SHETLANDSPECIAL
Tombolo double beach at St Ninian ’ s Isle
Prop shaft of the Gwladmena
Day 5 – Victorian Steam
Motoring south we stopped to dive the Gwladmina . A large Victorian steam ship which was carrying coal when it collided with another vessel in 1918 . It now stands upright in 39m . We managed a swim around the entire site . While the prop has been salvaged , the shaft is still visible , as is the hardwood Lignam vitae bearing that supports it .
The Giant ’ s Legs at Bard Head is a stunning geological formation created by erosion . The boat drops you in close to the cliff , and after a short swim you descend onto a series of broken steps which mirror the surface . While there were caves at the site , we settled onto one of the steps , and were so taken by the nudibranchs , and several species of shrimp that the entire dive was done in the same spot .
Day 6 – Full Circle
Our last day found us diving the Pionersk , another factory fishing ship that went down not long after Lunakhods-1 in the 1990s . Shallower than previous sites at 20m , the visibility was a challenging 3-4m , not something we ’ d experienced previously on this trip . Photography was limited to close-up subjects ; a dark and gloomy dive .
There was unanimous agreement to dive the Fraoch Ban again for our final dive . An excellent way to top off a fantastic week on the Clasina .
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