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MV Mary
Doune |
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We returned for our first visit of the year to Doune for another weekend diving. We assembled at Mallaig and were ferried across to Doune in the MV Mary Doune by our skipper and good friend Andy Tibbetts. After putting the world to right and a comfortable night in the bunkhouse we were down at the pier for 9.30 am raring to go.
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| Day 1: 20 April. We motored north along the Knoydart coast into Loch Hourn to the first dive on a cliff site, Rubh Ruadh or Red Rocks on the south shore. The site is made up of vertical sections each about 5 metres deep with flat shelfs 3-4 metres wide forming a series of steps down into the depths. Our maximum depth was 40 metres but the cliff goes on down to a charted 110 just off shore. Visibility was about 12 metres. The rock walls of the cliff are covered in a wide range of invert life with Cerianthus sp. anemones in the sand shelfs alongside a few scallops. We moored up for lunch in the shelter of a headland at the first of the narrows and enjoyed the best of the weather while we refilled our bottles for the next dive.
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We moved up the loch through the narrows to our next dive, Eilean Mhogh-Sgeir and Island Rock. The reef runs east from the island with the top at 8-10 metres to Island Rock. From there the ebb tide carried us along the south face of the rock and reef. This site has the one of the most magnificent displays of Plumose anemone to be seen. The sheer rock surface a covered for dozens of metres in all directions with beautiful white, yellow and orange animals. Elsewhere brittle stars cover the rock surfaces and Yarrell's blennies peek out of crevices. |
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We moored up again and topped up the bottles for the last dive of the day. This dive was on Eilean a Gharb-Lain on the north shore of the loch. It is a small cliff which drops down from the surface to a shelly sand bottom at 18 metres. The walls of the cliff are covered in Plumose, Dead Mens Fingers, sponges, Dahlia anemone and little horizontal crevices with all sorts of little crustaceans. A nice way to end the diving. We motored back to Doune where we enjoyed a splendid meal in their restaurant and put the world to right again. |
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To the left: our dinner awaits us at Doune.
Below from L to R: James Anthony, Hazel Macfarlane, Jenny Young, Gordon Young, Douglas Forman, Jim Anderson, Douglas Potter, Anne Potter, Ian Whyte Jun., Ian Whyte Sen., Russell Parker in the foreground and Stevie McLaughlin behind the camera. |
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Day 2: 21 April The sun was out while we breakfasted but the weather deteriorated as the day progressed. We headed south this morning and into Loch Nevis where the first dive was on Smyth Rock, a pinnacle rising from 80 metres to a flat top at 11 metres. A series of flat shelfs separated by steep rock walls drop down to the depths, the best sides being to the east and south. Again the walls are profusely covered in Plumose and other encrusting life. Following lunch moored at Inverie pier, and in the Inn, we headed back out in the rain for the second dive of the day. Another pinnacle in Loch Nevis, this time 4 Metre Reef, which rises from the depths to 7 metres. No one knows where the top 3 metres have gone. Similar life as before but this time there was a small shoal of Pollack or Saithe circling around. We arrived back at Mallaig, disembarked and were heading back down the road for 4.30, another great weekend behind us and all looking forward to returning in the autumn. |
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The Dive Boat The Mary Doune lying at anchor in the bay at Doune on the Knoydart peninsula.
Skipper Andy Tibbetts can be contacted at web site
http://home.clara.net/atibbetts/index.htm
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