Oban, 2002

As has become traditional, both the club RIB's made the journey to the west coast of Scotland, with twelve divers from the club sharing the well-appointed caravans at the Tralee Bay caravan site. The trip was planned and organised by Jan and Phil Gough, who also took all the photo's which appear in this report.

This caravan site has been used by the club for many years and has some major advantages when considering diving around the Oban / Sound of Mull area. One of these is the on-site slipway which is free for use by residents and is an ideal location for travelling to the Sound of Mull. Being situated in Benderloch Bay, the Breda is also only five minutes away and is always a good fallback option if the weather turns nasty!

The other big plus point of the Tralee site is the on-site air, courtesy of Alchemy divers, who occupy a corner of the site. Downsides? - well only the lack of a nearby pub really, but you can't have everything!

On this trip, Phil Gough tired out a photographic technique new to him - available light (no strobe) using high speed monochrome film. Click here to see the results.

Day 1 - Friday 29th April - Rondo and Thesis

Friday dawned bright and sunny and the boats were prepared and launched at around 9:00am so that we could make it up the Sound of Mull to the Rondo in plenty of time to hit slack water.

Having had our butt's kicked on previous occasions(!), we were very pleasantly surprised to find the sea around Lismore Point to be completely flat (see picture to the left). This area is renowned for quite serious sea conditions as the tidal flows from the Atlantic, the Sound of Mull and the Lyn of Morvern combine over a shallow bottom to produce some daunting swell and standing waves. However, on this occasion we had a great trip up the Sound and were over the Rondo in a little over an hour.

As we arrived at the Rondo we met the other contingent from our club, who were aboard the 'Jane R'. After having taken some pictures of the Jane R for the skipper, Gordon (he was proud of his new woodwork and wanted some pictures for his website while he still had some paint on the topsides!), my buddy (Pam) and I kitted up and jumped in when the first lot were back on board. We descended down the buoyed shot to the rudder (this made a nice change, as last year it wasn't buoyed and we managed to miss the wreck - didn't we get the mick taken!).

After a quick look around the rudder, we made our way into the inside of the hull (having been extensively salvaged, she is really little more than a big 'bathtub' lying on the steep side of Dearg Sgeir, an islet near Eileanan Glasa, but she's a really atmospheric wreck). With this being the first dive of the trip, Pam and I limited our depth to 30m, although as ever the Rondo seems to beckon you down (of course no one went to the bottom - did they Jim?). Given the number of divers who had already been on the wreck the vis wasn't bad at around 4 metres. The hull is heavily encrusted with dead mens fingers, soft corals, sponges and anemones which we picked out in our torch beam as we made our way back up to 15m. At this point, the hull leaves the side of the islet to make a gap through which we swam. During our ascent, we took a minute to look at the huge bronze propshaft bush under the rudder (polished by countless diver's hands!), and we made our way back up the shot to the surface.

After lunch and an air fill at Lochaline where we were amused by Stuart trying to dry the inside of his new dry gloves (are they supposed to do that Stu?), we set off for the Thesis. As 'second wave' divers again, the vis wasn't all it could be (around 2-3m), but I've seen it far worse and we never tire of mooching in and around the skeletal bow section of this brilliant wreck which again is heavily encrusted with life.

The drive back to Tralee was as flat as the trip out and we made great time, beating the usual traffic jam of boats waiting to be recovered. Then it was cylinder fills (with a vote of thanks to Eddie who filled his van with cylinders every day and brought them back full - what a star) and a shower before heading to the pub for a meal and continued questions as to the merits of so-called 'dry' gloves!

Click here for more pictures of the Thesis

Day 2- Saturday 30th April - The Port Napier

On Phil's suggestion we decided to have a bit of a change this year and make the drive to Kyle for a couple of dives on the Port Napier. We all managed to get into the two tow cars (thanks to Phil and Stuart for towing the boats to and from home and all weekend) and Eddie's van.

A 2.5 hour drive through some great scenery, brought us to Balmacara where we prepared the boats and assembled our kit. After launching the boats (which was a bit tricky due to it being low water combined with the usual Easter springs and the slipway being a good 5 yards short - good job Phil has a Discovery), we made the short drive across the bay to the Port Napier.

As can be seen in the picture above, the wreck lies on her starboard side and shows well above the surface (even at high water). The side plates and various other sections of the wreck are missing, having been partly salvaged and destroyed when this mine layer caught fire and exploded.

Again we dived in two waves, with a boat at each end of the wreck. This wreck was new to many of us (certainly to me and Pam) and is quite large, so Pam and I decided to have a good look at each 'end' rather than trying to see the whole thing. On the first dive we went in on the bow and had a great dive - the vis was pretty good and one of the first things we saw were the two bow guns, one being barely 2 metres below the surface with the other about 4 metres further down. It is a strange experience to see the huge bow of this ship stretching sideways away from you towards the shore - I always expect ships to be upright! Another highlight of this dive was when we found a mid-ships section containing loads of vertical columns, heavily encrusted with life - it was only at about 7m depth and was for all the world like swimming through a forest, with light filtering from above through the missing side plating of the hull. Conserving air for a second dive (the only disadvantage of this location being the lack of an air station), we surfaced after about half an hour and drove the boats to the nearby beach for lunch. There is a huge piece of the ships superstructure sitting on this beach where it landed after she exploded.

For the second dive, both boats went to the opposite ends of the wreck and Pam and I had a good look around the stern where you can see the huge doors through which the mines were delivered when she was working.

After the short drive back to the slipway, we recovered the boats (easier this time as it was high water!) and prepared them and our kit for the drive home. Chips in Fort William and a couple of beers in the caravan completed a great day.

Click here for more pictures of the Port Napier

 

Day 3 - Sunday 31st - Thesis and Breda

Following the long day on Saturday, we decided to have a lie in on Sunday (with Easter eggs of course!). Due to this and the tide times we chose to dive the Thesis and Breda, both of which can be dived at any state of tide.

Another smooth drive up the Sound of Mull brought us back to the Thesis, where Pam and I had a good look around the mid-ships section, swimming around the boilers and the remains of the engine.

Lunch and air at Lochaline again saw Stuart trying to persuade us that his dry gloves really were dry - I remain unconvinced, but the big blue hands when he surfaces makes it easy to spot who he is ;-)

Due to Pam having got a soaking in her (not very)dry suit, I dived in a three on the Breda in the afternoon. Despite its reputation as 'boring' I always enjoy diving the Breda and this time was no different. We found ourselves alone on the wreck and had a good look around the bow to stern section ascending and descending on a shotline tied to the halftrack which sits upside down on the deck just behind the bow 'step'.

Day 3 - Monday 1st - Shuna and Breda

Our last day saw the weather a little more windy than earlier, but we still thought it worth trying to get up the Sound of Mull again and on reaching Lismore, despite us all being convinced that 'this time we really will get a kicking' we once again found it to be almost flat(!)

Due to Phil's main reg having packed in the day before (while on the Breda - eek!), his 'buddy' Jan made up a three with Pam and I, and we went in first this time. We all said later that we weren't expecting much of the Shuna due to its very silty nature and the ease with which it kicks-up, however we had a great dive - I've never seen so much of the wreck and I surfaced with a chunk of coal from one of the holds (as did many of us!). One revelation on this dive was the power of Jan's new Kowalski torch - made our's seem pathetic. This later proved an expensive revelation, as Pam decided that she 'had' to have one for her birthday!

For the last dive of the trip, many of us (me included) finally succumbed to 'dive fatigue' and decided to sit the last one out. However five 'proper divers' went out and did the Breda one last time. Once again, they had the wreck to themselves (well apart from a couple of Inspiration divers on the other end) and all had a great last dive.

Ah well, can't wait till next time.

Matt Wetherill, 18-04-02