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Well - only planned to do a couple of dives while I am here - sort of testing the water so to speak. Sunday morning and the sun is splitting the flags here. An early mist has started to burn off and by the time my brother and I make it to Ballycastle to meet up with Aquaholics, the temperature is in the late 20s. When we arrive Richard is already out with another party so we spend half an hour on the slipway getting our kit ready and chatting to some other divers waiting for the RIB (including some from Dublin who drive all the way up just to dive here - about 200 miles each way - St Abbs anyone??).
12 noon and we are packed onto the RIB and heading out into Ballycastle harbour. The sea is like glass - not a ripple and the vis is an astonishing 15m or so!! First dive then was onto an old wreck called the Templemore (I think) - it lies in about 18m and has a slight run on both the surface and at depth unless dived absolutely on slack. My brother and I dropped in and it was about then that I realised that the 10kg belt I was wearing was not going to be enough. Too late now so I duckdive and fin down to about 15m on the anchor line when I get a nasty thigh cramp and nearly abort the dive. After what happened next, I am glad I didn't.
The wreck itself is pretty broken up BUT it has been colonised by tons of conger eels - not piddly 2/3 ft things but great big 2-3m long buggers. As we watched, one of the divers produced a goodie bag full of dead fish chunks and the congers went mad - talk about a shark dive - this was (in my mind) ten times better. Gin clear water and 5 or six of these huge eels writhing all over this woman diver (got me quite excited, it did!).
Aaron eventually dragged me off and we did a tour of the wreck before running back on the lee side. I peered into a porthold and saw the body of another eel inside and it was DEFINITELY the daddy! I nearly shat myself.
This has become the BEST dive I have EVER done EVER! Forget St Abbs, this dive is the business and I want to do it again and again.
Second dive was off the back of Rathlin - we were supposed to be doing the Loughgarry - a wreck in 30m, but it was changed to a drift dive at the last minute by Richard. The RIB out to Rathlin was so spooky - the sea was ABSOLUTELY smooth - not a single ripple. As we sped across, you could see a perfect reflection of the sky in the water - very surreal. The dive itself was great - a 35 minute drift along a mile of coastline at about 20m. Lots of life and kelp - reminiscent of St Abbs again.
Overall, a superb days diving - I can thorougly recommend Aquaholics anytime. Spoke to Richard about group deals and he's going to get back to me with prices for nest year (YD trip anyone?).
To say that these dives were better than St Abbs will perhaps best convey my feelings about diving here. It was an unforgetable day and who knows, maybe I'll get another half day before the end of the week!
Well - only planned to do a couple of dives while I am here - sort of testing the water so to speak. Sunday morning and the sun is splitting the flags here. An early mist has started to burn off and by the time my brother and I make it to Ballycastle to meet up with Aquaholics, the temperature is in the late 20s. When we arrive Richard is already out with another party so we spend half an hour on the slipway getting our kit ready and chatting to some other divers waiting for the RIB (including some from Dublin who drive all the way up just to dive here - about 200 miles each way - St Abbs anyone??).
12 noon and we are packed onto the RIB and heading out into Ballycastle harbour. The sea is like glass - not a ripple and the vis is an astonishing 15m or so!! First dive then was onto an old wreck called the Templemore (I think) - it lies in about 18m and has a slight run on both the surface and at depth unless dived absolutely on slack. My brother and I dropped in and it was about then that I realised that the 10kg belt I was wearing was not going to be enough. Too late now so I duckdive and fin down to about 15m on the anchor line when I get a nasty thigh cramp and nearly abort the dive. After what happened next, I am glad I didn't.
The wreck itself is pretty broken up BUT it has been colonised by tons of conger eels - not piddly 2/3 ft things but great big 2-3m long buggers. As we watched, one of the divers produced a goodie bag full of dead fish chunks and the congers went mad - talk about a shark dive - this was (in my mind) ten times better. Gin clear water and 5 or six of these huge eels writhing all over this woman diver (got me quite excited, it did!).
Aaron eventually dragged me off and we did a tour of the wreck before running back on the lee side. I peered into a porthold and saw the body of another eel inside and it was DEFINITELY the daddy! I nearly shat myself.
This has become the BEST dive I have EVER done EVER! Forget St Abbs, this dive is the business and I want to do it again and again.
Second dive was off the back of Rathlin - we were supposed to be doing the Loughgarry - a wreck in 30m, but it was changed to a drift dive at the last minute by Richard. The RIB out to Rathlin was so spooky - the sea was ABSOLUTELY smooth - not a single ripple. As we sped across, you could see a perfect reflection of the sky in the water - very surreal. The dive itself was great - a 35 minute drift along a mile of coastline at about 20m. Lots of life and kelp - reminiscent of St Abbs again.
Overall, a superb days diving - I can thorougly recommend Aquaholics anytime. Spoke to Richard about group deals and he's going to get back to me with prices for nest year (YD trip anyone?).
To say that these dives were better than St Abbs will perhaps best convey my feelings about diving here. It was an unforgetable day and who knows, maybe I'll get another half day before the end of the week!
