Loch Long: 29 Steps. Directions from congeralley.com
Andy posted on congeralley.com the popular Scottish Dive that he fancied going out to the 29 steps and as I hadn’t dived this site before I though I would join him.
I drove up via a minor detour getting lost and going to RNAD Coulport before turning round and backtracking the mile or so I went wrong.
When I got to Finnart, one other diver was sitting around so I had a quick chat with him before heading round to get parked up, this was Air Monster from Conger alley.
I arrived before Andy so started getting my gear assembled and had a quick walk down the steps to the dive site.
When Andy arrived I got my dry suit on and went to put my weights on realising I had left them at home, Andy had a look of devastation on his face that said “Your F**king kidding!”. Andy loaned me a couple of Kg’s as he was trying out a new pony, I jumped in the car and went round to ask if Colin had any spare weights, luckily he did and managed to give me four Kg’s taking me to the normal six kilos I carry minus ankle weights.
Dive 1 (128):
Max Depth: 18.3 Metres Start Time: 18:54 Duration: 41 Minutes Air in: 234 Bar Air Out: 148 Bar Water Temp: 8oC Viz: 3-5 Metres SAC: 16.6
Andy & I do a buddy check “BWRAF” Both of us happy everything is good and we know that we are just going in and staying less than twenty metres and doing around 40 minutes.
We give the signal to submerge, under we go, and within a couple of seconds a small flat fish goes past skimming close to the sandy bottom, we knew from the Conger Alley site guide that there was a training platform and we come across it at seven metres.
We go straight over the platform and come across lots of old cylinders (test failures?), lots of small colourful green crabs, a couple of hermit crabs, plenty of small gobi’s and blenny’s.
We come across a dogfish and I remember I have my camera with me so take a few snap shots.
Andy points out at a couple of things however Im just not able to make out what he sees (Scorpion fish says Andy after the dive).
Andy’s buoyancy is perfect even though its the first time he has dived the pony, as usual I am inches off the bottom and in awe of another divers buoyancy skills.
We come across a couple of Sea snails &
Urchins, then a few anenomes.
We didn’t come across the anenome city which is meant to be down here, but we can try for that next time, we surface right beside the wee slope and I find a torch on the safety stop. (which I promptly put down and forget all about)
An interesting little dive site with plenty of stuff to see for the dirt diver.
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After an hours surface interval, a good gab and some sarnies Andy gets his camping light out and sets it up, we get kitted up and head back down the stairs, the light is invaluable and a handy safety feature for night diving around the shores.
Dive 2 (129):
Max Depth: 24.2 Metres Start Time: 20:52 Duration: 37 Minutes Air in: 140 Bar Air Out: 70 Bar Water Temp: 8oC
Viz: 3-5 Metres
This time I decide to leave the camera in the car and just chill out, we do a quick buddy check ensuring our air is on and this time we plan to head straight out towards the middle of the Loch, taking compass bearings and giving the ok to descend, down we go.
This time there was no ambient light, it was dark and the critters where out, we came across a couple of shrimp as we got to the training platform, damn why did I leave the camera behind!
Lots more crabs out and one was even enjoying a nice blenny snack, Andy pointed out a small scorpion fish, then another, there was lots of shrimp everywhere we went, they just kept following our torch lights from little ones a few mm in size to ones around 15-20cm, lots of starfish, anenomes opened up and yet another Scorpion fish (three in one dive all found by Andy).
My stage cylinder came loose around the valve strap and I just help it close to me for most of the dive (silly plastic retainers!)
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After the dive we headed down to the Village Inn at Arrochar for post dive deco juice and a gab. Cheers for the weight Colin and enjoyed the dives Andy.
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