Through Thursday afternoon, we began heading north to Tralee Bay holiday park for the club’s annual Easter trip. Most people’s journeys passed quickly as they caught up with each other and snapped pictures of the landmarks on the drive up.
14 divers woke to a beautiful sunny morning with flat seas. Launching our 2 RIB’s (Min and Max) from the caravan park slip, we headed around the coast to a small wall off Eilean Dubh. While there wasn’t a huge amount of life on the muddy bottom the gentle current provided a relaxing checkout dive for everyone.
In the afternoon we headed to the Breda, a 120m long Dutch wreck sunk by Heinkel bombers in 1940. The wreck is mostly intact, allowing for lots of interesting swim throughs. A large array of dead man’s fingers and other soft corals coat the wreck creating a stunning dive. The Breda was carrying a wide range of cargo, preparing to sail in a convoy bound for India. This ranges from bottles and boots to tires and even the rear axle of a jeep. At the stern of the wreck divers can find the intact rudder. Swimming down to it, along the life encrusted hull is a beautiful sight.
With the boats recovered the filling team began the long task of filling for the next day.
As the cooking team began preparing the spaghetti bolognese, they noticed that not only had Peter forgotten to buy a single vegetable, but had forgotten to get any garlic bread! A quick trip to Oban Tesco resolved this crisis (in Peter’s defence he did buy lots of cake).
Our second day’s diving was planned by club president Jem, as part of her dive leader. The boat crews were up bright and early to drive the boats from our base at Ardmucknish bay up to Loch Creran, where we planned to dive the Creran narrows.
Once the boats arrived the crews were less amused to find everyone else only just kitting up leading to an amusing half hour of the boats being held against the current, while Jem hurried everyone along. Once everyone was ready, the boats dropped divers up the loch past the bridge. Quickly descending with SMB’s deployed, the divers were treated to an exhilarating drift dive through the narrow channel and under the bridge. The shallow bottom contained numerous crabs, sea snails, starfish and brittle stars. It was such a good dive most divers were ferried up current for another go.
During the dive Jem’s SMB had gotten caught around the bridge pier. Despite the strong current around the bridge pier, Will managed to recover it (with no help from his buddy!). After the first dive most of the group headed back to the slipway at the campsite to prepare for the second dive. The boat crews began the journey back, while the scenery was still spectacular, the waves had started picking up leading to several sore backs the next morning.
A wall on the NW of Ardmucknish bay was the site of our second dive. The quality of dive varied on this site, with most divers having a fairly short dive on a muddy bottom. This did not stop James and Eleanor from having a 45 minute dive, coming up full of enthusiasm for all the little squat lobsters they had found (to the rest of the boat’s bemusement). A few pairs managed a drift dive, sending the boat round the headland to pick them up.
After a hearty meal of bangers and mash (complete with peas!) Everyone settled down for the traditional Peter quiz. Despite most of the questions being repeated from previous quizzes, many of the questions still left people scratching their heads (can anyone name the tallest lighthouse in the UK after a few drinks..?)
The next morning the wind had picked up and the sky had gone iron grey. We planned to dive the Breda. Once the boats were in the water, it was much harder to load them than it had been previously, requiring 4 people to hold each boat in place. Once everyone was onboard we headed out to the bay. The more heavily laden Min struggled to get onto the plane, and began to take on water. At this point a hasty retreat was made back to the slipway. While we considered beaching the boats on the beach, through some excellent teamwork the boats were successfully recovered.
After recovering from a tiring morning, everyone decided to head into Oban. The more mature members of the group visited the distillery, while the “fun” contingent headed for hot chocolates and to Weatherspoon’s for a drink (or two).
After a delicious curry at spice world we headed back to the caravans for a further drink. During the evening such weighty topics as the correct toppings for crumpets and everyone’s favourite bridge were discussed.. After listening to the shipping forecast those still awake headed for bed.
The next morning the wind had calmed enough for a final dive on the Breda. Most divers were notably slower kitting up after the previous night’s festivities. While some succumbed to apathy, 10 divers still headed out for a dive. While providing cover on the surface, we were amazed to see a pair of hydrofoil surfers out on the choppy seas.
Once the boats were recovered and we had packed the kit away for transport, there was just time to pose for the obligatory group photo before saying our goodbyes and heading home.
Overall we had been very lucky with the weather, carrying out some lovely diving to start the season. Thanks to Peter Dix for all the work he put in organising the weekend.
Written by James Huke
Photos from Trip Participants:
