Ashton Slip, Gourock, 21/10/06

[alexmaclennan]

This was originally posted on congeralley.com forum.

Went for a dip in Gourock while waiting for my brother to come off the Dunoon Ferry.

Ashton Slip is about 50m north of the Royal Gourock Yacht Club and midway between the two ferry terminals to Dunoon. 20 miles and 30 minutes from the Erskine bridge.

The entrance and exit could not be easier as you park on the roadside above the slip. The ramped concrete slip is at a perfect height for kitting up and pulling on BCD/tank. A shingle shore leads into the water as the slipway is too slippery to stand on! There are numerous mooring buoys from 60 to 300m out. All the yachts that are there during the summer had been removed.

Surface swam to nearest buoy 60m out and descended. Hit the silty bottom at 17m. Viz 1 to 2 m only - really crap viz. Finned to left (towards the Yacht club) for 15mins gradually ascending to 10m, then finned right for 15mins again gradually ascending to 6m. Viz 3 to 4 m above 10m and ambient light bright enough to not need a torch.

Topography is a mostly an evenly sloping sandy/ muddy slope and a small boulder slope at 5m. Plenty small life such as wee blennies/ gobies, crabs, hermit crabs, squatties, starfish etc. Nothing big and only occasional kelp fronds, tyres, ropes, chains to liven up the muddy slope.

Just did one dive as my buddy Alan's suit flooded ?problem with zip so may need to go back to SDS for repair under warranty.

alex