This year our annual Easter Trip went to the Isle of Gigha off the Mull of Kintyre. This had been on my to dive list for a few years. Ever since seeing the island on the chart and thinking ‘those contours look very diveable!’
It is outside of most divers’ periphery and finding information was tricky. There are also next to no diving resources on the island. So we would have to provide our own compressor and boats.
We travelled up to Scotland on Thursday 28th March. Staying at Don’s and a Travelodge in Glasgow, ready to catch a ferry the next morning.
We had an early start for what was still a reasonable journey to the ferry at Tayinloan. The boat was set up as we would be launching it here and mooring on the island, the cars with kit on the CalMac ferry. It’s a short motor across the sound easily beating the ferry.
It took us a long time to sort out kit especially given one car had not been able to fit on the ferry so had to wait for the next sailing.
Our first dive was an attempt to find the wreck of the Aska. This was a cruise liner requisitioned to government service in the Second World War. She was transiting the North Channel when she was bombed, damaging the ship, and starting a fire. The ship had to be abandoned. She was swept into Cara Island just south of Gigha. Salvers and sitting on exposed shallows meant there is little left although a guide promising the engine block is visible gave us some hope of finding something. However, the guide’s promises appeared to be false, and we did not see much wreckage. The site was a good check out dive. Shallow, lots of kelp (probably hiding the wreck) and we saw some life.
Second dive was on Cath Sgeir a pinnacle on the Southwest of Gigha, this was a brilliant dive with plenty of life all over steep rock. Some very pretty dead mans fingers and sponges made it a very vibrant dive.
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Our accommodation was split over two cottages. Gigha’s lack of lodging for a large group of divers is what had put me off doing this trip sooner. But some reasonably priced Airbnb’s have appeared so made it workable. One of our cottages however had electrical issues and with no electrician on the island we were upgraded to a farmhouse which had the inconvenience of not being finished. Some cheerful workers were still painting and clearing the yard throughout the trip. But this farmhouse was a fantastic base. Large enough for all of us to gather in the evening and remote enough to run the compressor in the garden.
This was James’ day dive planning for his AD. The first site he had given us was a return to Cath Sgeir but this time attempting to find the wreck of the Staffa II. A MacBrayne steamer which founded on Cath Sgeir in 1886. The wreck was a little off the pinnacle, some of us found bits of wreckage but many decided to simply enjoy the pinnacle as a scenic dive.
Dive two, the Moncousu. Sunk as a target in 1944 this wreck lies in shallow waters and has been swept so not much of the wreck is intact. But this has formed a fantastic habitat over a large piece of the seabed with lots of life finding a home amongst the twisted metal.
However, with the wind turning the second wave were unable to get out which was a little annoying. Fortunately, this meant an early start to dinner and the excellent pub quiz!*
*Views differ on the excellence of the pub quiz.
This was our last day of diving, first up was Eilean Garbh Cliffs on the northwest corner of the island. This was my favourite dive of the weekend. Lots of life all spread out with an immense variety so always something new to see. Also as a bonus, when James and Ross surfaced, they had some porpoises playing around them!
Our second dive was a return to the Moncousu to make sure all had the chance to dive it, and to recover our buoy.
In the evening, we headed to the restaurant for a meal together, the food was outstanding, all locally caught seafood. Ben was also treated to a lesson on how to properly eat Langoustines after some locals took pity on him.
The long drive back, this started badly as Will overslept (shocking) and almost missed the ferry. Fortunately, he just made it, and the boat was motored over and recovered.
Overall, a particularly good weekend, we will return to Gigha in the future, it’s a wonderful island off the main tourist trail and a great place to spend some time, dive some rarely dived sites and enjoy the company of good friends.
There are more details about the wrecks mentioned here at the brilliant Scottish Shipwrecks website and in Peter Moir & Ian Crawford’s excellent book Argyll Shipwreck
Thanks to all the participants who I have stolen photos from and for a great weekend. Amanda, Anna, Ben, Don, Dutchy, James, Katie, Ross, Will.
Written by Peter Dix
