Diving takes you to all sorts of places you’d never get to otherwise!

Full report on our club trip to Kyleakin to follow soon………..

Our first attempt at diving the Garvellachs back in January was a bit of a disaster as we got completely blown-out and didn’t even manage a single dive! We were reduced to altogether more geriatric pursuits that time (those of us who got out of bed, ahem, naming no names) when after heading out to look for a sheltered possible shore dive site (which we never found) we rather embarrassingly stopped at a hotel and had a ‘nice cup of tea’. To add insult to injury the tea was pretty rank and tasted liked it might have been brewed with a few old, perished rubber bands infusing alongside the tea bag in the pot. We put a brave face on and managed to entertain ourselves in the pub along the road from the cottage where we were staying. The trip at least served to show those new to the area where future expeditions would be, in a sort of ‘here’s what you could have won’ type-way.

As the weekend of the latest trip approached we were monitoring the weather forecast with great interest and this time the weather gods took pity on us. 8 club members arrived in Ellenabeich on the Friday with club rib in tow all set for what was due to be two days of sunshine, warmth and light winds – and the forecast was right!

We congregated in the Oyster Brewery for a few ales and only enough organization as was required to get the rib in the water the following morning while there was still enough water on the slip at Cuan to allow us to do so. With a fairly early start (by our standards) ahead of us the next day, we managed to keep the social lubricant consumption from getting out of hand.

As a result, at 9:15 Saturday morning all 8 of us were on the loaded-up rib, kitted out and ready to leave! This was a bit of a club record by recent standards. Whether a precedent has been set, well, I seriously doubt it! First obstacle overcome, the next was to see whether the new prop on the outboard had done the job and improved the ribs performance to meet our requirements. After a slightly nerve-wracking few seconds as the throttle was opened we were quickly on the plane (phew) and heading out on the 20 mins trip to the Garvellachs and the first of our dive sites at Sgeir Leth A’ Chuain.

This really is a lovely dive and my only criticism of it would be that there just isn’t enough time to explore it all. There seems to be life attached to just about every bit of rock that you care to look at. Boring Sponges, Elephant’s Ear Sponges, Breadcrumb Sponges (spongetastic!) Dead Men’s Fingers, Dahlia Anemones, Jewel Anemones are everywhere, and not just at depth, if you push aside the kelp on the wall only a couple of metres below the surface the life is just as prolific there. There are scallops on the sand below the wall and Squat Lobsters, Edible Crabs and small fish hiding in the crevices within the wall. It’s a great scenic dive site and one that you really should aim to do if you make it out to the Garvellachs.

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