed above this depth. Again the usual loch life, a lovely small thornback ray and a bizarre unidentified worm/mollusc. These worms??? were extremely common at this site, and were the only site we observed them. Up to about 40cm long, clear to white translucent appearance that extends from a hole in the sand. The head of the worm??? then bisects into two halves with a ribbony appearance forming a Y shape. Retracts into the sand upon detection of movement. Not a bad site, and one I would not mind diving again to explore the site further. We then headed around the head of the loch to the south side. Pulling up at Laudale slip we set up the tent for the night, and cooked our evening meal, before heading in for a night dive off the slip way. A nice safe site, and perfect for a night dive. We headed up the loch until we came across a boulder reef and followed it down. Plenty of small fish about, goldsinny, wrasse species, leopard spotted goby, sole. There were also a large number of crabs with cloak anemones, flame shell beds and another unknown. A large turquoise coloured sausage shaped thing, possibly a worm or sea cucumber. Ascended to see the strobe flashing above the camp site. Dekitted and went straight to bed for the night. A bit of rain overnight continued as light drizzle the next morning, but the wind had picked up. Broke camp, and after some breakfast, off to Lochaline for air fills. Tins filled we jumped in and did the lochaline wall. What a great site this is. Gently drifting along the wall. Nudibranch, fan worms, sea squirts of various types, anemones, congers. Great vis, with the wall dropping away below. Ascended and out off the sandy beach. Discussing options we decided to repeat the wall again, when we were approached by a group of other divers from the dive shop. They were doing a training dive, before doing the drift around into the mouth of Lochaline to exit by the pier. With the option of a different dive we took up the offer to join them for the drift. The tide was flowing nicely, not too strong, perfect for a drift. However I have not finned so hard on a dive ever. The dive instructor was off like a shot, finning strongly with the current. Knowing the mouth of the loch is a busy area with the ferry and boat traffic we wanted to stay close. 18mins later we were emerging at the side of the pier. A shallow dive, with not the greatest scenery but something different. On retrospect the finning with the current was probably to ensure we were out before the next ferry returned. Dekitting, we see a charter boat pulling in with the Glasgow contingent of SQSAC who had been out diving on a GLUG trip. Not a bad way to see a weekend out. Keen to get back and explore the area further

This was after a 40 min dive from Ross's Boat the other week just off Methil Harbour, we filled two Fish Boxes with Scallops they were all clean large good quality ones, they Young Divers Alison and Louis beat Ross and I hands down....they had 2 bags to our one ober 160 Kilos of Scallops in 40 mins