'S'no Laughing Matter - 17/01/2015

The drive to Loch Long

The weather so far this year has been a bit, erm, dismal. Add to that the fact that Turkish Airlines had the cheek to lose one of my suitcases containing my regulators and you'll understand why diving hasn't been that high on the agenda. However, my football team had a week off so I resolved to dive....no matter what.

Despite the snow we had swithered about heading across the Rest & Be Thankful to Loch Fyne, but some heavier snow overnight convinced us to stay local and visit Loch Long.

The route to Finnart took us over what is known locally as the Military Road. The road climbs a not insignificant height and by the time we reached the top, the road was a whiteout. Fast Ed led the way as he was the car most likely to have to turn back (Captain Al and I both have 4x4s). We made it safely to the site. Where all five of us (The Merrymaker and TDFKAMF were also there) kitted up.

I was using a makeshift kit of hire regs and a borrowed torch and to be honest I couldn't get comfy - it just wasn't my usual set up. Regardless, TDFKAMF and I buddied up and headed down. I won't lie, it was cold (head hurtingly so) and the visibility was pretty poor (1-3m). Despite that, we saw some nice things:

• Scorpion fish
• Bloody Henry
• Dragonet
• Macropedia rostrata
• Nudibranchs

On the way back up, the safety stop was grim. The temperature bottomed out at an optimistic 5c.

I decided to duck out of the second dive. Which, with hindsight, was a great decision. By the time we headed home, the roads had beenl ploughed and gritted - that made Ed's life easier.

Scorpion fish

Fan worm

Bloody Henry

Surfacing