Wendy Northway
The famous five met up at DaveG’s workplace to load up the Mystery Machine, ok so there were more than 5 of us but it was a mystery as to how we managed to get so much dive kit in the van and still have room for all my shoes! We headed northwards late Friday, hitting rush hour traffic at Blackpool but afterwards, it was pretty plain sailing.
Saturday morning arrived bright and early, although our breakfast didn’t – it took over ¾ hour for ours to arrive, by which time I was ready to eat the table! Prandials complete, the big boys (me and Lesley manning up!) prep’d our kit in the car park, donned our drysuits and loaded up the van for the first of many dives that day – The Caves. Like most of the descriptions thus far, the term ‘caves’ is used in its loosest sense! We parked up and hopped out of the Mystery Machine and made our way down the culvert. Last year when I did this dive, I had no idea what a culvert was and didn’t think to ask so when I saw the look on Alan’s face when it was explained that this tunnel was the entrance to the dive site, I knew exactly how he felt! Ariel quietly carried not only my kit but his buddy Lesley’s kit down the culvert. A gent in the true meaning of the word.
We managed to get down in one piece, pulled on our fins and shuffled, as elegantly hippos can, into the cool, peaty water. We ascended down the muddy banks through comb jellies, bilinopsis infidibulum, which we illuminated in our torch light – the vibrant pulses of colour were spellbinding. Enough cnidarian harrassing we needed to carry on with the dive! Approaching 15m we happened across large boulders plastered with sea loch anemones – they were like flock wallpaper left to grow wild. Right in the centre was a very large anemone – a horseman, one of the largest anemones in the British Isles. Just stunning and a beauty to behold. Long legged squat lobsters held court under each crevice which they deigned to share with leopard spotted gobies. As we headed down the loch, evidence of fishing was more apparent – monofilament
Alan got tangled up which for me was game over. It’s so difficult to see, thus it’s attraction for fishermen, but that said we could easily get tangled up. We started to head back passing an old mooring line which in itself was a haven for life – plumose anemones, oaten pipe hydroids and bryozoan colonised the rope, all vying for a plot on an overcrowded metropolis. Working our way up the banks, I saw a lobster out in the open – Wow! I thought, that is until I realised that it too was snarled up in monofilament. (Pause whilst I decide whether to have a rant about negligent fishermen, no, let’s get back to freeing Lysander the lobster.) Lysander was not going to give up without a fight. Knife in one hand and a trusty buddy between him and me, I battled to free him as best I could. He still had line wrapped around him, but at least he was able to leave his prison and hopefully carry on hunting. Somehow I managed to get out of the water with a helping hand from Andy Shenstone who, with DaveW, was our shore cover. Soon everyone else surfaced – DaveG and Mark surfacing a little prematurely and had to surface swim back. Up the top the first of the catering delights of the weekend awaited. DaveW provided a delicious coffee cake. Not a coffee drinker, after 2 bites I started to get a caffeine hit such was the richness!
We piled into the Mystery Machine and headed back to the B&B to collect the trainees who weren’t able to do the first dive. A quick pitstop we then carried onto Conger Alley, another incredibly misnamed dive site – or is it! We changed our kit over in the layby of a very precarious road – the main route to Inveraray and the Mull of Kintyre. It was now gone midday and the prospect of fulfilling our target of 3 dives was diminishing. Backup plans were called for – the Pitstop Diner with its notorious slow service was just not an option. We needed reinforcments and thus as we attached regs to cylinders, Lesley and Alan took lunch orders and whilst we wended our way to the shore, they clambered off to collect comestibles.
Ariel took Andy in for his final Ocean Diver drill whilst I went in with Katy, and after an initial problem with mask squeeze we headed down the bank. We found a broken reef – small boulders where a dog whelk maternity ward had set itself up. These large molluscs were laying mounds of tear shaped eggs. Drat I thought, I’d initially taken my video in but after Katy’s problems I decided to drop it off with DaveW, our erstwhile shore cover. Still it was fascinating to study them. Under large fronds of sugar kelp, common prawn scavenged and we searched for that elusive conger but to no avail. Gobies flitted about, velvet swimming crabs did that sideways stagger and hermit crabs defended their territory. We also spied a decorator crabs – I’d love to see one actually threading the bits of algae onto his arms! Working our way up the gentle slope, delicate cerianthus llyodi anemones pushed their way through the gravel. We were the last to surface – the call of cheese toasties was just too much for the crowd. As we compared notes, Ernie turned up trumps as he managed to find that elusive conger after which the reef was named.
We ate our sandwiches as we put our kit away – nearly 2pm and we still had another dive to do if we were to reach our target. As Andy handed out Belgian chocolates, the DO declared an end to diving for participants such was the alcohol content of the ganaches! Luckily he was only kidding otherwise he could have had a mutiny on his hands.
Reloading the wagon for the trilogy, we headed back to the other side of the Loch, Fisherman’s Reef bound. The shore line was a gentle meander over grass and mud onto a slippery cobbled beach. Care was needed but we managed it, with only a few slips! The sun had now slipped down behind the mountains and I envisaged a darker dive, especially as I eyed the peaty water. Gareth, my buddy looked very keen and so we stumbled over to the water’s edge. All 12 of us were diving this site and thus as we were the last pair to descend, the viz was quite churned up. I opted to stay relatively shallow thinking that the others would have gone for depth and thus we were out of their silt. This plan worked to a small degree! The brief was to fin along, bank on left for about 5 minutes where a broken reef would appear. Well we finned for a good 10 minutes no reef appeared. We turned back and probably ascended just a matter of 20cm and voila! The reef appeared! It never fails to amaze me how the difference a couple of inches can make! As with all other dives thus far, sea loch anemones provided rock cover, with squatties hiding in all nooks and crannies. I’ve never seen such large leopard spotted gobies as I did here. They were also very placid. Usually as soon as the beam from a strobe hits them, they dart for cover, but no, these remained still. Where was my camera in all of this!!!! Harbour crabs and the tiny squattie galathea intermedia were also bountiful. Very interesting dive and oh, did I mention it? That was dive number 100 this year! Thanks Gareth for sharing it with me! Back at the Mystery Machine, Sarah appeared to be suffering from a very bad case of water retention – as DaveW pulled off her suit, the torrent of water gushing out was likened to Niagara Falls! I wouldn’t have been surprised if she a had a couple of wrasse in there! To add insult to injury, passing cars splashed her with the puddle of water she had just released! Do you know what? She still had a smile on her face. Looking at her, both me and Steve turned to each other and decided that perhaps we weren’t wet after all! The light levels were fast fading now as we scrambled to stow kit. Tiffin was now being passed around, thanks to yours truly. Divers need all the warming calories they can get!
Finally the day was over and we headed off to the Loch Long Hotel for cullen skink and other delights. A lovely meal was had – food was delicious, banter plentiful and pigeons pooped! (ask DaveW). When we got back to the B&B, the bonfire party was in full swing in the pub below – Irish bingo, cowboy hats and table dancing – somehow I managed to sleep through all of this.
Sunday morning and we weren’t going to be delayed with breakfast again – I think the whole gang were there at 7.30, well not everyone, but you know who you were! We loaded up the Mystery Machine again and headed off for the A Frames. Most of us were diving – Andy dropped out as he was heading home for some quality family time and Mark stood down. I think his legs may have been aching from dancing the night before. Oops! What happens in Arrachor stays in Arrachor!
Final dive and I went in with Sarah. I hope I gently encouraged her after she said she was struggling with donning her fins and she proved that she was getting to grips with this diving malarkey. We headed off over gravel bottom and found the eponymous structures. Very similar life was apparent that we had seen on the previous dives – plenty of long legged squatties, huge leopard spotted gobies, nice tiny flatfish and common prawns – again absence of conger. Perhaps I’m not destined to see conger but I don’t mind, burrowing anemones were plentiful. As I said to Alan on an earlier dive, if you dive with me, you look at anemones (or as a previous buddy once said to me, narcolepsy by cnidaria!) Once sated we turned back and headed to the shore. Again I gently encouraged Sarah that she was able to remove her fins which she competently did. At this point, mine were well and truly jammed on – I’d borrowed Clare’s suit which I loved – it was very slimming and flattered my figure and with her long legs, it gave me ample room to clamber up the banks and braes. However with Clare’s long legs come her big feet! My fins were a trifle too small and thus wedged on. After not accepting Sarah’s pleas, I couldn’t moan that I was also unable to remove my fins so struggled (as only an Instructor can do without giving the game away) and finally removed them! Phew, got away with that one!
I was very grateful to the divers on the shore that helped both me and Sarah up/down the shore – it may not be a big deal to rufty-tufty macho divers but the Pink Ladies appreciated the assistance and courteousness shown. Sarah once again was wet – a job for Alan to look at, whilst I enjoyed another dry dive. The weekend was very intense and if I hadn’t had a dry – drysuit than I don’t think I could have done the diving I did. I certainly would not have enjoyed the diving – the water was definitely cooling down now as we approached winter. We loaded up the Mystery Machine and headed off for Helensbugh for hot chocolate and baked potatoes. A lovely weekend with some good scuba. I think everyone enjoyed themselves; they sure had enough to eat. Thanks to DaveW for providing shore cover and congratulations to JohnA who selected all Farnworths in his Fantasy Dive team and with a flurry of Farners all diving, he goes straight to the top of the league!
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