 |
West Lothian Sub Aqua Club
|
|
| the dive team | the diving | the boat |
The Diving |
||
| Day 1, 5th May. After overnighting on board at Oban and breakfast we headed up the Sound of Mull in calm clear weather. Our first dive of the day was at 10.35 at Ardtornish Point at the mouth of Loch Sunart. This lovely cliff drops from above the surface, straight down to 30+ metres and is covered in anenomes, sponges, soft corals, tunicates and hydroids all crawling with nudibranchs and other molluscs. Big male and female cuckoo wrasse brighten up the scenery deeper down. A 44 minute light drift along the wall. After a delicious lunch while we motored across to Coll we arrived at Eileanan-nah-Aornan or The Yellow Brick Road. This islet lies midway along the east side of Coll and gave us a brisk drift over gullies and rocky reefs with white shingle sand between. The reefs are appropriately named after the dense growths of dead men's Finger soft corals. We also spotted a few patches of Jewel Anenomes and dark brown Cotton Spinner sea cucumbers. A 45 minute dive this time. Dinner (with wine) was enjoyed by us as we lay moored alongside the pier at Arinagour in company with several of the pride of the west coats live-aboard fleet. After dinner a wee walk up through the town was rewarded by a great evening in the Hotel.
|
||
| Day 2, 6th May. Sundays breakfast was a leisurely affair while we waited on the tide. Everyone was fit and well and by 11.00 am we dropped onto the MV Tapti wreck on the south end of the island. The wreckage is well broken up now but is still clearly discernable as the ship she was before her grounding on the reef in 1951. The wreckage is covered in all the usual invert life and was particularly rich in nudibranch species. One of our party (guess who) managed to spot 12 different species to feature on his web page. Big Ballan Wrasse lurk around the rusting metalwork waiting for tidbits from the passing diver or their buddy. After exploring the wreck we enjoyed ourselves examining the abundant life on the reef that sunk the 4,400 tonne Tapti. A 52 minute dive in excellent visibility. The sky had cleared to blue and we headed down the west coast of Mull enjoying another lovely lunch on the way. Skipper George dropped the shot at 5.00 pm straight onto the wreck of the MV Meldon which lies, surrounded by lumps of her coal in 15 metres on the west coast of Mull. The wreck is well broken up but the stern, prop and rudder make an impressive sight lying closest to the shore in 6 metres. A pleasant dive was had swimming clockwise around the wreck with sideways sorties into the hull to enjoy well broken up interior with large shoals of large Pollack swimming among the spars and plates. 60 minutes later we surfaced, happy and out of film. All together it was a great weekend. Good food, great company and best of all terrific diving. The Gemini Storm is a splendid comfortable boat and George and his crew did everything to make sure we all enjoyed a tremendous and safe two days. West Lothian will certainly be back, thanks to everyone. |
||
The Dive Team
|
||
The Boat
|
||
 |
 Skipper George Mair |
 |
Link to Gemini Storm Webpage here. |
||
|
|
If you have any corrections, comments or suggestions e-mail us.
|
