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West Lothian Sub Aqua Club
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| Two weeks later, twelve of the Club's members returned to Mallaig and joined the MV Mary Doune and Skipper Andy Tibbetts at 9 am. The trip out was enlivened by a spot of whale watching as we motored on calm seas past the south coast of Eigg. Several Minke Whales, Harbour Porpoise and Bottlenose Dolphins were seen as we made our way to the first dive of the day. | ||
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The diving opened with a dive on Godag Reef to the north east of
Rhum. This reef just breaks the surface at low water and drops steeply
to beyond 40 metres. It is covered on top with kelp which extends down
to 12 to 15 metres with prolific encrusting invert life below on both
steeply sloping rock faces and jumbled boulders and gullies. Devonshire
cup corals were particularly densely packed on the rock surfaces.
The highlight of this dive was the Trigger fish (see below) Balistes carolinensis Gmelin, 1789 spotted independently by two of the dive pairs. The photographs were taken by Russell Parker following Derek Bryce spotting the fish - two in fact. These fish are only very rarely seen this far north, being a warmer water species more likely to be seen in the Mediterranean. |
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  Trigger fish by Russell Parker |
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| We anchored in the harbour on Eigg and lunched in the local cafe while Andy re-filled the cylinders for the afternoon dive. We motored round to the east coast and dived on a shore reef near Rubha na Crannaig. This dive produced another Trigger fish, this time only seen by Derek and Russell. Others were amazed by the numbers of spawning nudibranchs Onchidoris bilamellata seen on the bouldery slope below the kelp between 12 and 25 metres. there must have been thousands of these little 20 to 30 mm long animals and there spawn clustered on the rocks.The day ended again happily back at Mallaig by 6 to pick up the cars and begin the long journey back to West Lothian. Thanks Andy for another great day out. | ||
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The Dive Boat The Mary Doune lying alongside the pier in the bay at Doune on the Knoydart peninsula.
Skipper Andy Tibbetts
can be contacted at MV Mary Doune, by telephone at 01687 462 667 or by snail mail at Doune, Knoydart, Mallaig, Inverness-shire, PH41. |
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