LOCH LEVEN NARROWS
The first of these, and I must admit the smallest in vertical drop, was discovered one evening in August 1991. We had decided on a late dive and wanted a new site, so a quick check on the chart showed a possible drop-off just east of the narrows on the north shore of Loch Leven. As this is also close to the site of an old burnt out ferry in very shallow wafer, we thought it would be an ideal spot.
The first pair were away in the blink of an eye (I hope the omniscient Ed. is not going to edit out mild exaggerations - not, Ed.) and the marker buoy to mark the wreck with was struggling manfully against the half -inch wavelets. After a few minutes of thumb twiddling and generally cursing the absurdly long dive this pair seemed to be having, interest in the assembled company was stirred somewhat when the buoy appeared to have developed a marine version of St. Vitus’ dance. The knowledgeable, suppressing all signs of emotion, casually remarked ‘they must be tying the buoy to the wreck’, ( which we were to find out later was a mere 300m distant ). After 5 minutes or so the buoy started off one more in an easterly direct ion, and then turned round and came back to the shore. Nothing more informative than the occasional Neanderthal grunt could be elicited from the emerging divers, as is the way with those who have just found something good and can see dozens of eager louts waiting to leap in and massacre their newly found site. In fact the bobbing of the buoy had been caused by the line getting tangled in the overhang of the cliff as it was approached from below. As with all long sea lochs, mud is fairly prevalent in Loch Leven and what was becoming a fairly ordinary dive was transformed when out of the gloom, lit by the approaching torches, appeared a wall of rock with a great jutting prow sticking out over the silt. Every conceivable space was anchor point for a peacock worm, and their delicate, varying shades of colour rendered it a truly magical scene.
The drop is only from 9m to 20m and about 50m long, but it is a gem of a dive. To find the cliff, enter the water in the bay just to the east of the Loch Leven narrows, and swim east at 15m - you shouldn’t be able to miss it (famous last words).
EILEAN BALNAGOWAN
Eilean Balnagowan lies off the south eastern shore of Loch Linnhe and offers a variety of dives. On the few occasions we had visited the island we had stuck to the north west side facing the main body of the loch, and found pleasant little drops to 18-20m, often in very good visibility. We decided to take the club supertanker (6m Zodiac) round to the island for the day and look for something else . Facing north east on the south east side of the island is a little sandy bay and the chart shows that just off the eastern arm of the bay the contours run together. Worth a try? Definitely!
Two men including yours truly and a boy were despatched to scout the site and our expectations were fulfilled. At 10m the gently curved slopes of the rock ended abruptly and away it went. Covered in squirts, the occasional Alcyonium and brittle stars, the wall disappeared in a smooth fall into the gloom. The automatic divers’ response took over and we all went into plummet mode; at 30m the boy decided that he had gone far enough, and retrorockets were brought into play. With a last longing glance at the continuing wall below we started back up.
Another wall found but not bottomed. If anyone does get to the bottom of that particular wall, I’d be delighted to hear about it.
LOCH AILORT
Loch Ailort is an unlikely looking place to find a good dive - narrow, small, and almost land-locked - but we decided to give it a whirl one day when the sea was sufficiently rough to make men blanche and National Instructors tremble in fear. Unperturbed by the imminent onset of a hurricane, three intrepid souls set off for the south shore of the loch to a likely looking vertical slab on the Ardnish peninsula. The 1:50 000 chart of the area does not convey much information but we kept our fingers crossed and having landed and secured the Avon Redcreast and 2hp Seaqull outboard, we plunged gaily beneath the waves.
After a week of continuous rain the first 10m was roughly the colour and consistency of oxtail soup, but beneath this was revealed one of the more dramatic sights I have seen underwater - brittle stars so solidly packed on the rock that it was invisible. The bottom was a solid mass of tentacles extended upwards. Even on the vertical drop from 8m to 31m they were thick on the ground, although here they had disputed the territory with an army of snakelock-like anemones and the odd peacock worm.
Subsequent dives have revealed that the north side of the string of little islands just to the west of the salmon farm has a similar drop-off to that on the Ardnish peninsula opposite, and makes an equally exciting dive. Some salmon cages have broken adrift in the past and at least two are perched precariously on the cliffs off the islands. These make fascinating little dives in their own right, as a wide range of encrusting species have taken up residence on the netting.
Note that if you decide to dive here it is NOT normally possible to use Marine Harvest (the salmon farmers) facilities and you are strongly advised to keep well clear of the salmon cages!
LOCHALINE PIER
The deepest, most danqerous, and dramatic of the four sites covered has, in good literary tradition, been reserved for last. If you drive gently down to Lochaline and stop on the large Caledonian MacBrayne pier on the Sound of Mull, nothing really significant is immediately apparent. Glance at the chart and the 5m and 50m contours are shown as one, underneath your feet. In 1980 the less sane members of Fort William branch had developed a passion for jumping into the water from great heights, and Lochaline pier offered the prospect of a decent afternoon’s leaping in full kit, with a good dive thrown in as well.
We decided to visit the site on neap tides to ensure that the tidal swirl around the mouth of Lochaline were at a minimum. Prior to the first entry the instruction was giver that the divers should go down the piles of the pier and continue down whatever slope materialised. So off we went down the piles to find that they stopped a mere 8 feet underwater - the whole pier was cantilevered out over the Sound of Mull. Back we went to the cliff and down and down and down. Thirty meters was reached on this first attempt, and we prepared for another trip.
This second time a threesome reached 30m on the way to 40m when a vertical down rush of water caught all of us and, before any countermeasure could be taken, we were at 45m distinctly shaken and with one diver neatly wrapped in fishing line. Needless to say we treat the site with considerable respect, and always hang a decompression cylinder from the pier in case of emergencies.
The cliff itself is covered in a variety of life, and I have noted a number of different species of squat lobster, sea mouse, and angler fish amongst others, but there are none of the massed Alcyonium or Metridium which are a highlight of other parts of the Sound of Mull.
It must be noted that the meeting of the tide goinq up and down the Sound of Mull and in and out of Loch Aline causes unpredictable and very strong swirls of water in all directions - both vertical and horizontal. If you work the depth of the dive correctly it is possible to complete the whole dive without finning, as the water runs in different directions at different depths. As a final note on this site it should be mentioned that at 71m the bottom begins to slope steeply and is no longer vertical and there are large amounts of monofilament fishing line at the bottom of the cliff.
SUMMARY
This is merely a taste of the submarine cliffs that can be found in the most unlikely places.
My thanks to all the members of the Fort William branch, without whose assistance my sanity would not be so severely impaired.
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