Wendy Northway
Steve arrived round ours at 7.30pm
to load up the car and we were Birkenhead bound for the overnight ferry. I’d researched umpteen ways of getting to the
emerald isle and this one suited our needs best – no need to take any days off
work yet we were still able to do the 3 days diving over the Bank Holiday. After finding our cabins, which were
incredibly spacious, we headed off to the bar for a wee sample of Irish
champagne then back to our berths for an early night – we needed to be up in
less than 7 hours’ time.
We docked about 6:30 Saturday
morning and headed for the dive lodge in Ballycastle. Arriving just before 8 we had time for a
quick cuppa and change before heading out for our first dive, the wreck of the
Lough Gary. This was a former passenger
ferry requisitioned during WWII as a government transport ship but struck rocks
and lay to rest in 33m on the east coast of Raithlin Island in 1944. As we descended the shot line, there was a tremendous
pull – it took 5 minutes to overcome the current and on the decks, our bottom
time was vastly diminished. However we
were treated to a colourful array of life.
Pollack of immense proportions patrolled the decks. Solitary cup corals, caryophyllia smithii, aggregated together in gangs that belied
their common names and hydroids did that thing that only cnidarians at 27m can
do! Red weeds were abundant but as I am
fast becoming a seaweed geek, I won’t dwell on that too much as I don’t wish to
saturate you out on sea weeds in the first paragraph. Plenty of time for that later! All too fast we ran out of bottom time so we
started our ascent up the shot line and on surfacing, we mounted the lift – quite
a treat but we were unaware that this would be the first and last time we
enjoyed the luxury of an assisted entry to get us back on board. On our
return to port, we heard that dreaded sound akin to the engines going over a
submerged hazard. The crew knew these
waters well so it couldn’t have been. No
the engine was kaput! Luckily they had
another RIB available and although this had a cabin, it didn’t have the extravagance
of an elevator! It could have been
worse – at least it had a ladder!
After refuelling our tummies on the
dockside, we headed west towards Carrick a Rede, made famous by Coast as the
rope bridge which crosses to a tall pinnacle which brings me onto
topography. Looking at the dramatic
cliffs surrounding the coastline one could be sure (to be sure) of the scenery
unwater! We dropped into 18m of kelp and
navigated out to 24ish metres where we picked up a drift over sunstars (crossater papposus) , stag horn
bryozoans (porella compressa), powder
blue crystal sea slugs (janolus cristatus)
and some of the largest velvety grey elephant hide sponges I’ve ever seen –
nearly 1 metre wide. Turning the corner
at 18m as per the brief we happened on a spectacular wall which was in the lee
of the current and we were able to explore at leisure. This was probably my favourite dive of the
weekend. The life was so tightly packed –
striped anemones (actinothoe spyrodeta),
white claw sea moss (crisia), sea
beech (oops, slipped in another seaweed!) embellished with frosty sea matt and small edible crabs packed into crevices. We veered off the wall and into the kelp but
again we were scuppered on the no stop time front. As we surfaced,the wind had picked up and we
had a rather challenging re-entry onto the boat!
Back in port for 2:30pm which
gave us the afternoon off and time to catch up on some zeds then out for
tea. Our evening repast came with a
choice of 15 different sides. I never
knew there were so many ways with potatoes (Solanum
tuberosum)! We also
passed the fair (tis the annual horse fair in Ballycastle that w/e) and Lesley
couldn’t contain her excitement as we approached the Big Dipper and insisted we
had a ride!
Sunday morning we awoke to bright
blue skies. A pleasant lie in with a
9.30 start saw us heading off to the North side of Raithlin Island diving The
Arches. Steve and Lesley dived together
on this one and found the spectacular archway at 28m. Steve reckoned this was his favourite dive –
the ceiling was plastered with fried egg anemones, more sponges, some white
stuff and some squishy and squiggly stuff to use his descriptions! Me and Ariel dived together and were
delighted with deadmen’s fingers, feathery hydroids, Devonshire cup corals,
encrusting bryozoans and the odd jewel anemone (corynactis viridis) thrown in to make up the numbers. Both of us were thrilled as we had our
respective cameras – a veritable palette fit for the photographer! Once again we were limited by no stop time
and thus it was time to ascend. Back on
board, we motored towards the harbour in Raithlin Island where we decamped for
lunch in scorching sunshine.
Sunday afternoon we were offered
a drift dive at Church Bay Scallop Bed.
Knowing my fascination for all things algal, Ariel stayed in the
shallows (12-15m give or take) and we concentrated on the kelp. Vast beards of kelp fir shrouded the leafy fronds;
those that weren’t subject to these hirsute hydroids were buried under thick
layers of sea matt. My favourite, frosty
sea matt, electra pilosa, was in
evidence as it looked like a teacher had liberally scattered her box of gold
stars onto the behaviour chart. Between
the thick forests we found the eponymous scallops and overhead, shoals of large
and small fish flitted by.
Once again we finished early –
the joys of hard boat diving and we were back for 3pm. Time for tea followed by a snooze before
heading out for another 50 ways with potatoes.
Passing the fair on the way back, Lesley insisted on riding the fair
again. I went with her to keep her
quiet!
Our final day dawned to much rain
and wind. Such was the strength of the rain;
we elected to walk down to the quayside in our drysuits – fully zipped! The beauty of Raithlin is that she is
protected one side should the wind be disagreeable to diving. The only downside is that we wouldn’t necessarily
be on slack water. First dive we headed
of towards the North Wall again in order to dive The Pinnacle at Farganlack
Point. Today I dived with Lesley and as
we navigated to the edge of the kelp, we descended to a beautiful wall swathed
in a myriad of life – white and yellow anemones, deadmens fingers and orange
encrusting bryozoans plus small posies of red sea beech. Being on the north wall, the light levels
were a tad diminished at 28m, plus the overnight storm had churned up the
plankton rich waters giving an overall gloomy ambience to the dive. We followed the drift round till we got to
large boulders, seeing Steve and Ariel en route, alerted by the flashing of
Ariel’s strobe. Chasing no stop time we
ascended to the kelp line where visibility reduced even further to a fine mist
and thus gave up.
Lunch time we headed for a final
time at Church Bay on Raithlin, this time it wasn’t quite as warm as the
previous day but at least it was dry.
Our last dive we headed towards Sronlea point and were treated to more
of a drift dive than the previous day!
Dropping onto furbelows and cuvie, we navigated out to a gentle slope of
small rocks. Unable to stop we went with
it and found an octopus sitting on a small boulder! Lots of cushion stars, in fact these seemed
more common than common starfish. I had
wanted to survey these last 2 dives, but the current was too strong – I’d be
well passed the species as I tried to scribble them down on my slate. I did however collect some seaweeds for
pressing. Quite a few double spiral
worms, bispira voluptocornis were
evident. We found a lovely buttonhole of
a collection, which Lesley managed to get a finger wagging as she slowly circled
the beam of her torch around each blossom causing individuals to retract
sequentially! Caught a glimpse of a
leopard spotted goby under a rock splashed with pink paint weed. No stop time tagged our tail and so we made
our final ascent. We grabbed some take
away pizzas before showering and heading off for the overnight ferry back to
Birkenhead. It was a lovely way to travel as we settled
down in the bar on the Stena Line cruiser leaving the Captain to take the helm and
chauffeur us back to the mainland. I commend
Aquaholics as fantastic dive operator.
They listened to us as to where we wished to dive, they handled our
cameras correctly and they also recognised me, a woman, as being the expedition
leader which is rare in this male dominated sport. Hopefully we will get a few more takers next
year!
