Oban, The Hardboat and St Kilda

A Tale of Divers Who Do

by Alan Fitch

In the Beginning
Observing the sun descend into the Western Isles from the harbour at Oban provided an appropriate start to a week's diving. It proved to be a fair portent of things to come.

The following day – Saturday 14th August – we began to assemble. It was rather like a reunion since most of the divers were at Scapa Flow last year: Gavin, Lee, Paul, Ian P, Ian G, Daryl and I. However, Jon had metamorphosed into Jamie (is this an improvement?), Linda had become John and, alas, Graham has faded away like the proverbial old soldier. In terms of kit, 7 of us had twin sets and 2 used rebreathers. Is this a sign of things to come? We will see. The world changes and I guess we need to move with the times.

Elizabeth G
Our boat was the Elizabeth G, a 75 ft ex Norwegian ice class rescue ship. It provides comfortable accommodation for ten divers in four cabins and also for the 3 crew. Rob was the skipper, crew member Jamie was his son and Kerstie from Tobermoray did the cooking. Kerstie deserves a special mention. She provided magnificent meals – breakfast, lunch, afternoon cake and a four course dinner with a minimum of fuss and a maximum of delight.

In the early evening the Elizabeth G headed west through the islands and into the setting sun. As we sat on the sun deck (well, a bit of liar’s licence is allowable surely) some fondly reminisced about some meeting or other and I ended up being elected scribe for the trip. I must remember to look up the definition of democracy. Kirstie’s first dinner suggested that whatever happened, we would not go hungry during the week. She served up the best fish pie in the universe and remember I never ever exaggerate.

Sunday
A morning sighting of dolphins was an appropriate prelude to the first dive - The Doris, which lies in 6-30 metres of water off Skye. The Doris was a Norwegian steamer which sank in 1909 when it hit a reef in fog. The wreck is well broken up – so I hear. Most of us missed it, but the consolation scenic dive was agreeable.

Elizabeth G cruised through the afternoon towards St Kilda in surprisingly smooth conditions

St Kilda
St Kilda is approximately 100 miles west of mainland Scotland. (Who was St Kilda?) It comprises four islands, Hirta, Dun, Soay and Boreray and some sea stacks. The islands and stacks are thought to be the remains of an extinct volcano. St Kilda defines remoteness and why anyone would want to live there is beyond understanding. The first signs of habitation on Hirta, the largest island, date from around 600 AD, when travellers from the mainland settled. (They should have travelled with Thomas Cook and gone to the Maldives instead). The islanders lived a hard and unenviable life eating sea birds, until they finally requested evacuation to the mainland in the 1930's (After more than 1300 years, they leave just in time to go and fight Hitler). Did you know that in 1876 the islanders ate 89,600 puffins!

Anyway, St Kilda was bequeathed to the National Trust in 1957. Shortly afterwards the RAF began work on a radar tracking station on Hirta. The RAF moved out in 1998 and a small civilian group including National Trust volunteers continue conservation work on the islands. Apparently, they do things with wild sheep – and you would probably be wild if strangers came into where you lived, put you in a pen and painted your derriere green. On the other hand, if you think you might like it, I will put you in touch with my old friend Dr Li Ar who for an appropriate consideration could prescribe a suitable therapy or if you prefer, introduce you to some like minded sheep.

Oh yes, they also run a pub – the volunteers not the sheep. It’s the Puff Inn (there must be a pun somewhere waiting to be outed) which must be the remotest hostelry in Britain. It makes Knoydart seem positively cosmopolitan. St Kilda is Europe's most important seabird colony and one of the major seabird breeding stations in the North Atlantic. Oh yes, it also provides a great place to dive because of its clear water, submerged caves, tunnels and arches.

Sunday Continued
Our second dive was the Sawcut at Dun. The Sawcut is a narrow cut 1.3 metres wide and 25 metres deep which penetrates 60 metres into Dun. The walls are sheer and coated with anemones, soft coral and sponges. Towards the end of the dive the current took one up to the surface (I completed my safety stop by hanging on to the kelp) and through the arch to the other side of the island – exactly what the skipper asked us to avoid. Fortunately, the skipper saw us through the arch and chugged around to collect us – probably happens all the time. Jamie, doing what he was told, surfaced in the right place to find no boat. He guessed what had happened and waited patiently in the gathering dusk to be picked up.

After dinner, the RIB took us ashore to the Puff Inn.

Monday
Dive 3 was the submarine arch – Sgarbhstac – off Boreray. We dropped down the wall to 30 metres to find the apex of the arch. The arch flares out to meet the sea bed at 50 metres. The walls are coated in anemones and sponges. The view is spectacular, with virtually no current and no hazards. One is able to float in suspended animation and see through the arch in clear water. One can choose one's depth to linger and watch one's fellow divers looking around in amazement. It’s deep but one would be more fazed at half the depth in the channel. As many would testify, 25 metres in a plankton bloom can be disconcerting. For me, Sgarbhstac is the most exhilarating dive I have undertaken – a 'must do' experience.

After lunch we went ashore at Hirta. The warden gave us a brief introduction to the islands, an even briefer idea about what was being done to the sheep and opened the souvenir shop. Some of us decided to go for a walk to climb one of the nearby peaks to enjoy the views. Daryl and I made it, others fell by the wayside. Jamie and Gavin did not attempt the walk. They flopped in the sunshine on the large round boulders around the beach and listened to the waves. It’s a tough life, but someone has to do it.

Dive 4 was another different experience – a cave dive at Glen Bay off Hirta. Ian P and I watched a seal play before finding the remains of a steamer which marked the entrance to his cave (This is a cute way of saying that we lost our bearings at first and found the seal by accident!). The cave entrance is at 18 metres. The cave is dark, bleak and forbidding, as it penetrates around 90 metres into Hirta before bearing right into the unknown. Fortunately, the depth becomes shallow so narcosis is not likely to be an issue. It could be quite unnerving if one allowed one's imagination to run wild or one's torch failed.

Kerstie's chocolate cake rounded off a great day's diving and after dinner we went ashore. I decided to walk up to the peak again to watch the sun drop into the Atlantic and to work off some calories from dinner. However, the first signs of a change of luck in the weather arrived. The skies went gray and then black, the heavens opened and I got drenched. Suddenly, there was no sunset to observe. I returned to the Puff Inn to commence the process of drying out.

Tuesday
The skipper reported that the pressure was dropping and gales were forecast. As Jamie will testify, St Kilda is no place to be on a boat in high winds. Previously he had been trapped for 2 or 3 days on a boat sheltering behind a cliff. So, after a scenic fifth dive Elizabeth G headed east to the shelter of the Hebrides. During the 5 hour cruise we did not see the reported pod of killer whales but a dolphin, a seal and a basking shark were an interesting distraction.

Dive 6 was an unknown wreck off Harris in around 22 metres of water. In the bow, Gavin found a locker containing several ship’s lanterns. With Jamie's assistance he managed to extricate two and send them to the surface. Unfortunately only one was retrieved and brought on board. The other became dislodged and returned to Davey Jones' locker. So girls, if Gavin asks you round to look at his lantern, you know what to expect. But, don’t get too alarmed unless you see a tin of green paint in the bedroom.

Wednesday
The weather was deteriorating and the skipper did well to find us some sheltered dive sites. Dive 7 was the Chadwick off Skye which lies in around 22 metres. The Chadwick has sufficient of it remaining to look like it was once a ship and it is quite prolific in marine life. A good dive. The weather is awful and we have a long passage through rough sea.

Dive 8 was a reef off Saoy, Skye. Lots of life, shame about the visibility.

Thursday
Dive 9 was on a reef. It was good fun for those who watched an octopus. Another 4 to 5 hours voyage in strong winds but fortunately they were following us.

Dive 10 was a wall dive in poor visibility but prolific in scallops which provided Friday's lunch. The evening was spent in Tobermoray, a delightful village on Mull.

Friday
Our last day already!
Dive 11 was the Hispania which lies at 24-32 metres in the Sound of Mull. The Hispania, a Swedish ship, struck rocks and sank in 1954. The wreck is intact and densely covered in life. It normally is a well behaved dive but in the prevailing conditions the visibility was poor and the current strong. I decided against swimming past the front bit to look at the ship in perspective. The skipper had asked us to ascend via the shot line and I was quite pleased to find it – I normally don't. Ian P and I ascended and were quite surprised to find that it no longer reached the surface. In a pretty strong current we sent up SMB's and made our way to the surface. It all made for quite an exciting dive.

Dive 12 was the Breda in 30 metres and near Oban. The Breda was a Dutch cargo ship sunk by German bombers in 1940. The Breda is a big wreck with lots to see – in better visibility than we enjoyed. Lots of the cargo, including cement bags and truck parts remain and there is a tangle of girders, plates and machinery to explore. It is possible to access the inside, but the Breda has claimed several lives as divers became lost in the silt and falling debris.

Kerstie's final lunch prepared us for the journey home.

Finale
Oban/St Kilda was another great diving expedition, with many highlights. Each will have their own particular memories but for me, the Sgarbhstac was simply sensational. As in Scapa, the group gelled well, and everyone did what they needed to do when it was needed to be done in a self disciplined fashion. Some, however, did take the opportunity to express their individuality from time to time. Lee did some training and Gavin wrote articles for the club journal – anyone for tri-mix? The skipper found us 12 good dives in some difficult weather conditions and Kerstie's work in the kitchen was superb. Our thanks to Daryl who organised the trip and marshalled it with the lightest of touches.

Billericay SAC
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