USAC During 2004

Port Napier

After much hassle finding the right bearings we finally got them onto the trailer and despite the artic conditions the two Andy's, Kevin and Dan made plans to head for Kyle of Lochalsh on Sunday morning to dive the Port Napier.

The boat hadn't been out for a while so we met on Saturday afternoon to fill cylinders, check oil, get the O2 kit out so that Sunday morning would go as smoothly as possible. Everybody apart from Malcolm and Helga will have noticed that this week wasn't the warmest third week in November on record but that was not going to deter us!!

It just meant that snow and ice had to scrapped from the boat first!!

With the boat all sorted we decided on a last weather check later that night, if it snowed again we wont go, but anything else and we're off.

Early on Sunday morning we met at the Achnasheen turn, it hadn't snowed, but it wasn't great weather, freezing rain, still dark and what's more Kevin only had enough petrol to get to Contin which was still closed at that time in the morning....which frankly any wise person would be!

Arriving in Kyle in one piece (just) we got to getting everything sorted as quickly as possible...it was belting down and soon bus shelters were being used as changing rooms. The boat was launched and ready to go all by 0945....that must have been a USAC record, surely something had to go wrong, nothing is ever this easy when we go diving....

The wreck was breaking the surface as the tide was on the rise and Dan and Kevin dived first. Dropping in just above the stern, we started our dive by the mine laying tunnels  and then moved round to see the prop shaft. The visibility was pretty good, but not fantastic though it was much much warmer in the water than out of it!

As we came back on to the deck area moving our way forwards, on the seabed beneath us we could see the old trolleys used to wheel the mines out of the stern and then various parts of superstructure that survived the explosion when she went on fire during loading in Kyle during WW2.

Moving further towards the bow we were totally oblivious to the ever decreasing weather on the surface so as the time flew by we continued exploring parts of the wreck, passing the funnel, masts and where the wheelhouse should have been! Just forward of here we ventured though into the main hold and squeezed along between two of the decks...emerging just aft of the two 4 inch guns on the bow. When Kevin realised what he was looking at there was no need for any signing to explain, his smile could been seen around his reg.

As we reached the bow, I looked back to see Kevin sticking out of the wreck sideways with arms flying everywhere. "What has happened?" I thought. A couple of seconds later he was standing leaning over the bow on his side, arms spread wide like Kate Winslet.....despite his requests there was no way I was going to stand behind him and get all romantic!!

Nearly an hour after entering the water we got near enough to the surface to see that it was belting down and the wind had picked up. Andy and Andy had been taking it in turns to do circuits around the boat to keep warm. Their RhIB diving exercise video should be on the shelves for Christmas, though they are still looking for a C-list celebrity to head it up as neither of them were willing to wear leotards.

While they went in to the water the wind picked up further and the SW gale that had been forecast was soon upon us. Waiting for the Andy's to return to the surface in the freezing rain and sleet the hour they spent on the wreck took ages to pass.

Thankfully it was only a short ride back over to Kyle. With the wind blowing straight up the slip the boat was recovered very quickly, in fact we had no choice in the matter really it was going to get blown over to Plockton before too long.

Having found a spot alongside the RNLI station to get changed again we got back into the cars and got the heaters on.

Andy V soon scared the locals off as he dropped his trousers in the bus shelter!

Thankfully the road wasn't as icy going back, this time it was flooded and following the boat being towed by Andy several times it looked like it was back at sea as they charged through the floods. Anxiously, Kevin and I followed them through, wondering how deep it might get and whether the car would still be in one piece at the other side or if we might have to find a lifting bag from the boot.

What a great day we had, it was cold, it was wet and very windy but really good fun and if you ever ask Kevin the time don't worry if he answers with his order for lunch, it would not be the first time.

Here's Diver Magazine's wreck tour of the Port Napier.

 10th Birthday party

What's the difference between drunk divers in the Seaforth on a Saturday night and drunk divers upstairs in the Seaforth on a Saturday night? Some might say we've gone up in the world, others I'm sure would beg to differ, but the difference was this was USACs 10th Birthday.

Briony had done a great job in going shopping for enough party food and finger buffet stuff to feed a small army, or maybe just Stewart after a feed of Magners.

Andy, Briony, Maria and Dan met in the kitchen of the Broom Bar mid afternoon to start making a couple of hundred sandwiches, cook three hundred small sausages and spike several dozen grapes onto cocktail sticks. Meanwhile in Achiltibuie, Caroline tried to keep Andy and the pack of dogs away from the 200 sausage rolls that were cooking in the oven

When all the food was laid out, we suddenly started to realise that we'd be eating pringles, twiglets, pretzels and sausage rolls for most of the following week.

The evening started off about 7.30 as familiar faces started to appear through the doors, some had not been seen for many months even years, but before too long the bar was full. Diving in Ullapool started back in the mid to late 70's when Darrell and some friends came up on holiday and the next year decided to move to the village to start diving. It was great to see that they had been able to make the journey up from Yorkshire to join us. For many, these were faces we had never seen before. But all with a common interest it was fascinating to hear the stories they had from years ago.

It wasn't long before Maria and Shona started to venture on to the dance floor and then took over the karaoke machine......uhhm....I'm no Karaoke star myself, but tonight Matthew maybe we should have stuck to dancing!

With a fridge set aside for Magners some were determined to see if it could be emptied faster than the bar staff could refill it. Whereas some newer club members underwent the advanced snorkel assessment.

Sadly the night came to an end too soon so grab a plate of sandwiches, sausage rolls and the tub of twiglets and head for a party at Malcolm and Helga's.....who just so happened to be on a plane on their way to Goa - Helga it was all tidy when we left, honest! Andy even took his tooth with him after it fell out.

All the pictures from the night can be found on the Gallery page (at the moment it's still being built, but will be up very soon....trust me it's worth the wait!)

 SHOCK AT USAC

RAIGIE COMES DIVING......................................but soon makes his excuses!

Believe it or not, it actually happened....a phone call on Saturday night "are you diving tomorrow - right I'll see you in the morning" but the next morning was a different story! Yes, Malcolm made it to the unit all set to dive for the first time in a long time. But very quickly he was back tracking because there was no oxygen left to mix the nitrox!

Actually, this was a blessing in disguise. It was bitterly cold and the northerly force 5 was getting fresher. Rather than go home back to bed (or to the FBI), which is what most people would do on a Sunday morning, he was boatman.

Hugging the north shore of the loch Andy V, Kevin, Dan and Malcolm headed to try and find somewhere with some shelter. We found it around the seaward side of Horse Island. The vis still had not improved from a couple of weeks ago. So when scallops started to appear on the seabed, the three of us spread out slightly....for Dan this turned out to be too much. When he turned around again there was nobody there. Kevin and Andy found the same thing. So rather than continuing on, Dan surfaced - much to Malcolm's fear! and we reformed as a three, Kevin and Andy were also approaching the surface.

We continued on with the dive which turned out to be really good and like many dives right at the end of it the seabed was starting to look really interesting and drop off further down a boulder field.

Back on the surface the wind was still strengthening and it was getting colder, so we headed straight back for the village. Waiting for Kevin to get the trailer to take the boat out a quick phone call to the FBI got a can of cider thrown from the bar out to the RIB!! Though a good dive, it was great top be back in the warm and chuckling over the days misadventures.

Try Dives

Back in the pool again for the winter training season and one of the first things to do like each year is the try dives. This is the best time for any new members or prospective members to come along and experience using and aqualung for the first time.

The try dives are open to everyone over 15, and we do ask that you sign a disclaimer as you are not yet covered by ScotSAC insurance yet. Briony has these at the pool with her along with all of the forms that you need to join the branch, ScotSAC and provide the correct medical evaluation.

Thursday 21st was advertised in the Ullapool News and a small handful of people turned up. Because the club has a high proportion of instructors it meant that people were able to get a full hour in the water rather than the usual 15 mins in most clubs.

We will be having another try dive session in a couple of weeks time...this will be advertised both in the Ullapool News and on the USAC site. Feel free to come along if you are interested, or even curious!

Briony goes with a Bang!

After the success of the training weekend and then a weekend where nobody was free to dive, Sunday 17th saw a boat full of divers ready to leave the pier. It had been a morning where anything and everything that could go wrong did, cylinders rolled off the pier, people left kit at the unit, and worse still there was not a sandwich to be found in the petrol station or Safeway!

The bad luck was set to continue for Briony, when there was a loud bang from her kit as the air was switched on. Andy thought somebody had been shot, Dan leapt for cover in the boat....even Kevin turned round!! the comments of "I got a spare O ring" where wasted and later laughed at.

One down we headed out to take Euan and Ryan for their first dive in Conservation cave.  like many times there was too much swell. The clubs appetite for washed up buoys was satisfied as we rounded the corner towards Latto's rock. A small gulley, large buoy, easy access, what could go wrong? Four rogue waves, a broken zip pocket, battered ribs, bruised hip, smashed thigh, one back impaled on the rocks, and washed up onto the shore later Dan managed to clamber back into the RIB....it would be somebody else's turn for the next one!

   What on earth could go wrong?

  Much more than you think!           

 With a falling tide, Latto's would be a good dive for everybody - apart from Kevin....on a promise for a bag of scallops, he surfaced with only two small clams. But Euan and Ryan obviously had been getting in some practice in the bath!

After a nice gentle dive around Latto's rock with admittedly not the best visibility we've had all summer lunch loomed round by the Boston Stirling. Sitting just off the exposed mast we had lunch. For once Maria had not bought a chicken with her, but instead bags of crisps. The distinct lack of sandwich's meant we had to improvise....a chopping board would have been helpful.

Though calm it was bitterly cold and a quick dive around the Boston Striling, which for Euan and Ryan was their first wreck dive, was more than enough to finish the day off. Again the vis wasn't great, but it certainly was not as bad as other parts of Scotland. Today was Euan first dive in a dry suit and he was very quickly bought over to the idea that dry is best!! even after being given a couple of small tips about how to keep warm from Andy....

"just put a small squirt of air into your suit on the surface...

...then you can wobble like me"

The training weekend

The first weekend of September was not the best for weather that we've had all summer but despite that we went ahead with trying to get as many of the trainee's finished or as near as finished possible before we go back into the pool later on this month.

After a couple of evening revision sessions on the Buhlmann tables for Shane, Ryan and Euan and re-sitting their exam we tried to form a plan of attack for the weekend....we got as far as the Broom bar!

Were down on the pier all set to go by 0945 (that must have been a record!), nobody had left anything at the unit and Raigie even pitched up!! (Only to say he was going to Inverness and not coming diving!)

With the boat all loaded up with 8 of us and kit, we headed over to by Altnaharry. The first dives for Shane and Euan concentrated on their ascents while Ryan who had finished most of his OW assessments already started practicing his rescue.

Briony provided boat cover for us in what soon became known as Bucket Bay...for some reason best be known to itself. After the dive we went back to the pier and up to fill some cylinders for the afternoon. The weather really was not any good so any shelter we could get was important...not everybody had the luxury of drysuits!

With the compressor thumping away the lads tried their first attempt at their compass course...You might think that taking them into a bit of waste land full of puddles would help them learn it quicker, not on this occasion. With jackets and towels over their heads, the three of them went in circles, through puddles, and into brambles...this was going to fun underwater!

And so it proved to be later on that afternoon. After a bit of practice and several looks of despair and "where the hell are we now?" looks from all three of the trainees they thought more practice through the puddles was going to be needed.

Saturday was a really successful day for everybody involved. The trainees were starting to see the gaps in their training log getting filled up and the BI's could see definite improvement in the lads as divers.

Log books all filled in for the day and a table booked at the broombar for food that night, there were just a few cylinders to be filled for the morning.

The next morning was different story to the day before!! The one virtue was the weather had cleared up. We were still at the unit at 9, still ready to leave the pier at 0945...but not feeling as healthy and fit to go as Saturday morning. The first assessment on Sunday was the jump entry off the pier...if a rapidly falling tide was not an incentive to get people kitted up and sorted out quickly then nothing was!

Despite everything that the training manuals tell you, many of us still go diving when we shouldn't. Maybe you've got a cold and blocked ears, maybe your flying soon (OK that's slightly more serious!) or maybe your still trying to piece together how Stewart ended up with glittery blue fingernails at 3am the night before. But when has that ever stopped and made you think "I think I'll skip the diving today?" personally, I wish I had thought that on Sunday morning!

That afternoon we got virtually all of the remaining assessments finished off, both Euan and Ryan completed their rescues and Euan successfully mastered the Buhlmann tables. Back on the pier later that afternoon the delight could be seen on everybody's faces. It had been a really good weekend, we had wrapped up all of the training from this year before we start on a new session in the pool for the winter time.

For those of you who have just finished all your pool and OW training it doesn't stop there though. Now it's up to you to get in touch if you want to come diving, we'll give you a shout too.

CONGRATULATIONS to Euan and Ryan who have now finished their sports diver training.....also to Malcolm and Helga, maybe know we know why you haven't been out diving recently Malcolm!

Summers just about all but gone...

For some it may seem like it has been a while since the website has been updated, but that doesn't mean that nothing has been going on in the club since the end of June.

The arrival of the Fridtjofen, a 70ft former Norwegian research vessel, was one of the surprises of the summer. She's now based in Ullapool and offering both live aboard and day boat facilities...purely in the interests of the wider diving community when Damian offered us a days diving we jumped at.

Thankfully the weather was just superb on the day that we headed up towards Lochinver - that is much more than can be said for the health of some of the divers on board! With space for 10 as a live aboard and 12 as a day boat, the Fridtjofen has a fully kitted galley (with a fridge big enough for a decent carry out), there's a TV, DVD player and stereo to keep you entertained when your not diving and plenty of space to keep a few beers too if that's not enough for you!

Most of the club made it that day....apart from Raigie.

 

There's been much more going on in the club through the summer, most club members have been out diving every weekend the weather has allowed it (apart from Raigie who's been out once maybe twice!) It's has been really good to see some of last years trainee intake appearing on Thursday evenings to continue their training in the open water. Alison has been particularly keen on getting on with her training and now is very nearly there. We are going to have a training weekend on the 2nd/3rd October where hopefully we can get everybody pretty much completed their sports diver training.

It won't just be new divers taking part in the training weekend. After one of the club committee meetings, which could have better been described as a free for all to get on their soap boxes, Andy H and myself got arm twisted and partially encouraged into going on a forthcoming BI course, so we'll be looking for willing victims that weekend too!

While were down in Glasgow for that course Kevin and Maria's log books got officially signed and stamped for the sports diver and cross over respectively.

The one time when Raigie did make it out diving this summer was when we had a Dutch visitor with us. Jaap told us about diving in the Netherlands. Drive for 2 hours in one direction, dive in 1m viz cold freshwater inland lakes then drive 2 hours home again - sounds great doesn't it!!!

So when we took him out to dive on Black rock and collected some scallops he was amazed to see to the clarity of the water, the amount of marine life and all so close to home too.

As well as these couple of memorable dives there have been some really good other dives over the summer so far. We've found several caves, some long gullies and several other new dive sites that will certainly be revisited again soon. Not content just with finding new dive sites, the long picnic lunches have taken on a new twist. Be it throwing stones down the beach as the tide falls or Maria establishing which came first - the chicken or the egg! all of which have made for a great couple of months.

Though the Thursday evening diving has now stopped (it never got started for Raigie!) that doesn't mean that the weekend diving hasn't, the boat will be coming out of the water very soon so we'll need to be a bit more slick and less hungover on Sunday mornings....I'll do my best, honestly!

Is it any wonder he never made it out this summer?...this is what happened last time!

The MacLeod whitewash

4.15 at the FBI said Malcolm, so we all pitch up ready to leave at 4.30 with a fish box full of beer for the journey home and a wee taste for the way down to Invergordon. Having got very nearly there Kevin perked up "are we nearly there yet, I'm busting for a pee".

Arriving at the karting, the atmosphere started to liven up, friendly challenges were laid down and the girls were warned against trying to bump the boys off the track!

Some had the advantage of having been here before so knew the track, but after 5 laps of practice, a couple of big spins and smash in the tunnel not too different to Michael Schumacher in Monte Carlo, everybody was fired up and ready to race.

There were some obvious rivalries going on as we started the first of the 15 lap heats. Briony, Helga and Maria all raced together and for the first lap all three seemed a little tentative, but within a lap or two you could see the steely determination in their eyes as they peered over the top of the steering wheels and chased each other round the track. Every so often you would hear Briony scream and laugh as she slid the kart around the left hand corner back into the inside section of track.

When they finished their first heat, the smiles and laughs showed the amount of fun everybody was having.

Kevin and Malcolm having been here before were fast and very tactical in passing and pushing others out into the tyres. As everybody went faster and faster through the heats there was lots of spin outs and sliding rounds corners, Stewart ended up in the tyre wall with a broken axle after the two of us tried to get ahead of each other at the hairpin. The threat of black flags hanging over us didn't stop anybody getting more and more competitive with each heat and any gap, however small, was good enough for trying to pass the person in front, especially if it was Kevin or Malcolm!

The rain earlier in the day went away so in the evening sunshine, we stood outside cheering each other on watching challenge after challenge at the end of the straight. Each kart handled slightly differently so nobody had any advantage over each other apart from the amount of pies they'd eaten during the last week!

After 9 heats the top 5 all went through to the grand final. On pole was Helga, having won the girls heats and in second place alongside was Kevin. Malcolm was in third place and Briony 4th. The fifth place on the grid was the most tightly fought with Daley, Maria, Lachie and Dan all vying for the last spot on the grid. Dan just sneaked it with a faster heat time than the others.

Sitting on the grid we were all given a stern warning about using tactical barging (i.e. bashing) each other out of the way on the corners, the penalty being immediate disqualification. Kevin shot off into the lead followed by Helga, Malcolm, Dan then Briony. By this time in the evening everybody knew where to go faster on the circuit and the few places where you could slip by the person in front.

A shorter race of 12 laps meant that it was even more important to get past when ever you could, and one point we tried to squeeze three-a-breast through the tunnel....it doesn't take a mathematician to work out that three wide karts wont go into one narrow tunnel! Sitting behind Malcolm who was behind Helga, I am sure there was some MacLeod family planning going on there....Helga, move over and let me by...shouted Malcolm.

All three places on the podium were filled with MacLeod's, but even then Helga thought she should have beaten Malcolm!

After the racing, it was straight for the bar and a kitty, sweating and aching we all sat down for a really good meal and a load of drink, before heading out to the bus to open the fish box bar. The laughing and stories carried on all the way home after dropping Maria and Lachie in Dingwall and a toilet stop at the black water bridge....the river level rose by about a metre after our stop there!

But the comments of "I'll ache in the morning" all came to fruition when we compared bruises and stories in the tea store for breakfast on Sunday. Briony looked like she had a dart board on her back, Andy H described his internal organs being thrown all around the inside of his body and Maria texted describing bruises in places she never imaged the kart even touched!

It was a great evening which everybody enjoyed and while Silverstone 2005 may be in doubt the same cannot be said for Invergordon 2005!

See the gallery page for the pictures

Not very warm really and Andy got wet

Thankfully this morning there was very little fannying about, we all pitched up at the unit to fill a couple of tanks. Kevin was rough, Andy V said he stayed with Malcolm and Helga while Dan, the other Andy and Maria were all fine.

Nobody was really in the mood for a long trip out in the boat today, so we headed for the waterfall round the back of Isle Martin. The water looked very green and murky this morning, almost like the visibility would be rubbish...and in the top 10 - 12 m it was, but beneath that it was beautiful and clear...apart fromthe swarms of 88's!

Not having dived at the waterfall before, it was great to see another site. Very steep walls and boulder fields. Swimming along we saw lots of colourful cuckoo wrasse, squatties, several large pollock and several tonnes of jellies.

Despite heading down to just under 30m the vis got better and better with depth, about 20m+ down there, it was the first time for a While Igot that feeling of I want to go deeper and deeper and deeper....maybe it's a good job that Andy H and me weren't diving together!!

While Maria and I swam along slowly, I remembered Andy's last words to Malcolm "Just remember I cannot go too fast" Maria saw them undertake us and shoot straight past. While we were enjoying clear water below, Kevin and Andy (where did you stay last night?) were playing with a pod of dolphins on the surface.

Having always wanted to pull the bottom can of beans out of the stack at the supermarket, I wondered what would happen if I pulled the bottom rock out of a huge pile that was haning over the lip of a drop off. Stupid question really, but seeing a huge pile of rocks clanging down towards you is worth the chuckle now. It wasn't when I had my hand on them though!

Andy and Malcolm surfaced miles along the cliff, even Malcolm reckoned it was like a sprint towards the end, so how fast can you can you go Andy?

The next dive was a scenic wee swim along the North end of Isle Martin, as well as lots of mearl, brittle stars, crabs there was the odd scallop too! It had obviously been too long a day for Maria...

 

 

 

Back in the FBI, Andy V still would not say where he was last night, apart from he stayed in the village......maybe we'll come to our own conclusions!

And the MCS want us to report jelly sightings......!

Thursday evening again, folk pitching up clutching fish and sausage suppers...."are we diving tonight?"...."aye, but I need a fill first!" After all that was sorted and we got onto the boat, we headed out towards the secret garden.

While Andy Venters sent texts saying how lovely an evening it was we sent him ones back saying "yep, it is. But we're diving and your not!!!" The other Andy, Diane, Kevin, Maria and Dan were up for the diving, while Stewart and Briony did boat cover.

Is it me or are they always suffering with the cold and sinus problems??? maybe Briony had been screaming too loud....we won't go into what might be wrong with Stewart then!

The Marine Conservation Society today put out a national call for everybody to report jellyfish sightings...well they could have done worse than come to the secret garden with us on Thursday. Although the vis was much better than over at the Rhue light last week, it still was not up to the best for the area. But none the less, Kevin, Maria and Dan went in first while Andy and Diane followed later.

In the shallows, around 3 - 10m the jellies were everywhere and really dense, we had to swim through moving them out of the way. Soon they all they all dispersed away and we carried on along the secret garden. There was plenty of fish to see, and despite recent dives, the vis was alright but not great.

After 25 minutes under strict instructions from the DO we turned round and headed back towards the boat, ""no I don't want to carry an SMB, I've already got a camera, goody bag, and all sorts of other junk..." During the dive Kevin realised he had left his hat behind so picked up a new one along the way....

...or at least that's the publishable version of what happened!!

Heading back to the boat we met Andy H and Diane, not content with putting his tongue in dahlia's, Andy decide to blow a Lions Mane too.

If you really want to tell the MCS about the swarms of jellies that we are suffering at moment then follow this link...MCS Jellyfish survery

CONGRATULATIONS KEVIN!!!

Thursday evening diving continued with the normal training dives. Though yesterday evening only a few people were out diving, Andy, Dan, Kevin and Diane with Darrel steering the boat. Arriving at the pier just after 1930, the tide was high...so at least not to far to lug kit down to the boat.

We headed out to the Rhue light,where just as Kevin was finishing kitting up he was told that this evening he would be doing his rescue...he, in his usual graceful appliance of the English language spluttered out a string of expletives but shrugged his shoulders and got on with it.

We dropped down into about 10 - 12 m and got settled, Kevin did his rescue perfectly despite continually looking to see if he had towed far enough...all passed and now a certified sports diver, He and Dan went back in and had good 35 minutes dive along the shoreline beneath the lighthouse. While Andy dived with Diane and successfully managed to clear her ears and had an enjoyable dive down to around 10m.

Maria's secret stash of food was found on the boat and stupidly she also left her camera there. Last time somebody left a camera on a USAC dive boat it was Paul Whitefoot on the way back from St.Kilda, funnily enough it was lying next to a bottle of Chasse du Pap....

Back in the Argyll we reminisced over a successful evening diving and heard stories of close encounters of the Porsche kind from Andy...

Briony has already told us her version of events in that cave and why Stewart goes faster when she screams, but here's the boys version of the diving on Sunday...

Why Girls and Kevin don't do caves...

After the usual bout of faffing about Andy, Andy, Maria, Kevin and Briony, with Stewart as cox and Diane along for a Jolly but without our intrepid reporter Dan we set of with a "we'll see what it is like and decide where to dive".

The North West side of Bottle/Carn Iar offered somewhere different with a bit of shelter, after a slow pass we picked a crevice that looked promising, Maria with Briony, and Andy, Kevin and Andy. Underwater Maria and Briony went into the gulley first and we saw them heading out as we swam in.

The gulley stopped at a bowl with a steep overhang on the left and a ledge half way up, up over the ledge to smaller bowl with dark hole in the left corner. Me and Andy looked in with Kevin just behind and swam in 10m, 20m and then in the torch beam this silvery grey face.

With a quick double take it shot out leaving Andy pressed against one side, me on the other and Kevin lying on the bottom with his head in his hands!! Seeing no more we carried on in 10m more and s**t another one slid passed me straight into Andy! flicking me with it's tail as it did, Kevin didn't even see this one, after another 10m we surfaced near the end of the cave and looked out at a small square of daylight. What a brilliant cave!! All the better for been totally unknown to us and unexpected.

Back on the RIB we found out why the girls hadn't stayed in the gulley long, they had come face to face with a seal at the first bowl, which left Maria hanging on to Briony. Not only did we have a close encounter with two seals but Andy stroked one on the way past, he always was quick with his hands!!

After lunch on the jetty on Eilean Dubh we headed over to the Boston Stirling after which Kevin did his snorkel swim and showed us a new dive signal.

Then back to the FBI to debrief over a pint. Dan braved the weather on his bike to join us, I think it was us he came to see….

Stewart takes the girls for a bumpy ride

Another great day out for USAC, the weather was looking gorgeous as we did our usual faffing around, boat to be fueled and launched, bottles filled, breakfast eaten, usual stuff. Eventually about 10.30 we were ready to go, quick chat with the other divers on the pier (one of them a former USAC member, until a political split and the new MAD divers were formed!). Usual chat 'how fast does your boat go?' 'that's a mighty big engine' 'how deep do you go?' No girls to discuss the finer points of diving like the colour of dive accessories for the season!!

So we headed off into lovely sunshine, although round the corner the wind picked up a little so we were in search of shelter. Ended up at the back of Static island (renamed several times by Maria - septic, scabby, salty...) The girls (Briony and Maria) headed off along the rocks, shallow dive about 10 metres, great gullies to explore, dahlia anenomes - (which we weren't tempted to put our tongues into Andy), urchins, kelp galore, dead mans fingers etc and a very unforgettable encounter with an enormous seal, which left the pair of us clinging to each other in shocked hysterical laughter! We can laugh about it now!!!

The boys (Andy, Andy and Kevin) were apparently behind us and of course encountered 2 massive seals and found a 50 metre cave!! Never to be out dived by girls!! They reckoned the best dive of the year yet - or was that just to make Dan jealous (as he was off diving in 30m vis in
Shetland!!!)

A very pleasant lunch on the Eilen Dubh basking in the sunshine, then on to dive the Boston Stirling (a wreck at about 15 metres) off Tanera mhor. After Marias rear entry with Andy the intrepid gang set off for more adventure returning 30 minutes later after a good dive. With Stewart behind the wheel we headed off back to the FBI for a well deserved drink. The way home was rather a rough ride, but enjoyed by all! More hysterical laughter and screaming from the girls, several whiplash injuries, and far too much salty stuff swallowed by all. Poor Diane had come for a nice day out and ended up drenched and rather weather beaten, but i think she had fun.

Stewart of course loved the ride, the rougher the better, the louder the girls scream the faster he goes!!!! All in all a fab day out!

Dan hasn't done Dallas, but tried Shetland

While Stewart was making the girls scream by going faster and faster, or that's what Briony says he does anyway, I was up in Shetland. During the long ferry passage from Aberdeen to LerwicK there was nothing to do but sit in the bar. About 10 pm, I texted to see how the club diving had been that night and to find out who would be scribbling something for the web page, only to be bombared with a whole pub full of folk texting at once who hadn't even been diving making all sorts of slanderous comments! Bugger you lot I thought, not enough folk to dive or were they just chicken? Anyway, I managed a couple of dives while I was up there and they weren't in the Thule or Captain Flints either.

I met up with the Shetland SAC, who were good bunch, but like all dives clubs there was a large element of fannying about...even more than a sunday morning rush hour on the jetty in Ullapool! The wind was coming straight from the north and on Unst there is not much shelter from a northerly wind apart from the artic circle! so the diving was really limited to certain sites, but we managed one really good one a wreck called the Jane. Lying in about 24m of water off the south side a small un-named skerrie between Fetler and Unst.

The water was racing through the sound when we got there so after throwing in one diver to test the current and having to pick him up miles downstream we waited for slack water...and it was worth the wait!

From the surface I could see the entire length of the Jane lying on the seabed. The water was a really clear deep blue, and down on the seabed I watched bubbles and ripples on the surface above me. The wreck lies pretty much on her side with only the bow and stern structure remaining intact, most of the central body has collasped but you can still get inside and explore.

The seabed itself was a huge bed of mearl that spread out from the wreck and was piled up at least 2ft.

Further along the wreck you can swim into it down through the deck and into the lower decks and out again via the collapsed keel. From the darkness inside, looking out into the bright clear blue water I could have done with Andy's specilaist underwater sungoogles.

Here's a couple of other pictures from the dive...

See I'm not the only one sensible enough to wear dry gloves in summer!!

 

Diving the Jane really was a memorable dive, one that I would go back to Shetland to dive specifically, unlike the water on the west coast that has a green tint to it when it is clear the water in Shetland was a clear blue colour.

The other dives I did while up in Unst were nothing like as good as this one, but still were great dives in themselves, trawling through kelp and gullies and old bits of wreckage on a couple of the many pinnacle rocks that dont quite break the surface and caused havoc for shipping before such things as sonar.

Isle Martin BBQ

Finally, the weekend had arrived, the one everybody had been waiting for. We set off for a dive early on Saturday morning, well, not early but it certainly felt like it for some of us...Briony did not even make it out of bed, at least those of us who were rough struggled through (just!).

Both Andy's, Kevin, Malcolm, Dan, Darrell and Mark headed for a dive on West Black Rock with the seals. A lovely 50 minute dive, over kelp beds, watching the odd seal swim in the water by us, several huge brown crabs that if we had a goodie bag with us would have been great for the BBQ and a large mearl bed all made the dive a real good one. At times I thought I am going to have to pack this dive in. Thankfully, I managed to make it to the end of the dive, for once it was not Kevin who looked the worst in the mornings as we headed out for a dive.

What's wrong with you Dan? you look rough as hell!

After the dive we headed back to the village to pick up everybody who was waiting to get over to the island to start the preparation for the evening. As people started to arrive at Ardmair, so did the amount of stuff that had to be ferried over, you would not think that we were only going over for a single night. Most of us arrived on either the club boat or Malcolms' searider, but there's always one show off who has to go that little bit too far.....

The afternoon was spent water ski-ing, jet ski-ing, Andy H and Darrel went clam diving (that's another story, but Darrell can explain that one!) and in the meantime, Justine, Kathy, Alice and Amy worked hard in the kitchen preparing the food. It was one thing getting all the stuff onto the boats at Ardmair, but getting it all off again at the other end was a totally different story, there were numerous jokes about how many divers does it take to carry a bit of wood.

Despite it looking so calm, there was a slight breeze which kept the midgies away for part of the evening, they came and went at times though. Some folk were staying in the house, while others tried to put their tents up, the emphasis being on tried. Kevin spent a few minutes stratching his head about how many poles it should have while Maria and Lachie showed everybody how not to do it.

Andy's stereo appearred and the music was on, despite several attepmts to get the Ramones played, the CD player packed in at just about the right time, so we were stuck with Lochbroom FM all night, much to the disgust of Isle Martins lastest socialites with their Channel glasses

Soon were all eating tomatos injected with vodka, chillies stuffed with soft cheese and chilli chicken, homemade burgers, monkfish wrapped in banana leaves, hot and spicy pork, scallops with a soy sauce and garlic dressing, seafood kebabs, prawns and there was even some salad for those who wanted to be healthy. All this was rounded off with vodka soaked water melon, which was superb. Thankfully the midgies were being kept at bay by the bottles of Skin So Soft which were being banded round as fast as full cans and fresh beers.

As the evening went on everybody enjoyed themselves, Kevin having found his tent pole, found his sleeping bag full of thistles....there is photographic evidence of who did this to you Kevin by the way. Julie decided that maybe Chris wasn't interest, while Andy Venters found a bottle of Chasse du pap! After a few problems getting the fire to catch it eventually did, maybe it was something to do with the three firemen trying to light it that was the problem, which was finally solved by blowing air over it and Speedy baring his cheeks at it!

The rest of the night was fully of lots of little incidents that many folk will remember and several wont! rather than list them all have a look at the Isle Martin page in the gallery where you can make the story up for yourself!

Over the next few weeks hopefully there will be many more pictures added to the gallery, so keep your eye on it.

I know I can speak for everybody who was there when thanking Justine, Amy, Alice and Kathy for everything they did preparing and cooking all the food for the weekend.

See you all again on Isle Martin next year!!!

Lochaline 5th/6th June

A trip to the Sound of Mull usually comprises of dives on the Hispania, Rondo, Shuna, Thesis....but not this one. Dan went away with a mixture of people from various Edinburgh BSAC and Scot SAC clubs. After finally getting free from work on Friday afternoon and getting down to Lochaline as fast as possible with the intention of diving that evening, I pulled into Lochaline only to get a phone call saying we were not diving, but what do you want to drink? oh well, dives have been called off for worse reasons!

The forecast wasn't great but it wasn't bad either, we were staying at Lochaline dive centre and diving on the local dive charters' aquastar, The Brendan.

For the first dive on Saturday we went up to Loch Sunnart and dived Risga pinnacle. David, the skipper, dropped the shot right on the edge of the pinnacle, we headed down the shot and started finning anti-clockwise around the pinnacle with a bit of current behind us. There were walls of plumose's and beds of sea pens. The visibilty was not as good as further north, but that said it wasn't bad, about 6 or 7m.

After the dive one of the group surface with a thumping headache and was looking really pale...without going into too much detail, this was the result....

After the mornings events with the Royal Navy rescue helicopter we headed down to Pennygown Quarry on the Mull side of the Sound. Being spring tides at the time we went over and could see the prop from the Rondo still lying on the rocks next to the marker buoy. The quarry dive was really good, again David dropped the shot right on the lip of the wall and told us exactly which way the tide would be running. The lip of the quarry lies at about 12 to 15m and we dropped over the edge of it and let the tide take us on a guided tour. The current soon started to lift us up and then spat us back over the top of the lip, it continued to take us up the Sound over sandbanks with the odd scallop or two. There was similar life to see on this dive and a sleeping dogfish too.

A phone call later on that evening and we found out that Ted was doing fine and but wont be out of hospital until Sunday morning sometime.

The following morning, the mist and on/off rain was clearing and it looked like it was going to be a good day.

After another group member falling foul to illness, though this time not dive related....more so drink, we were down to only 8 divers. The popular tourist spot of Duart Castle provided the site for the first dive of the day. A drift dive that at times had very little current, but at other times was fast and furious heading south towards Oban. We surfaced a good half mile downstream after a really relaxing dive seeing octopus, scallops, plumose's, lots of wee and a couple of big hermit crabs. There is certainly something great about drift dives...you don't have to any work, just relax, hang in the water and watch the world go by you...that is until you see something you want to look at more and by the time you have found a rock to hang onto your too far downstream to be able to find it again!

With some folk having a long journey home that afternoon, we dived the John Preston in the afternoon, which lies just a couple of minutes out of Lochaline itself. The wreck is an old schooner that was carrying a cargo of slate when she floundered. David put the shot spot on again, the problem was everybody went the wrong way at the bottom of it and we only found the wreck after doing a quick wall dive in the wrong direction. Having said that, it was a fantastic wall with really good visibility - I was limited to only 22m because of the previous dive that day, but the wall clearly went a lot deep than this. We eventually found the JP which is an adopted wreck under the Adopt-a-wreck scheme. Most of her lies buried into the seabed and being an old timber vessel there is not a huge amount of her left....so maybe going the wrong way was a blessing in disguise.

It was a really good weekend, made better by diving something other than the usual wrecks in the Sound. Both David on the boat and Phil at the dive centre did everything they could to make the weekend as enjoyable for everybody as possible. After the diving rumours were started about somebody organising a trip out to Torridon for the same group.....so watch this space.

That afternoon driving home I thought to myself, I bet Maria is either asleep or still eating lunch right now. Apparently there were a couple of good dives with superb vis out at Priest Island. Who's going to draw the short straw to write it up???????

The Usual Sunday suspects...

Well, the forecast was not good but this morning at the unit it was just beautiful. Nobody was really suffering to much from last night excess's....Maria went home to sleep and Andy H only drank drink that was still in date, but what about the mayo?

As soon as everybody arrived, full of excitement, we could tell it was going to be one of those jovial days. It was great to get a cool breeze as we headed out of the loch just to cool down, leaving the Sunday morning rush hour at the slipway behind us. The sea was flat calm and passing through Annat bay we got a few specks of rain, but continued out to Glas-leac Beag where we could see the sun beating down.

I was convinced that my mask was in the boat somewhere, but when it came to getting kit on it had strangely disappeared...eventually my mask was found and somehow had made into Kevins piece bag!

We had a spin round Glas-leac Beag and through the narrow channel before rolling in on the West side of the island.

Around the small skerrie at the south end of Glas-leac Beag, seals were jumping into the water, and while Kevin and Andy V were under the surface we watched as young pups hugged the shore and watched us watching them...and managed to hide Kevins lunch - hide my mask will you??

The vis was superb, much better than it had been for the last couple of weeks, but there were swarms of 88's and the odd stinger jellyfish. Only Andy and Kevin saw any seals under the surface. Maria, Andy H and myself jumped in later on, only for Andy to jump back out just as fast...there wasn't enough neoprene on his black witch suit!

 

Dropping down to the kelp and gullies with Andy still on the surface Maria and myself headed for some of the gullies we saw from the boat. There were blenny's, a shoal of saithe and even a Lobster salad....but without the salad bit!!

Soon a dark figure loomed down on us as Andy reappeared in another drysuit, we swam through gullies, and the kelp forest though were not able to find the 2 octopus that Andy and Kevin had found earlier on. But, there were anemones everywhere, far too many for Andy to put his tongue into, he however got kicks from a caramel bar earlier on in the day.

After lunch, which for Maria was only 2 veg and gravy short of a Sunday roast, we dived in Conservation cave which was just as scenic as it always is, full of beautiful, colourful and abundant life, before heading back to the village. Thankfully, as I said earlier on it was not as rough as it had been for the last couple of weeks so the trip back was smooth enough for some people to get a quick bit of shut eye.....yes, it's in the gallery!

Here's just a couple of the pictures from Conservation cave..

It was one of those days where the fun and laughter of enjoying the good weather and great diving was there amongst everyone, even if it did mean falling in a couple of times, not naming names but...

Congratulations Maria!

We went for a bit of an impromtu dive this evening (Thursday 27th May) up at the Rhue lighthouse. It had been a beautiful day and was a super evening, so both Andys, Dan, Maria and Nicola headed out with Darrell being skipper of the boat.

Out around the lighthouse was sheltered from the wind and flat calm, especially in comparison to the last few weeks any way! we jumped in as a five, but with the intention that Maria would complete her PADI crossover by doing her rescue at the end of the dive.

Despite the poor visibility recently, the water was surprisingly clear, in fact much clearer than it has been for a couple of weeks now which was good to see again. It was a lovely calm water dive, lots of rocks and nooks and crannies to look into, scallops, and even tight swim throughs to get yourself trapped in...if you tried hard enough!

The dive ended with Maria's rescue which she completed without any problems at all, even though garlic had featured strongly on her menu for the last two days. Back up on the surface after getting in the boat we waited for Nicola and Andy to return to the surface, which before too they did, but with the scallop bag still sitting on the bottom for Maria to pull up.

Later on, after the dive we went for the usual pint in the Argyll only to be entertained by Andy with stories of gunpowder in the oven, paragliding at 600ft and racing boats at Fort Bovisand. One of these days we will publish his stories for everybody to read and laugh at. Along side this will be Andy's useless bit of information for the day page which will start off by highlighting the dangers of sticking your tongue into a dhalia anenome.....and trust me, you do not want to know why he found out that they will sting your tongue!

Seals, Skerries and Sunglasses

Half past nine on a Sunday morning for some seemed pretty early this morning, Andy Venters and Dan were waiting at the unit to see who would turn up, various stories about parties and birthday celebrations from the night before were mooted - who would be the survivors?

It was a lovely sunny day, a bit of a fresh wind from the west meant that we would be looking for calm water to dive in rather than picking the usual pick of the bunch sites.

Kevin, both Andy's, Maria and Dan dived, while Stewart drove the boat. We headed out of the loch towards the Skerries trying to dodge the waves as much as possible, memories of bouncing around so much last were still fresh, in fact so was the pain of being dropped onto a pillar value from head height last week in my case.

Half way up loch, Kevin piped up, his fin had gone overboard. Nobody saw were or when it happened, but surprisingly we found it floating about five minutes back in towards the village, there is a lot to be said for luminous green fins, especially in a bit of swell.

As we arrived at the Skerries we saw seals basking on the rocks, they launched themselves into the water and swam playfully, porpoising and somersaulting in the air. They popped their heads up and watched us as we got kitted up, slowly and quietly as possible, hoping that we would not disturb them too much and they would come and play.

It was a shallow dive, but being out at the mouth of the loch there was not too much plankton, though the vis was only about 7 or 8 m. We headed towards where the seals had been playing, though we only saw one seal during the dive and it was swimming faster than Andy and Dan were sent up the Gulley of Death a couple of weeks ago!

The bright sunshine was beaming down to the seabed, so Andy pulled out his high tech underwater sunglasses and put them on over his mask....

Is it Andy Holbrow or Jean Reno in The Big Blue??

The dive went on pretty much in this vein of thinking, Maria knew the sign if she saw a seal and the noise to make too....(down here nobody can hear you scream) Unfortunatly there were no more seals but plenty of sea slugs, crabs, nudibranchs and even an old mine which had been blown up - needless to say there were a few scallops too!

You can just make out the mine in the bottom right hand corner...

After the dive, we had lunch on the Skerries, in fact Maria carried on eating, she had not stopped since getting to the unit earlier on in the day. There was a bit of confusion about whether Andy was going for a number 2 or not.....this was dive number 2 and nothing to do with drinking cider that was 3 years out of date last night.

We headed back towards the village, this time with a following wind and not as much bouncing around, but Maria still screamed with every wave and we all got a bit of a shock and laugh when Rib Tickler nearly became a submarine and ploughed down into a wave.

Again it was another great days diving which everybody enjoyed and will remeber for its own little things.

Lattos Rock on a sunny Sunday

Even though the boat has now made it to the mooring, things still plodded along at their normal Sunday morning pace....and it was nothing to do with it being the morning after the night of the fish ball, Kevin made it, Maria got there eventually, but Malcolm went straight back to the dog house and Darrell was left scratching his head with the carbs of his outboard.

Finally having been up to safeways for a bottle of talc we headed off to pick up Andy from Badentarbet pier (his car had been out in Achiltibuie so wasn't firing on all cylinders either). After a bit of a bumpy ride out to get Andy we headed up Dornie sound for some sheltered water and a dive at Latto's rock.

Kevin and Stewart dived together while Andy and Maria buddied up - but it must have been a pretty exhausting dive......Check the sleep Gallery!

It was a good dive, but the vis wasn't great especially in comparison to the scallops for dinner! Most of the day was spent bouncing up and down off the tubes of the rhib with Maria screaming like she was on a day trip to Alton Towers!

The boucing around meant that we only did the one dive today, so we went for a cruise around the islands and had a good look at the seals and saw an otter eating lunch just around the top end of lattos rock.

But with the sun belting down and the wind not as bad back in the village the draw of the wall outside the the FBI was pretty good.

Back at the unit Darrell was still head scratching his head over the carbs and Raigie was out of the dog house and into the Seaforth...only to to be thrown straight back into the kennel again!

Training evenings have started....(the pictures will be here soon!)

My first dive on The Fairweather V

Not only was this our first dive on the Fairweather V, but this was our first wreck dive.....

Not knowing at all what to expect and just having the knowledge and chat of our fellow dive buddies..... a new exeperience was certainly lying ahead!!!!!

On approaching the wreck I was amazed at the visibility. She was glowing with orange and white plumoses, and looked like a fairground ride.

After exploring the hull, we entered the wheelhouse which for me was the most intriging and exciting, I couldn't believe how everything intact everything still was. We continued exploring across the deck and found many of the wrasse that now live on The Fairweather V.

Overall this was an amazing and great experience and we both look forward to our next Wreck!!!!!!!!

Maria and Kevin

2nd May 2004 - Fairweather V

Full of excitement and anticipation, we headed for the first dive so far this year on the Fairweather V. Darrell, both Andys, Kevin, Maria, Dan and Happy Helen all clambered into the boat after negotiating rush hour at the slipway and headed up the Loch. The weather was pretty ropey with squalls and a fairly strong wind. Over the top of the wreck we were in shelter though.

Andy and Dan went in first with a line to tie on, descending quickly down we could see the wreck from a couple of metres beneath the surface...all the white and orange plumoses were out in full bloom, the wreck looked stunning and the visibility was about 10m on the deck, we explored all round, under, through and over her. Heading back towards the bow the others were descending down the line - Helen went from visitor to skipper in about 25 minutes.

After the dive we had lunch in the ruined monastery, certainly for a couple of us it was the nearest thing to church on a Sunday for years!

After Andy recovered from another giggling fit and Maria gave us all a quick lesson in forensic anthropology on a dead sheep, we headed off for the second dive which was at cuckoo point on the way back home again.

However the highlight of the day was Andy trying to get to the toilet in the FBI…...there's no need to say much more but if you ever want to know where the ladies is Andy can show you the way!

25th April 2004 - Priest Island
The day started off looking dull and overcast, but turned into a sunny, and even warm (at times), day. Six of us headed out to Preist (Andy V, Andy H, Kevin, Stewart, Briony and Dan) the tide was just reaching high as we arrived in the small anchorage and with no swell the only option was to dive through all the narrow gullies and swim throughs.

Kevin and Andy did some training while Dan and the other Andy explored more of the surge gullies. The vis was terrific and the small nooks and crannies were packed full of every colour, size and description of anenome imaginable. Some of surges sent us forwards at speeds that would shame Donald Campbells Bluebird!

Later on, all four of us sat on the rib waiting to see if Stewart and Briony would have the nerve (or brazen stupidity!!!) to enter "The Gulley of Death" as Andy named it - though they turned round just before the real surge started.

For the second dive Kevin and Andy joined us to make a 4. We dived up around the caves and keyhole at the northern end of island....surging through small narrows and under overhangs Kevin soon found out what his socks go through in the washing machine!

Everybody came back thinking that was a days diving that will be remembered for a long time and probably not bettered for just as long too. Have a look in the gallery soon and the pictures will be in there.