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Dive Trips |
Date Experience Level Expedition Organiser Dive Trip Stories
Dive trip to Ullapool. May
2012.
Scotland does not have a ' Climate ' ......it has '
Weather '
We experienced / enjoyed it in all its variety and
splendour.
Everything from Snow via Hail and Rain to Warm Sunshine.
Brian , Phill , Scott, Graeme , Ross and I left early Friday with Kit
and 18 cylinders to travel to Ullapool for a weekend's diving.
Six hours later we arrived at our Chalet and were stunned by the view
and the scenery of Loch Broom.
We managed only one dive on Friday ..... a wall on ' Isle
Martin ' .
As ever , scallops were collected , and dinner was Seared Scallops
followed by Chilli con Carne.
Saturday we sailed out to the Summer Isles in a storm of
Hailstones. Dived a boulder slope with a large area of Kelp
where I saw my first ' Sea Hare '. Moored the boat and landed
to enjoy a BBQ of Burgers whilst sheltering from the rain under a
large rock. Second dive was on the wreck of the ' Boston Sterling '
a 30 metre stern trawler lying in it's port side in fairly shallow water.
Plenty of light and fairly good viz made for a memorable dive.
Dinner that night was Graeme's own version of Spaghetti
Bolognese.
Sunday morning the boat and the surrounding hills were covered in
snow. We intended to dive the wreck of the ' Fairweather V ', but due to
problems with the echo sounder we were unable to locate it. A dive
to 30m found us on a sandy seabed ........with lots of
Scallops. Scott managed to catch a lobster.
This time the weather was kind and we had our Burgers on a beach with
the sun shining , and a large bonfire to warm us .
Next dive saw us down among the Kelp beds and along a boulder
slope.
Dinner was Scallops , Lobster , and all the left overs
from Friday & Sat..
Monday , we launched in Glorious sunshine and dived ' The Waterfall '
at Isle Martin.
A rocky wall with cracks and crevices and sandy areas.
On our trip back to the jetty heading into the wind we were
blasted by hailstones.
It was then time to pack up and load up for the journey home.
A lot of travelling , but well worth the effort.
Despite the vagaries of the weather I'm sure we all enjoyed every
minute
We spent about 5 hours underwater , and laughed the rest of the
time
Good company , good diving , and fine dining ......what more could
you ask ?
Thanks again to Brian for making all the arrangements.
And a thank you to Scott for towing , Launching ,
recovering the boat and for the use of his
Trailer.
H. M. S. PERSEUS . KEFALONIA GREECE. Summer 2011. We booked a holiday in Kefalonia in June with my wife and friends…all non divers… and having managed to add over 100 dives in the last year I had agreed to a week’s holiday with no diving. Then, I just happened to come across the web site for ‘DIVE-IN ‘ at Lassi in Kefalonia. ( as you do ) A scan through the descriptions of the dive sites showed nothing of special interest until …… H.M.S. PERSEUS. a British ‘ P class ‘ Second World War Submarine. Described as being largely intact and lying upright in 52 metres with the top of the periscopes at 34 metres. This called for a re-think of the holiday plans. My dive kit was coming . The story of the loss of ‘ PERSEUS ‘ and her one survivor is told on the web site, and there are links to video footage of the wreck on ‘ U Tube ‘ Diving the wreck was a memorable experience. Steve, our skipper and dive centre owner dropped the shot line onto the deck just behind the conning tower. With viz. of 20 m+ the whole of the vessel suddenly comes into focus at about 30 m down. It looks huge. and appears undamaged. 15 minutes at 48 metres max. depth flew by, but it was sufficient time for a swim around and a look in the open hatches. I found myself thinking all the time of the 53 poor souls who went down with her, and whose remains are inside. John Capes, the only survivor said that he was drinking rum when the sub met its end, and claimed that he had a final swig before he went out the escape hatch. Greek divers have penetrated the wreck , and inside , near the escape hatch they found ....... a rum bottle. Capes died before the wreck was discovered some 10 years ago , but the Greeks contacted his daughter and she came out to the site and laid a wreath on H.M.S. PERSEUS. They gave her the rum bottle as a keepsake I dived with ‘ DIVE-IN ‘ at LASSI in KEFALONIA. a British owned , friendly and efficient dive centre. Look them up on www.diveinkefalonia.com Read the story and watch the video If you should visit Kefalonia , make sure you dive the ‘ PERSEUS ‘ Alasdair Reid ( Kilmarnock S.A.C. ) ________________________________________________________________________ AUTUMN 2010 Lochaline, Sound of Mull Alasdair Reid's Diary Just home after a fantastic weekend's diving the Wrecks, Walls and Islands of the Sound of Mull. Five of us, Brian,Scott, Phil, Steven and I left Kilmarnock at 9.00am on Friday 8th October for Lochaline Dive Centre with Scott towing the boat, and all our kit in Brian's van. Due to work commitments, Graeme was unabel to join us until later that day. Five of us dived the Shuna, and in the evening Graeme arrived in time for a night dive at 'Hotel Beach'. Saturday saw us diving the Shuna again followed by a daytime dive at Hotel Beach and then a late evening dive on the wreck of the John Preston. For Graeme and I this became a drift dive as we were caught in a very strong current. No worries, up with the DSMB and the boat followed us without difficulty. On sunday we went to the Rondo, and later in the day, the Thesis. We saved enough air for a third short dive in search of scallops. Phil and Scott bagged the biggest catch! Monday morning, an early breakfast and we were off to dive the Breda, then back to base to load up for the journey home. NINE great dives in a long weekend. Accommodation at Lochaline Pier is adequate if basic - the meals are something else entirely! Quality and QUANTITY - and how! They have never heard of portion control! Diving certainly gives you an appetite, but this was more than even we could cope with! We were blessed with the most perfect weather. The scenery was stunning, all that a Scottish Tourist Board photographer would hope for. We could not have had better. All in all, one of the best dive weekends ever! - 'til the next one! Thanks to Brian for organising/booking/and as ever allowing us the use of his van. A big thank you to Scott for towing, launching and recovering the boat, and being his usual tower of strength! Phil did most of the boat driving...all smooth and without incident. Graeme - we look forward to some cracking underwater pics! Finally a special mention for Steven King. He recently qualified as a Sport Diver, and completed all the dives without difficulty - we were all impressed. He also gained a lot of valuable experience and coped well with some serious dives. Descriptions of the various dive sites can be found on Lochaline's web site. www.lochalinedivecentre.co.uk Hope to see you all out diving soon - (a very tired) Alasdair! From the rest of the
Committee - many thanks to Alasdair for your contribution to the
success of the weekend - and your diary! | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Date |
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Expedition
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03/10/11 Monday |
From 8.00 pm |
The Galleon Centre |
First Pool Session of winter! | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||