[Mark Davies]

Early Morning Spectacular

We'd arrived in the dark so had no idea what the place was like where we'd spent the night. We woke to bright sunshine and looking out of the window saw that we were right on the edge of a beautiful sandy beach overlooking the mouth of a fjord.

The sea was flat clam. Happy days!

We went downstairs for a fantastic breakfast. We were the only guests but the place, which seems newly built and very pleasant, has five rooms - so quite capable of catering for a full dive trip. Then we drove the couple of hundred yards to the dive centre - we could have walked if we didn't have kit to carry.

The scenery was just spectacular! For those who have dived in Mull you would see the comparison just as I did. It is very similar in look and feel. It's no wonder the west coast of Ireland is full of spiritual retreats. It must be one of the most beautiful locations in the world.

And sat in the heart of this was the dive centre. It is a very squared-away operation. It is a PADI dive school. All their hire kit is of excellent quality - mostly Scubapro kit and decent Hydrotech drysuits. There's a small shop with all those last minute gadgets, male and female changing rooms and showers, a classroom and viewing area (and what views!) and two hard boats. The only let down with the place is that the boats have to moor out in the bay, so there is a short RIB transfer to load up. Apparently they are having a floating pontoon delivered next week, so soon enough this place will have nothing to fault it. Really good.

Let's Get In The Water!


Tim and I, in our eagerness (and still operating on UK time - not Ireland time) had been the first to arrive - at 9.30 as advised. Of course, no-one else arrived until after 10.00! Our group was soon gathered. There were 12 of us in all, mostly young diviers from various parts of Ireland, but also a young American student studying in Dublin and an older guy, also American, who was a photographer on the hunt for nudibranchs.

Talking of cameras, Tim had a heart stopping moment when he took out his trusty Olympus and found that somewhere on the journey the LCD screen had got broken. Gutted! However, he had also brought along his Nikon D70 and it's brand new housing. All together, the price of a small car, so understandably Tim was a little hesitant to take it in. He decided not to chance it.

Come To Daddy!

So we transferred to the boat ready to set off. The enthusiasm of this young set of exclusively PADI divers was so refreshing. Full of excitement about the coming dive - rather than a bunch of grumpy UK divers either moaning or talking about kit! Our first site was the Julie T - a 30m island transport vessel that had rather conveniently sunk whilst under tow for decommissioning. Conveniently, because it went down in the perfect 25m of water on a clear sandy bottom right in the shallow bay just near the dive centre. Hmmmm. Apparently, that's the luck of the Irish. (Or maybe luck had nothing to do with it. )

We got a typically comprehensive PADI style site briefing and then over the side. In we went and down - and thank you God! - it was clear! We had 10m viz and we were happy! It had been May last year since I'd last done a UK dive with viz over 1m - this was long overdue.

The wreck was nice enough. Plenty of life on it. Apparently a conger, but we didn't see it. But we did see flat fish, a giant spider crab and the biggest starfish either of us had ever seen. This became characteristic of our dives. With a no-take policy everything gets the chance to grow, and they abuse the privilage!

But not everything was big. Nudis could be found aplenty - much to the pleasure of the American photographer.

All too soon we came up with big smiles. Life was good!

We then took the short trip back to the dive centre for a surface interval on land. This is typical of the operation. All the sites are in the sheltered fjord, so it's never very far to go to dive and just as easy to get back.

Giant Scallops and Practical Jokes


The afternoon's dive was to be on a reef. In the blazing sunshine we cruised around and into the fjord. Tim had decided to bring his camera, having done a leak test in the rinse tank at the centre, but he was obviuosly nervous. So much so, that he came in without his weight belt. I'll put his failing down to his camera-stress, but to be honest it's not the first time!

We finally went down to find the sea bed littered with the giggest scallops I've ever seen. Plus, every kind of anenome you could think of. This was a real garden - absoulutely beautiful.

At this kind of place, dive with a photographer and you might as well dive solo. Tim had forgotten all about me while he was busy poking his new camera at all the macro life. I never had the heart to tell him about the basking shark (only kidding!).

Again the viz was 10m and we had a wonderful time. In all 70 minutes in the water - a little chilled at the end but we just didn't want to come up. I'll let Tim's pictures tell the story of the dive.

At the end I suggested that Tim bag-off and got him to pass me his camera while he did this. My mind was at work. Up went the SMB and so did Tim! He was diving on one of my single tanks for the weekend so he found he hadn't quite got his weighting right. It was an ideal opportunity. I ascended slowly to give Tim a bit of time. By the time I hit the surface he was round the back of the boat climbing on board. I quickly passed his camera up the side of the boat where he couldn't see and then made my way around to the ladder. Tim was halfway up when he saw me coming round empty handed. He searched around me to see if I had his pride and joy clipped off, but he couldn't see it.

" Sorry mate, I dropped it."

Thousands of pounds of kit, only used once and then gone! Even in his mask you could see his eyes popping out on stalks. Perhaps I couldn't torture him further, or more likely I just couldn't keep a straight face, but his fear turned to confusion as I and the skipper burst out laughing! He was mightily relieved to hear the camera was safely on the boat.

The Craic - Well, Almost.

We got to shore, leaving the kit on board over night and ready for a good night out. And here the only true failing of the set-up emerged. The dive cntre and B&B are miles away rom the nearest pub - a drive is essential. So it was one pint of Guiness only - oh, but what a pint of Guiness! We ended up in Clifden, about half an hour away. A lovely little town that seems to consist of nothing but pubs and restaurants. As nice as the B&B was I think if I came again I'd have to consider staying in Clifden instead, just to get a decent night out.

We had a good meal and then back to bed, contented with a fantastic day's diving. The weather was due to turn the next day, but we didn't care. Just those two dives were enough for me - worth the trip on their own.