Anemone wall at Boreray |
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Thriving soft corals |
Black brittlestars in Loch a ’ Chàirn Bhàin |
PHOTO : SONNY WALKER |
big birds soaring , wheeling and diving all around . Stac Lee was our first site – a great tooth of rock rising sheer on all sides to 172m above the water . The scenery below the surface was as dramatic as that above , with the walls of the great stac dropping deep into the gloom of the depths . Here again , despite great visibility , there was scant life in the water column . The walls had patches of colour , but again there were swathes of the strange brown algae , though the lack of life by no means depreciated the atmospheric qualities of the dive .
The second dive was another amazing cave that actually turned out to be two caves close together . The first was occupied by three highly territorial grey seals , who made it quite clear we were encroaching on their turf . So we tentatively backed off and explored the second – thankfully larger – cave . This turned out to be quite long – about 30m – and while it too had a resident seal , this one was content to play around the divers as we went in and out again .
The final dive was to be at Sgarbhstac , a massive arched swim-through and possibly the most atmospheric dive of the whole trip . You drop down to 24m , hugging the wall on your right , then enter at the top of a great archway into a subterranean cathedral with a great curved roof . The bottom of this edifice is 40m down . No Michelangelo was required to decorate this ceiling – nature did that alone with great patchworks of interlaced sponges , interspersed with jewel anemones and cup corals .
It darkened as we entered , but our lamps lit the cavernous swim-through as we ventured further . A look back to the entrance showed the arch in stark reveal , with beams of sunlight driving through the green water . Our exhaled bubbles rippled across the ceiling , forming silver streams through the bright natural colours .
Moving slowly through this natural megalith , the light at the other end etched the arched exit into sunlit open water . Eventually – but not without a tinge of regret – we emerged to rise up to the safety stop and the end of a most awesome underwater experience . That ’ ll take some beating !
Above and below the surface across the two days we spent at St Kilda , I was utterly consumed by the wildest and most dramatic scenery to be seen anywhere in the UK . I dwelt on this as I gazed off the stern at the golden sunset and the diminishing silhouette of the remote archipelago as we headed east towards the Outer Hebrides . A pod of dolphins accompanied us on the bow wave , a final serenade from St Kilda .
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