UKDIVING
A farewell sunset from St Kilda
Caught short at Cape Wrath
We woke to flat calm conditions , steaming slowly into a sea loch with mountains rising either side into the clouds . This was Loch a Chairn Bhain . Our first dive would be here , a drift at about 19m . There was no sign of any current at the surface , but once we hit the water it was all too evident , sweeping us away from the boat as we descended . Pretty soon one and then another scallop leapt up from the sand in front of us , attempting to swim to safety from the oncoming predators .
Parts of the bottom were covered in hordes of brittlestars and brightly coloured sun stars . There was life in every square inch of the shingle beds , or clinging to outcrops of rock as we swept past it all . For the final part of the dive , we rose slowly up and into the kelp beds before reaching
the safety stop and surfacing under those beautiful mountains .
From the sea loch we steamed west and out into the Minch , where we headed north . For the second dive of the day , we were looking to see if the conditions would be right at Cape Wrath . When we arrived , all was calm – very different to what we ’ d experienced at the same location less than a week ago .
We plopped in like obedient penguins , following the shout from Matt the deckhand – “ Go , Go , Go !” We made our way swiftly
“ There was life in every square inch of the shingle beds ” down through the kelp forest layer , and once the kelp thinned out there seemed to be animal life everywhere . There were plenty of lobsters , both peeping out from crevices and wandering aimlessly around in the open . A couple of congers were seen , as well as a number of crayfish and cat sharks . The water column was teeming with life – mainly big shoals of juvenile fish but also a vast shoal of mackerel passing overhead . Close up , the walls were plastered with cup corals and plumose anemones .
One of our divers was so entranced with the dive that despite pressing matters , he made a conscious decision to remain immersed with the abundance of life for as long as possible . As a result , he suffered an involuntary immersion of his left leg within his drysuit , having lost the battle of the bladder !
Sunstar in Loch a ’ Chàirn Bhàin
Nudibranchs in Boreray Cave
PHOTO : SONNY WALKER
35