UKDIVING
PART 2
North Sea Odyssey
Steve Dover continues his story as he and a crew of merry BSAC divers round Cape Wrath , heading for the Outer Hebrides and their ultimate goal
Crossing The Minch was rough and unforgiving , as we were battered by the 4-5 metre swells and side-swiped by rogue waves that had the decks awash . One by one , the divers fell silent and retired to their bunks , until all that was left was the rhythmic clattering of galley utensils and the crashing of the Clasina ’ s hull as we punched through the big swells . Eventually we made shelter on the east side of Harris , eight hours after turning south west round Cape Wrath .
The next day , we made an early start from our calm anchorage north of Stornoway . The wind had dropped . We all agreed to sacrifice a day ’ s diving to strike out on the long steam through the straits between North Uist and Harris and across the open ocean for 12 hours . As dusk descended , we closed in on our ultimate goal – St Kilda . It ’ s an atmospheric place , and it loomed large in the fading light of the western sky as we approached . We reached the shelter of the anchorage as darkness fell . Levels of excitement were high in anticipation of the next few days of diving .
Archival image of the original islanders of St Kilda , who evacuated in 1930
Swell time
We had planned three dives per day , but the weather hemmed us in on the northern side of the archipelago . So first we made our way to the Isle of Soay and a dive site called Am Plaistair at the North-west point . It ’ s essentially a very large rock protruding from the surface to a jagged pointy peak about 25m high . Below water there is a funnel cave that runs right though the stack , with a starting depth of 26m at the widest part , about 8m across by about the same high . However , the roughly conical funnel rises to 7m at the other end and gets smaller as you pass into it – or given the swell that was running this day , rather involuntarily sucked into it . We were dropped off in pairs up-current of the entrance to make a rapid descent to the mouth of the beast .
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