Trip Report : Loch Fyne

Hunter Gatherer! by Dale Makin
Dale Makin.

24th - 27th August 2007

The time had come, it was Thursday and after a bit of last minute faffing about, Myself, Phil & Zoe headed up the M6 towards our destination for the long bank holiday weekend, Loch Fyne. The choice of diving this weekend was RIB diving on our club boats, Nessie and Dory.

Loch Fyne is a sea loch on the west coast of Argyll and Bute, Scotland. It extends 65 kilometres (40 miles) inland from the Sound of Bute, making it the longest of the sea lochs. It is connected to the Sound of Jura by the Crinan Canal. Loch Fyne is a popular area for sport diving and fishing. It is also a popular tourist destination with attractions such as Inveraray Castle and the nearby ruins of Castle MacEwan and Castle Lachlan.

The village of Portavadie is on the east shore of the loch. A passenger ferry traverses the loch from the quay here. Dolphins, seals and otters inhabit the loch, and basking sharks can be found in its waters during the summer months. A Ross's Gull was present at the loch in early 2007. Over half a million troops were trained in amphibious landing techniques on the shores of Loch Fyne prior to the D-day landings.

Having never dived in Loch Fyne before and already very aware of its history, I was looking forward to getting in and exploring what it had to offer. One of the lads we regularly dive with who is from another BSAC club had told us that the loch was full of life and I was optimistic about the weekend and knew we were in for a cracker.

Some of the team relaxing.

Me and Phil found ourselves answering some anxious questions from Zoe, having not done much diving and still working towards her Ocean Diver qualification. “What if it’s murky?”, “How will I get back on the RIB?”, “Am I going to die?” etc, we soon arrived after a journey lasting around 5 hours.

The idea was for the people who were to arrive first had the job of finding a pub which would act as the teams rendezvous point. Dave, Connie and Stuart who were towing Nessie had arrived not long before, so they decided to wait for us. We headed to the local – the Argyll Caravan Park which was also the location where we would launch the boats over the next few days.

Next to arrive were Guy and Rachael. On the Wednesday when Dave was giving his briefing, and Guy, thinking it was only a 3 day weekend was shocked when he read the brief paper which said 4 days!! Debbie & Phil who were towing Dory were not far behind arrived not long after. After sinking a fair few bottles of Magners, it was time to head back to the digs for some well needed rest.

The next morning with everyone looking alert and fresh, I find myself asking the question I always ask myself after staying up with Phil. “Why did I do that?”, “Why did I just not go to bed when everyone else did?”. Too late for all that, it’s time to get some breakfast and do some diving.

Nessie and Dory.

We launched the RIBs and the engines on both fired without a problem and off we went to our first dive site. After an initial scan of the bottom using the sonar on the boats, we got ready to kit up and dive.

The first dive was a sandy bottom with a gradual slope and eventual drop off to around 120 metres. I was buddied with Debbie and we was first to go in so we kitted up, rolled over the side and descended to the bottom at around 15 metres. The life was plentiful, coming across large sea snails, various types of crabs and fish life. We saw a spotted ray relaxing on the bottom and a few Dogfish but the fun hadn’t even begun. Minding my own business as I finned over an area of sand, a Scallop decided to make a run for it. It was only a baby so I left it alone. Knowing that Scallops are often seen in large groups, I reached for my goody bag. I was right – not even a minute had passed and a few Scallops were in the bag. After around 35 minutes of scenic turned Scallop diving, me and Debbie had caught a bagful for the team’s dinner and decided to surface. Debbie deployed her DSMB and we started to ascend. About 2 or 3 metres above the Seabed, I notice another big Scallop and quickly descend back down to get it! We made the surface around 40 minutes after leaving it. Phil and Stuart were waiting nearby ready to collect us on Dory. I handed over the Scallops, and we de-kitted ourselves and climbed back in the boat.

After the next batch of divers had done their dive, we headed back to the slip to change over cylinders and get some much needed grub. We ate at the clubhouse on the Caravan Park (also where we were drinking the night before!). The food was great, so great that I ate the same thing every day for lunch.

We changed the Cylinders and headed out for our second dive. Again, me and Debbie were in first and dropped down on a wall to a max depth of 15 metres. There appeared to be quite a bit of wreckage around on the slope but we couldn’t figure out from what. The dive was nice, lots of fish life and the usual velvet swimming crabs that are more than willing to play around with you. Saw quite a few squat lobsters and Tompot Blenny’s. We surfaced after around 35 minutes and let Phil and Stuart go for a dive.

After everyone had surfaced, we headed back to the slip and recovered the boats then it was time to go back to the digs for a much needed shower.

We decided to clean the Scallops and put them in the Fridge until the following evening. We ate out a place called The George and what a wise choice that was, the food was amazing.

The next day the first dive site was Strone Point. This was a fairly steep slope dropping off to around 70+ metres. We scanned the area and decided to drop down on a lobster pot boy which we believed the sea bed was at around 35 metres. Debbie and I were first in from our boat again and we descended down the line. After we hit 20 metres, the light faded and after we reached about 35 metres and no sight of the bottom, already in complete darkness, Debbie took a bearing, we then swam North for a few seconds and reached the slope (what brilliant navigation skills you’ve got Debbie!).

I couldn’t believe the amount of Dogfish lying on the bottom, they were all in groups and happy for me to pick them up! The bigger ones get a bit nasty sometimes but the smaller ones are like little puppies and you can turn them on their back and stroke their bellies (aww!). The slope was roughly at a 45 degree angle and we finned our way along and up it ending up at 20 metres.

More success came towards the end of the dive, we came across Scallops! Not as many this time, only 2 or 3 but enough to add to the previous days catch for the feast we were having that night. Just as it’s nearly time to make our ascent, I spot a huge edible crab. Underwater it looked like the biggest crab I had ever seen so as you do, I wrestled with it while Debbie held the bag open and as a team, and after nearly losing my torch to the crab (!!), we get him in the bag and make our ascent to the surface.

We reach the surface after 35 minutes and are picked up by our awaiting boat. I hand the goody bag over and we get back onboard. Stuart and Phil went for their dive and ended up catching another 3 crabs plus more scallops. Needless to say, I was looking forward to dinner already!

We head back to the slipway for lunch and to change Cylinders and we were soon on our way to the next dive site.

Zoe sat at the console on Nessie.

This dive looked like a likely candidate for being the home of more Scallops. Debbie and I are first in from our boat and we decide to drop down on a lobster pot boy in which we drop down and find the seabed at 30 metres. It was quite silty on the bottom but as we get a bit shallower we come across some excellent life. Fish, more sea snails, soft corals and guess what? Scallops! Not too many but we manage to net around 10 and that was as about as exciting it got so we reached the surface after about 30 minutes. Stuart and Phil elect to miss this dive in order to get back the shore quicker so we can get sorted. Phil & Debbie had to get Dory filled and Dave & Connie went to get Nessie filled. Guy, Rachael, Phil and Zoe went off to get ingredients and beer for our evening (self cooked!) meal leaving Stuart and I to clean all the Scallops and give the crabs their last rights.

Debbie and Phil share a joke before getting on Dory.

I have never taken a crabs life before and I wasn’t about to start now! Stuart had only ever put them in cold water and boiled them alive (like most people do) but as we had a member of the RSPCA with us, we thought it was only right to humanely kill all the crabs first. Advice was sought from Phil Makin, crab connoisseur. So with Stuart now educated on how to humanely take a crabs life and Dale armed with a knife, the preparation was under way. I begun cleaning all the Scallops outside and in the process got eaten alive by Scotland’s finest midgies. It was annoying the hell out of me, so annoying infact that I ran in the digs to find insect repellent only to find Stuart staring at the crabs with a long, sharp instrument. “I canny doot” says Stuart in his Motherwell accent. He said he could only kill them while he was on his own, so after applying some insect repellent (to which may I add, had no effect whatsoever!), I head back outside to finish my job.

Stuart Owen. Not sure what he's doing here.

Half an hour later and a plate full of cleaned Scallops, I head back into the digs to find that the crabs have been humanely killed and are already in the pot. Well done Stu! Not long after, the rest of the team arrive back from the shop and petrol station and everyone has showers and Phil Makin and Stuart cook us a fantastic meal. Pan fried Scallops in Chilli (well - close, the only substitute available, Paprika!) and as our main meal we have Garlic Bread (it’s the future!), Pasta Bolognaise and the crabs were used in a separate “Crab Pasta” dish. Well done to Phil & Stuart, top quality grub and it cost us next to nothing.

Having a chat after dinner!

After dinner, Phil tells us that when they were all at the shop buying ingredients, leaving me and Stuart to sort out the crabs, they had visions of the crabs taking over the house backing us both into a corner and well…eating us! Charming. I was aptly named “Hunter Gatherer” for my Scalloping skills and everyone thanked me for the beautiful Scallops that they had just eaten. I give Stuart a lot of credit though as he caught quite a few as well! After a few (well, a lot) of beers later and after some absolutely class jokes from Guy, we all call it a night and get some sleep.

See no evil, Hear no evil, Speak no evil

Day 3 was already upon us and it was time to do some more diving. We head out to our first dive site which was about 5 miles from our base. Today, I was buddied with Stuart. After some investigations and sonar scans on which area to dive, Phil and Debbie are in first leaving me and Stuart to have a mess around in the boat.

Things gradually got worse...

Phil and Debbie surface and me and Stuart kit up, get in and drop down the wall to a depth of 35 metres where it is pitched black and the visibility wasn’t too clever either. We head up to the shallows after a lovely wall dive and surface after about 20 minutes as Stuart was low on gas (that’s what happens when you don’t get a fill Stuart!!!!).

We head back to towards the slip where we see Nessie has stopped a fair way behind us. We go over to see if they are alright to find that they are. They are just having a nosey for an afternoon dive site. We see another RIB in the area and they are local lads so we ask them if they can recommend any good dive sites. They recommend a Pinnacle about half a mile away called Stallion Rock. As the tide was ebbing, the Pinnacle should be visible in an hour or so but we head over to have a look anyway. We see a few guys fishing from a boat and we hear them shouting something (which I can only translate as “watch out, there is a big f***ing rock in front!!!”) so we slow down and the depth goes from 30 metres to 1.5 metres in literally 2 seconds. We raise the engine and shout to the other guys to slow down. The rock is visible under the water, but isn’t yet above the surface.

We agree this is the next dive and head back to grab lunch and to change our Cylinders. We are soon ready and back at the dive site, this time the Pinnacle is about half a metre above the surface, so we clearly see where to begin our dive.

Phil and Debbie are in first and down they go. The other boat drops some divers in and soon it’s time for me and Stuart to dive. We kit up and are dropped near the Pinnacle. We drop down to 30 metres to what was an absolutely beautiful wall. The formation was all curvy and reminded me of some sort of cavern the way it changed shape. I had done a Stuart this dive and didn’t get a fill. I had gone down with about 150 bar in my 15 litre, plus my 4.5 litre pony was full in case of emergency. We ascended up to the shallows and spent a bit around there until I signalled to Stuart I was getting low on gas and was time to surface. I deployed my DSMB and we were soon being picked up by Phil and Debbie.

As we are getting back on the boat, I see that Phil is on the VHF radio to one of the guys on our other boat, Nessie. We find out that the main engine has failed and they are now using the donkey engine, also known as the egg whisk!

We head over to see how they are. How ironic this would turn out to be. Phil & Debbie Robinson and Stuart are usually the ones on the receiving end of a tow, usually from the RNLI. Phil was filled with joy that finally, HE was the one towing somebody! Stuart took over to get a feel for some of the joy and after longer than expected we made it back to the slip.

We decide to call the diving a day at the end of Day 3 (not like we had much choice since the engine on Nessie isn't working!). We will use the last day to do some exploring. Before we recover the boats, Zoe heads out with Connie, Debbie and Phil to get one of her Ocean Diver drills signed off.

While they are out there, me and Phil Jnr end up talking to the old guy who did our fills for us. He tells us that the black yacht on its moorings may have some mussels or muck on his echo sounder and asks if our divers can oblige. Phil radios over to the other Phil and after Zoe has completed her drill, they make their way over to the yacht. Debbie and Connie drop down to take a look and remove the muck.

We recover the boats and head back to the digs. We all shower and go back to The George where we had our meal on the Friday night.

The next day we all decide to make an early journey home as everyone was tired.

What an excellent weekend it was and I would recommend Loch Fyne to anyone. Fantastic diving, excellent restaurants and absolutely stunning scenery.

Thanks to all who went and made it a weekend to remember and thanks to Dave Godson for the first class organising.