SCOTLAND'S GREATEST DIVE SITES
NO. 1: Bo Fascadale by Bill Brysland
[Bill is a well-known First Class Diver, Advanced Instructor and professional cynic from Loch Lomond BSAC.)
How would you like to dive on an undived pinnacle of rock which goes from the surface sheer to 60m? That was the question Nick Tapp (a well-known madman from the deep west) asked me over the phone one night in May. It took two seconds to say yes, and thus set in motion arrangements for one of the most spectacular dives of my life.
Nick, at that time, was a member of Fort William Branch. They had one small problem -no boat! Having met on an Advanced Instructor Course, Nick knew I had a boat and that it was unlikely I could resist his offer.
Bo Fascadale lies two miles north of the Ardnamurchan peninsula, towards Eigg, Rum and Muck. Looking at a chart there are two or three other pinnacles of rock in the same area with depths of 80mt around them. It looked an irresistable site, so arrangements were made to met for a weekend's diving in June.
Since none of us had ever been near area before, Nick volunteered to travel to Ardnamurchan from Fort William one day to check for the best launch site, see if the the navigation buoy on the chart existed, and if any signs of rocks could be seen at low water. He reported back soon after that no rocks could be seen, the buoy did exist, and there was a track right down to the water's edge. When asked if a car and trailer could go down and back up it, he assured us they could.
Everything was set, five divers made up the party - Nick and Martin Baxter from Fort William Branch, Jon Morgan, Chris Pearman and myself from Loch Lomond Branch. We travelled up the night before, and stayed in chalet accommodation at Strontian ( I know ... it may be soft. . . ..but we are getting on a bit. Strontian was picked as a central point so that we could go up to the Sound of Mull on the Sunday to dive the 'Hispania'. We left early on the Saturday morning and met Nick and Martin at Kilmory. Half-a-mile and we were at the start of Nick's 'track' to the beach. It started about 7 feet wide and quickly narrowed to about 5 feet. Deeply rutted from the only vehicle ever to use it -a tractor -our Cortina Estate and trailer 'had a little difficulty! In fact, we went about 400m, then pushed, pulled and lifted the trailer the other 800m. At this point our 'scout' admitted that he had walked down the road 'a bit'. MOTTO - never rely on local knowledge!
With the boat in the water it was no time before we were heading out to the site. We had decided that starting about 400m inshore from the buoy we would do pendulum weeps using our Seafarer echo sounder; hopefully we should pass over Bo Fascadale fairly quickly ( there being no obvious transits on the chart). I will not go into any great detail about the ensuing search; suffice to say that those who have tried this technique will sympathise with us! After about one hour we made a contact to loud cheers from a crew rapidly becoming mutinous. Okay lads, we just reverse our compass course and drop a shot line. (It was ready before, but after an hour the crew member responsible had fallen asleep. Half-an-hour after 'reversing our course' we made contact again. This time the shot was instantly dispatched to the seabed and spirits rose in expectation of a super dive.
Since it was really Nick's idea, we had previously decided that he should lead the first-ever dive on Bo Fascadale. Nick, Martin and Chris quickly kitted up, carried out pre-dive checks, and over they went. It was by now a lovely calm, sunny day. Jon and I in the boat slowly followed the surface marker buoy as it made its way in-shore, then back out towards the shot line. We could feel the tension rising. Had they had a good dive? Was the site as it looked on paper? We wished they'd hurry up and surface and let us get into the water. Up popped the heads, one, two, three; OKs all round and we moved in to pick them up. Strangely silent they climbed into the boat. Well, how was it? Much life? Good vis? Slowly, they began to open up. Yes, the rock started just below the surface, but it was really a boulder slope at about a 45 degree angle. It started off covered in kelp, with some sponges, then when the kelp petered out, just barren rocks. There were some nice shoals of fish and one really big dog fish; but after going down to 20m the slope just seemed to keep going, so they turned and came back. Nick had now decided it was actually quite a good dive, but, since he is the sort who would say he had a good dive in a shower, we ignored him. Chris wasn't too fussed; pretty boring, a bit like the Summer Isles (really - Ed.], nice rocks, loads of vis - 15m+ but not much else.
Oh well, Jon and I were going to dive - we had come all this way after all - so we kitted up, checked out and over the side we went . We had decided to start off on the same route as the others , but go a bit deeper to see if there was any drop off . After all , it had to get to 80m somehow. The visibility was good, and shoals of fish swam around us . Even the dogfish the others had seen made an appearance . Down to 25m we went on clean rocks, a n d it just seemed to stretch out in front of us forever . Seeing no point in going on , we headed up the slope to try the other side; at least we could then say we had seen all of Bo Fascadale . It got shallower and shallower. Up through the kelp we w e n t , until in about 1m of water we decided to stand up . I 'm not sure the guys in the boat were quite prepared for the sight of two divers standing nearly out of the water two miles offshore and giving them O.K signals , but at least they did return them .
Under we went again, this time swimming to the east side of the rock . About 2m ahead of Jon , I pushed my way through the kelp . It was getting slightly deeper , maybe 5m, then I stopped. Jon came up beside me and we both stared down . Suddenly, below us, there was a sheer drop simply covered in life - a wall covered in deadman's fingers, plumose and dahlia anemones packed tightly on every ledge. We slid slowly over the top and allowed ourselves to drop down and down. The wall was still covered in life and we began to wonder if it would ever end. At 32m I signalled to Jon to stop . Shining our torches downwards, the wall carried on and was still covered in life - no barren rocks here . We came up to about 20m and swam northward. On ledges on the face we saw several lobsters. On looking up we could see the sun shining through shoals of fish and, all the tine, a profusion of life covering every inch of the wall.
All too soon thoughts of decompression overtook the beauty of this particular rapture of the deep. We headed up to 10m, only to bump into a 50cm long octopus pushing itself off the wall; it swam away quickly into the distance amid a cloud of ink once it realised we were there. The stop at 10m was a pleasure, then up to 5m and into the kelp, boring by comparison, but our heads were filled with dream.
When we broke surface the boat came over and we were picked up. How do you explain to your friends that they have just missed possibly the dive of their lives. In fact, neither Jon or I burst out with the news immediately. I think we were still a bit awed. After a couple of questions, which we parried, we had all our gear off and stored away. I was trying hard to think of the best way to break it to the others. I think it came out something like - 'Jesus! you should have seen the dive you lot missed.' I've always been known for my tact and diplomacy. Both of us blurted out all the details of the dive, whilst the others went green with envy - it was too calm a day for it to be seasickness.
Once back on shore a vow was taken to return some day and cover the wall in more detail, That vow has been kept and it is still a fantastic dive.
For anyone wishing to dive Bo Fascadale, or any of the other undived pinnacles in the area, the following information should be of some use. The Ardnamurchan peninsula lies west of Fort William. Do not launch boats from Port Ban at Kilmory - we still haven't recovered from the track. Faskadale, west of Kilmory , is slightly better, but the hill down to the beach needs real men or a four-wheel-drive vehicle, and the beach consists of one-foot-diameter rocks. An, as yet untried, launch point lies through the caravan site at Ockle, east of Kilmory. Boats requiring a slip to launch can be put in at Ardtoe, but watch the tide, as the slip stops rather suddenly at low water.
Bo Fascadale can be found by running straight out from Port Ban towards the buoy mentioned earlier - simply look about 200m westwards for standing waves if it is high tide, or for kelp on the surface of it is low tide. I am afraid there still aren't any good transits, but the above method has found the rock on more than one occasion. The rock itself is not a pinnacle in the sense that it is not an underwater stac. It is more a ridge of rock stretching for at least 300m, sheer on the east side from the surface to 35m, and a gentle slope on the west side to 80m. One word of warning. If there is any size of sea running it will make it easy to find the rock, but beware the standing waves. They seem to go from a 1m swell to a 3m wall right underneath your boat. This tends to lead to slightly adventurous boat handling if you are not prepared for it. Finally, it lay be a hard place to get out to and dive on, but it really is well worth it once you are swimming along that wall and you stare in awe at its magnificent splendour.
EDITOR'S NOTE: Last summer Bo Fascadale was dived twice by members of the BSAC Expedition Scheme, including the ubiquitous Tapp. The above comments are endorsed, especially those regarding the problems caused by the swell on decompression stops and while boat handling. An echo sounder trace clearly shows the cross sectional structure of the ridge.
Return to Scottish Diving Homepage
©1997 SCOTFED - The Scottish Federation of the B.S.A.C
Page Modified 30/6/97