|
|
MV Mary
Doune |
|
|
|
We arrived on the Friday evening and this time we stayed in B & B with Mrs. King at the very comfortable and affordable Seaview.
|
|||
|
Day 1: 14 September. The glorious weather allowed us to motor smoothly out of Mallaig to Hyskeir, spotting the odd Minke whale on the way. The first dive was on the East Coast where the basalt pillars of the shoreline drop down in a few steps to patches of sand at 20 metres. Heading north with the reef on the left brought us to a series of gullies with sand chutes between and finally to gradual rocky slope that shelved away into the depths. Life on and around the reef was prolific and the highlight by most of us was the huge crayfish in a crack on the reef. Easily 3 kgs in weight this magnificent specimen was left to go on his/her own way.
|
 Palinurus elephas - Crayfish Photograph by Jim Anderson |
||
| After lunch and a snorkel with a 5 metre basking shark we dived in the Cave on the north end of Hyskeir. Andy's boat handling skills were to the fore to drop us right in the cave entrance. This superb dive is carried out again with the reef on the left and finishes in the coliseum of fallen basalt columns where a large number of big Ballan Wrasse have taken up residence. Again the 25 metre visibility made torches, other than in the depths of the cave, unnecessary. | |||
 A
shoal of Horse Mackerel Trachurus trachurus, photographed by
Jim Anderson while waiting for the Basking Shark to swim past. |
|||
|
We dined magnificently again on Doune where we enjoyed home made soup, venison, sweet and scottish cheeses and coffee before Andy ferried us back across to Mallaig for the night. Apparently there was some kind of dance on in the local hall but no reliable reports have been given, so we will not mention anything about that.
|
|||
|
Day 2: 15 September The weather had closed in with low cloud obscuring yesterdays glorious sunshine, but bright and early, well 9.00 am actually, we set off. The first dive was round in Loch Nevis on Reidh a Ghuail in Loch Nevis, a boulder slope dropping down from the shore. Traveling with the reef on the right we passed huge rocks covered in tunicates and Protanthea anenome.
|
|||
|
We had lunch at the Inverie Inn and chatted to Katy, the lovely local labrador. Next dive was again in Loch nevis on the curiously named 4.5 metre Reef - curious because the top lies at 10 metres at the top of the flood and 7.5 at the bottom of the ebb. An isolated pinnacle covered in brittle stars to the north face and plumose anenomes on the top and south face with flat sandy shelves covered in Cerianthus anenome. All too soon the diving was over and it was back to Mallaig and the drive home. Roll on the spring and a return visit. |
|||
|
|
|||
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
|
|||
|
|
|||
