Driving to Loch Fyne for a wee dive up the Rest and Be Thankful, it is times like this when I appreciate the country I live in.
I met up with Scott and Yvonne from Cumbernauld Sub Aqua Club at the Loch Fyne Oyster Bar.
We decided on Drishaig reef as it was close to the Oyster bar and that let Yvonne have somewhere nice to be with the kids till we had finished the first dive. The plan was typical fish prodder, relaxed Sunday diving, go in see reef, prod fish, get food if any around and come out with plenty of air.
Yvonne was going to stay at the Oyster bar with the kids and her mum while Scott and I went for the first dive, I’d never dived this reef before so Scott was going to lead and I hadn’t dived with Scott in nearly two years. The weather was pretty changeable going from lovely bright sunshine to heavy rain within minutes of each other.
After being so cold the last time I was out, id decided to put on the Base layer and the Arctic’s to keep me warm.
We kitted up , had a good gab and done our buddy check, Scott was diving a single fifteen and a pony while I dive the double twelve’s. We went over the differences in kit and Scott double checked I could isolate myself. This is the first I had been asked this by a single cylinder buddy and it was a little weird thinking why would he ask that.
Has he dived with twinset divers who cannot isolate?
Anyway I explained I could isolate but not very quickly or gracefully and that Id like to practice reaching my valves when we get in.
On the surface, Scott lay down in the shallows and put his fins on while I walked in a bit, inflated my wing then floated on the surface and put on my fins, we checked our position in relation to the surface rock to use as a guide and gave the signal to descend.
Onwards and downwards, we mostly followed the horseshoe shape reef, which had plenty of life, lots of Squat Lobsters, large edible crabs, hermit crabs, lots of Blennies, a couple of small scallops and one pretty large dogfish.
We reached around 23 metres and started to head back up, the visibility was clear but dark down below 15 metres.
From above 15 metres it was easy enough to see 5-8 metres in front without the torch, however the torch was as ever handy for looking under rocks and signalling OK to each other.
The water reached around 7oC in the top 6 metres and 8oC below that. I was glad I had both under suits on but after 30 minutes my hands even in 5mm gloves where cold, I really need dry gloves, I cant take this cold on my hands.
After the dive we sat about chatting for a bit, Scott tried on my twinset and felt it wasn’t as heavy as he was expecting.
We got a call from Yvonne to say it was too miserable and cold to dive so she would just stay at the Oyster bar. I agreed with Scott we should just go get some warm soup as the dive wasn’t that interesting to warrant a second one on the same reef.
Back to the Loch Fyne Oyster bar for a great bowl of Soup and a pot of tea, overall a nice wee relaxing dive and a chilled Sunday.
Dive 238 EAN32 Max depth 23.1 Dive Time 35 minutes
Thanks to Conger Alley the Scottish Diving Forum for the Dive Site guide.
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