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Northern Ireland on M.V. Salutay with Poole Dam Divers, 23 - 30 September 2005
by Alan Ewart
I had been looking forward to this trip for months. Stories of intact wrecks, mind blowing walls and tremendous visibility had whetted my appetite. As the time drew near we arranged car shares and made travel arrangements for the near 500-mile drive from Poole to Stranraer, a prospect that did not fill me with joy. As the day grew closer I apprehensively checked the weather forecast and must admit was very concerned as it was looking pretty horrible. On the day before travel we spoke to Al Wright, the skipper of Salutay, Website who confirmed that the trip was on and that we would get some diving.
The drive to Stranraer went smoothly, but we arrived to driving rain and howling winds. As we pulled up on the pier beside the boat we were unable to get onboard, as the weather was too rough to move our gear. In the finest traditions of British diving we adjourned to the nearest pub to allow the tide to go out. Much discussion took place as to what our fallback options would be if the decision were made not to cross to Ireland. Of course, by this stage, trip organiser Sean had not even arrived, despite all his warnings not to be late he was!! The only person to arrive late too. After a couple of beers we went back to the boat and managed to shift our gear onboard and get it stowed. We then departed to the Local Chinese restaurant for a very nice meal. After the meal we retired to a local hostelry for some liquid refreshment. Now I don't know if you have ever spent an evening n Stranraer, but it can be a very scary place, especially when the local pub is holding a school uniform theme night. It was pretty obvious that half the clientele had come straight from school and the rest had borrowed uniforms from their grand daughters. The club (male) tart was still having palpitations when we left to drive home the following Friday.
Saturday morning dawned bright and sunny and the wind had dropped. Well everywhere except in our cabin that is. It has to be said the noises from our cabin were something to behold! Snoring, grunting and howling wind! I'm sure that we could be heard clearly on the other side of the Irish Sea. Skipper Al saw an opportunity to get a dive in whilst it was calm, so off we set for the first dive of the week, the wreck of the Longwy.
Dive 1. The Longwy (55.03.15N 5.10.36W)
The Longwy lies just outside Loch Ryan and close to Girvan on Scotland's west coast. Laying at the Mouth of the Firth of Clyde the area can be silty and as a consequence visibility can be very poor and poor it was, in fact it was about one metre at best. I should imagine that in good visibility diving the wreck of this French steamer would be a delight. Sunk by a U-boat in 1917 she now lies at 27m and is well broken up. That said the huge 4-cylinder engine and the boilers are intact. Every surface is covered in anemones, tunicates, sea squirts and dead men's fingers.
On completion of the dive our gear was stowed and we set out for Ireland, just in time for the wind to pick up and the waves to build. Half an hour later I began to believe that BSAC had launched an SDC in advanced seasickness. The boat was heaving and rolling, as were several stomachs. I did the honourable thing and ran to my bunk. Several hours' later calm descended, I emerged to catch sight of the delightful County Antrim town of Ballycastle. Dive in 15 minutes went the shout.
Dive 2 SS Templemore (55.12.694N 06.3.953W)
Lying just 600M offshore from Ballycastle the wreck of the Templemore, which was lost in a storm in 1911 is a delightful dive with something for everyone. Kelp waves gently in the tide and the wreck abounds with wildlife. The boilers are full of prawns, lobster, and squat lobster. Nudibranchs graze on the kelp fronds. The joy of this dive for me was 5 minutes spent in the company of a small octopus. I also spotted some Butterfish.
On return to Ballycastle we tied up in the pretty little harbour, the skipper pumped our cylinders whilst Freda (Al's wife and crewmate) rustled up a storm in the galley. To keep you going during the trip air, Nitrox & Trimix are available on board and Freda will ensure you leave the boat a little heavier than you arrived. Wide arrays of delicious offerings emerge from the galley, with a huge smile, at regular intervals. All the food was superb, but the mouth-watering selections of biscuits, cakes and puddings are guaranteed to play havoc with your waistline. After dinner most of the group wandered over to one or other of the little harbour-side bars to sample a pint or two of Ireland's famous black beer.
Dive 3 Lochgarry
On Sunday morning a short run from Ballycastle took us out to Rathlin Island and the wreck of the Lochgarry. Bizarrely this Government transport ship struck rocks off the Mull of Kintyre in January 1942 and after the crew abandoned ship she finally sank in her current position. Despite the huge winter storms that can batter this area, the wreck is remarkably intact, sitting upright in 32m. She can only be dived at slack water, but the slack window can be in excess of two hours on a neap tide. Dropping over the bow to the seabed it is an awesome site to look up at the bow with its anchors still in place. The wreck is busy with sea life, especially big schools of Bib and Pollack. The are a number of interesting swim throughs and penetration is easy in a number of places, especially in the hold which is full of huge chain links placed by the navy to block access to a cargo of Lee Enfield rifles.
Dive 4 Rathlin - North wall
The North wall at Rathlin is simply stunning, and in my opinion is easily the rival of the walls at Ras Mohammad and the Straits of Tiran in Egypt. Admittedly the water is a tad chillier and there is not the proliferation of reef fish, but the stunning arches, a number of small caverns, great visibility and the majesty of the sheer drop into the abyss is simply breathtaking. The deeper of two archways brings you out a depth of about 38m and between that depth and the kelp line at 18m your senses are assaulted by a riot of colour from the multitude of sponges, tunicates and cup corals. Unfortunately a rip tide ended our dive a little early, but this is a dive I would love to repeat again and again.
In the early hours of Monday morning the storm that had been forecast all weekend finally hit with a vengeance. A force 9 southerly put paid to diving for the day so the majority of the group headed off for some shore side entertainment with a trip to the world famous Giants Causeway. After stopping off at the pub on the way back to the boat several of the group were rather the worse for wear and one or two managed to incur Freda's wrath by missing dinner altogether.
On Tuesday morning there was a lull in the weather but the forecast was for force 8 - 10 gales from the west. In view of the forecast the decision was made to dive the Lochgarry again and then to run for the East coast and shelter from the Westerly winds.
Dive 5.
A repeat dive on the Lochgarry, on this occasion I spent the majority of my dive on the deck and poking around in the holes. Once again a very enjoyable dive in about 10m visibility.
Dive 6
The wreck of the Lucy a small coaster sunk in 26m at the entrance to Belfast Lough. This wonderfully intact little coaster was absolutely covered in sponges, anemones and cup corals. There were also large colonies of northern sea fans. A very enjoyable dive that would have been spectacular in 10m visibility! Unfortunately we only enjoyed about 2m!
After our second dive of the day we headed to the county Down seaside town of Bangor to overnight. The temptation of being only 30 minutes away from my dear old dad's house in Belfast and the promise of a comfy bed were too much for me so I jumped on the train and popped off to see my Dad. The forecast for Wednesday was pretty awful and as the boat was staying in Bangor I decided to take advantage of an extra night off the boat. Fair play to the skipper though as he managed to get the others in for two dives during the day. (Dives 7 & 8).
After a very early start on Thursday morning I got back to the boat for about 7.30 in time to catch a dive near the Copeland Islands. This was especially poignant for me as it was close to the Islands light house. This brought childhood memories flooding back. I spent many evenings as a child staring at this light from my bedroom windows.
Dive 9
This dive was on the wreck of the Karanan a Dutch coaster lying in 46m. The weather conditions were pretty awful and contributed to a bit of a disastrous dive for my buddy and I. I jumped off the boat and dropped to 6m to get out of the swell after a few minutes there was still no sign of my buddy. I waited a few minutes more until I saw a weight belt fly past me just inches from the tip of my nose. I recognised the belt as my buddy's. In the circumstances I decided to go to the bottom of the shot line and team up with the last pair in. I reached the bottom only to be tapped on the shoulder by my buddy - minus his weight belt. Needless to say we called the dive and managed to make a safe ascent. In all I got about 3 minutes on the wreck, a real shame as some of the others showed some great photos later in the day.
Dive 10
My final dive of the week also turned out to be my favourite. The wreck of the Lagan lies in 33m of water on its port side. It is wonderfully intact and atmospheric. The wildlife was really prolific. Unfortunately the wreck was very silty and visibility was poor in places so this prevented us entering any of the very inviting holds and open spaces. After this dive we decided to make a run for Stranraer as the forecast for the following day lead us to believe we might not make it if we waited until the next day.
In summary we had a really good week on Salutay despite the weather conspiring to deny us the diving we wanted to do on the North coast and into Donegal. The boat is remarkably stable at sea and Skipper Alan Wright and his wife Freda are a great crew. They are very knowledgeable about diving in the area and Alan can run IANTD courses on the boat. The food was fantastic.
Alan & Freda are in negotiation to buy a bigger and more comfortable boat for next season, as the dive deck and sleeping accommodation are less than ideal when the boat is full. In fairness the boat is adequate if the passengers are well organised and tidy. Unfortunately our group failed miserably on this score. The skill of the crew and the quality of the diving more than compensate for any shortcomings. If you have not dived in Ireland you really should!!
Photographs courtesy of Mark Davison & Nick Clark. All rights reserved
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