Skye Diving
by Iain Paul

No… not jumping out of aeroplanes but off boats into the pleasant waters off the Isle of Skye,North West Scotland. My trip in August 2004 was the second time using facilities of Dive & Sea Hebrides. Having been unable to get sufficient numbers within my own (Ellon) branch we were advised that our neighbouring Aberdeen Branch were faced with the same dilemma so 3 of us joined up with them for a very successful long weekend.

Where is it?
Dive & Sea Hebrides is based at Stein on the edge of Lochbay on the Waternish peninsula near Dunvegan at the north west tip of Skye. This is about an hours drive north from the Skye Bridge (5 hours drive cross country from Aberdeen) Once you get there the remoteness is however one of the big attractions as you can chill out far from the madding crowds. You are certainly most unlikely to be fighting with other groups for access to a shot line! Frustrating for some, (but not others!) mobile phone reception though available is very patchy because of the hills.

The facilities
The business has been developed and run by Gordon and Aileen McKay since the late 80s. The accommodation is bunkhouse style taking with adequate toilet and shower facilities. a lounge with TV, and a fully equipped kitchen with seating and tables for 12. A drying room s situated adjacent to the compressor room, which houses a newly upgraded (mid 2004) compressor. Although full self-catering is perfectly possible, many will end up eating out in the evening at the Stein Inn (Skye's oldest public house) which has an excellent menu and is only 100m from the accommodation. The bar here also offers solace in the evenings or the event of foul weather - but don’t forget the torch for the stagger home in the dark! Alternately there is also a specialist seafood restaurant a further 50m along the road.

The boat - Elena C - is an Aquastar 33 powered by twin 160hp diesels, She is licensed for 12 passengers + 2 crew and is normally moored just off the dive centre. She has a well equipped wheelhouse and small forward cabin with cooker, and most importantly a toilet. Additional storage is available below the main deck for spare cylinders and dive equipment. Exit from the water is by a very robust and easy to use ladder which is slung over the starboard side whenever divers are in the water. The kettle is on fairly constantly but you need to provide your own packed lunch. This may be taken on board travelling between dives or alternately on shore at an appropriate stopover. With a background as a commercial diver, Gordon as skipper has a tremendous depth of knowledge of the area and diving.

The packages
A variety of packages are available covering 3, 5 or 7 nights with prices including accommodation, boat diving and 2 air fills/day for groups of 8-12 persons. Some dates are reserved for small groups and discounts are available for student clubs. Our own 3 night 6 dive trip cost £143 pp in August 2004. Although you need to provide your own personal dive kit, to lighten the load a little for travelling, cylinders are available for hire from the centre at additional cost. 2 cylinders are required on the boat each day as fills are done onshore.

Conditions
As with everywhere in the UK, weather conditions vary! This year we could not have arranged for much better. Winds were light and we even spent time sunbathing - some in thinsulates because we hadn't packed the shorts! Latterly, day 3 clouded over and then suffered from light drizzle. By contrast on exactly the same Mid August weekend 2 years previously boat diving was confined to the shelter of sea lochs and was totally blown off for one day by storm force winds. On that occasion although shore diving would still have been possible locally, if we had wanted, as the dive kit including suits had been left on board the boat overnight we found the ideal excuse to "dive" in the pub instead!

The diving
For obvious reasons diving is carried out on the exposed north and west coasts of the island closest to the dive centre, although good sites are available elsewhere around Skye including the well known wreck of the minelayer "Port Napier" at Kyle. Although he doesn't normally frequent these with Elena C, being based at the opposite end of the island, Gordon has contacts who are able to provide trips out to these sites. Given available time, a stop at Kyle to do the "Port Napier" can be an excellent addition to the itinerary on the way to or from Skye.

Daily briefings are normally held in the kitchen at around 9am when the programme and travel arrangements would be agreed. With some of the sites, there was the option to travel by boat for the whole day or else join the boat at another harbour having driven there by car, visiting shops and being tourists on the way. Glendale on Loch Poultiel is one such embarkation point. On occasion this option may be used to allow more distant sites to be visited, with the boat being left there overnight to save time.

Those of us who chose the boat option, travelling to and from base each day, were intrigued to see wild goats grazing on seemingly inaccessible patches of grass on otherwise sheer cliffs several hundred feet high. We also saw a sea eagle soaring above the same cliffs and whilst loading up the boat one morning a large pod of dolphins passed just a hundred metres off shore from the jetty.

A wide range of dives is possible with something for all conditions ranging from reefs in the sheltered sea lochs to those on the exposed west coast with almost nothing between you and America. Given suitable conditions visibility can be stunning. Water temperature in mid August varied between 12 and 14°C. On this trip our itinerary (for new sports diver upwards) covered

Dive 1 Wreck of SS Chadwick (Collier sunk 2/7/1892) below cliffs at North end of Oisgill Bay. Broken into several large sections

Dive 2 Wall by Neist point. max depth approx 25m

Dive 3 -Reef off Lampay Isle in Loch Dunvegan -faces and a slope extending to about 50m

Dive 4 - Wreck of SS Doris (Collier sunk 10/7/1909) on Southern side of Neist Point. Well broken with the bow most of the way up a gully close to the lighthouse supply landing point and the stern in about 25m.

Between dives we moored up at the old supply point and took a walk ashore to get a closer look at the lighthouse (now privately owned) and investigate the astonishing collection of cairns and other rock creations on the rocky foreshore. These were evidently started some years ago as an art project but having attracted the attention of visitors, have since proliferated in all shapes and sizes!

Dive 5 - Sgeir a Chuain off Isay Isle Loch Dunvegan - a finger of reef leading onto sand at about 20m

Dive 6 - Lochbay Pinnacles - Only about 5 minutes across the loch from the dive centre, the pinnacles rise from a depth of about 20m to about 5m are easy to circumnavigate and have plentiful life

Iain Paul, Advanced Instructor, DO Ellon SAC
Iain@iainjpaul.freeserve.co.uk
Ellon Sub Aqua Club


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