To The Point - 11/02/2017

Nearby Loch Linnhe

It was an act of kindness that took me to the Slates on a wintery Saturday. With a new diver in the club interested in diving near Fort William. I had offered to meet her for a dive. It was cold and Gill.I.Am and I had agreed to take the van to the Linnhe Lochside Holidays, for and electrical hookup (to keep warm!). I then went with Sarah to Loch Leven to dive.

We had agreed that we'd head round the point until Sarah got to 100 bar and then from there we'd either turn back or continue round depending on which was quicker. As it was, it was quicker to continue round the point. 

Even though there was a pleasant assortment of sunstars, brittle stars and bloody henry's, there wasn't much life, it was cold - very cold, but the visibility was good in the loch. This bode well for my next dive the following day and the true point of my trip - Caolasnacon.

Dog(fish) Days - 04/06/2016

With the football season a thing of the past (for a few weeks anyway) I returned to Saturday diving. The Something for the Weekend Crew had decided to head to the disputed Dogfish Reef. I've been there twice in two years because of the issues around car parking. However, today's trip was to be eventful and fruitful. 

We parked respectfully at the back of the car park and kitted up. As I headed across and down to the shore I heard a voice shouting at me, I turned and went to meet the guy striding across. His name was Mark and he was the owner of the boatyard and of the car park. We chatted. He explained about the behaviour of groups of divers he encountered.I understood his annoyance. In the end I think we reached a memorandum of understanding. It's worth following the points below if you want to dive here.

1. Call him in advance or pop into the boat yard before you start your day, a bit like with Frank at the Tearooms
2. Don't turn up en masse - keep it to small groups
3. Get changed discreetly - the neighbours don't want to see your junk or half naked torso
4. Clear your rubbish - littering is a crime!
5. Keep the noise down

In short, don't be a dick. I'd say that goes at almost every dive site, but I seem to encounter residents who have experienced the worst of divers everywhere I go.

As for the diving, it was decent enough, but the remnants of slight cold meant that by 18m my ears were screaming and while I slowly got down to 32m, I really wasn't that desperate to do it all again for the same selections of wrasse, dogfish, sunstars and strawberry worms. Captain Al wasn't too keen either so we cleared up the BBQ and let the Merry Maker, Hagrid and Stevo enjoy the water.

On another note, Mark is looking to start a dive charter business around here, look out for it in the near future.

Gnome action

Bloody Henry

Common Sunstar

Captain Al