Castaways Sub-Aqua Club
	A Branch (Branch No 2071) of The British Sub-Aqua Club

Did it Rain Down South? or…
The Deco is out there

Tobermory

14 - 21 August 1999

You can tell it's a long way when there are two ferry crossings and Suzanne introduces a new concept in road travel - the single track A road with passing places and on-coming lorries. The accommodation could be best described as early IKEA, being a cabin built from giant lolly sticks with small bedrooms and more height than actually necessary, but at least it was easy to tidy (the dirt was swept straight out of the door).

The Silver Swift

Diving was from Silver Swift - a boat built for 10 and accommodating 5 so space wasn't a problem. Initially the weather was sunshine and showers - sun whilst diving, showers otherwise and thanks to the tides we were forced to dive the Rondo and the Hispania on day 1. The DO was subject to the first disappearance when his torch vanished, but at least it was securely fastened as he didn't loose the carabiner or string.

Stunning scenary

Day 2 was a wall dive on Calve Island (we read and follow Diver articles religiously), followed by the gloomy wreck of the Shuna - an upright cargo ship and all the DO lost this time was 2 minutes of deco stops. Nigel tried and failed to loose his buddies on numerous occasion's on this dive until Anthony ensured that he would not wander too far with imaginative signals and verbal instructions!

Jake demonstrating post-dive BSAC '88 Table use.
When he had to use both hands we started to worry

Jake during one of his time distortion events

With the weather threatening to improve we ventured up Loch Sunart to dive Risga Pinnacle at the entrance to the Loch. A steep drop off covered in life and we were rewarded with our first sightings of Porpoises and sunshine on the return home. Getting braver we next dived the Aurania - a Cunard liner of 14,000 tonnes now flat to the seabed but still hiding silver and portholes. The dive consisted of finding the boilers, a patchwork of broken pottery being collected and for the DO losing another two minutes, but at least his buddy felt okay.

Anthony offers to lick the smudge off of the camera lens

Wednesday saw the long trek to Coll to dive the excellent wreck of the Tapti in clear water and no current. All the divers were joined by seals, who seemed genuinely curious and showed off for one pair and played hide and seek with the others. Underwater you could be forgiven for thinking that this wasn't UK diving. After a lunch stop at the main/only village on Coll and a walk up a hill thanks to the treasurer, we dived the Nevada II at the opposite end of Coll, which was broken up and hidden in the kelp but pretty none the less.

Coll harbour

Room for a small one?

Thursday was another "expedition" type day to the Thesis in the Sound of Mull and then Lochaline Pier. Clear water on the intact wreck that even Suzanne entered a bit as well as ample opportunity for pictures was followed by lunch at the Lochaline burger van - apparently the Haggis burger is good. Lochaline Pier, the west one not the ferry one , is billed as a shore dive to 70m. We drifted along in 20-25m past cohabiting squat lobsters and the rare or very common, Leopard spotted gobies (it depends on which book you read), the occasional piece of live ammo and a sea scorpion or two before cruising home in the sunshine and seeing more porpoises.

Sea Scorpion

Happy Divers™

Last day and we turned down a 6am slack on the Rondo to do a deep dive on Calve Island at a more sociable hour. Quite how it is possible to descend in different directions is not clear but congratulations Nigel and Dave! The last planned dive was the Hispania - complete with a look in the holds both fore and aft of the superstructure, a traffic jam at 6m on the shotline with morons and their strobes (which Suzanne and Anthony chose to avoid for a more intimate deco stop) and more porpoises in the distance.

I didn't like the others, they were too flat

This was once a window

The wrasse was cooperative but the starfish just refused to pose

The computer divers then did their Good Samaritan act by rescuing an anchor and chain that a visiting yacht had hooked into, through and around a wrecked "puffer". We think the bottom was at 11m, it was hard to tell. The viz was either excellent or zero, but hopefully we didn't damage the wreck too much as the chain was unhooked from the cleat it was wrapped around and unthreaded from the side rails etc., and laid out on the mud next to the wreck. The booze money was subsequently spent to protect the thirsty and we even had enough sun to dry the kit and keep Suzanne warm as she finished off the white wine.

Nigel and his cream slice

But overall this was a sober trip - we did visit all 4 local pubs - the posh one, the youth one, (with the best food), the locals only slaughtered lamb style one and the one next to the dive shop but had only sufficient in each. We befriended the distillery cat - Toddy and the hotel cat as well, ate fish and chips from the skippers wife's van (which were excellent) and had a local take-away pizza. We even had a proper meal in a restaurant as it did steaks and had a wine list.

We had told Jake that there was beer at the end of the line

Relaxed divers™ watching their kit dry

But in the best tradition of diving in the UK the sea was flat, the wind was gentle, the sun was shining and slack was just after breakfast, as we drove to get the first ferry home - till next year then!

Jake Easton

(Underwater photographs courtesy Suzanne Easton.
Surface photographs courtesy Anthony Peacock and Suzanne Easton)