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Divers:- Paul Taylor, Caroline Roberts, Neil Taylor, Ian Muirhead, Reg Fisher, Paul Alderson, Mandy Alderson, Graeme Bruce, Graeme's crew :- Mandy, Jimmy Turnbull, Craig, Tim and Kurt. Finally we also dived with Mike Barlow, the owner of Sunnybrae Caravan Park.
The Isle Of Luing is one of those places that is so beautiful that you'd want to live there. The site offers easy access to quiet dive sites such as the Garvellachs, Insh Island and the wreck of the SS Helena Faulbaums. Further to the North lies the Sound Of Mull, it is a 20 mile journey but we have done this many times and dived the Hispania, the Rondo and the Thesis. Our accommodation is the lovely site of Sunnybrae Caravan Park, the site has only 6 caravans and generally we have nearly all of them! This has been the first year I have fully organised the trip, as its has generally been a joint effort between Neil and myself. The challenge of planning the week was made very difficult when our club RIB's were stolen. Majority of the dive sites are only accessible by RIB, without them were were snookered. We only had two RIB's and we really needed 3. A solution presented itself, two of our club members were kind enough to lend us their RIB for the week, thank you Christine & Shorty! The second thing that made
things difficult was that Neil and myself were finishing off a Trimix
Course with Graeme, we could not dive as one group as we were diving deep,
so the planning for the rest of the group had to be very tight.
We arrived in Oban at 08:45 after a four and a half hour journey. Once we had picked up our supplies, Neil and Myself had to meet Graeme at Easdale for our first dive, which was a wall off Insh Island. We blended our gases and cut our tables for the dive, assembled our kit and we were away. The wall was fairly vertical to the seabed at 45m, we then continued on the bottom to perform the deepest scallop dive I have ever done! We followed our run times and performed the required deco on our DSMB's. Meanwhile the others (including Olive and Caroline) had assembled in the Tigh An Truish pub for a few beers. After a long and arduous day Neil and Myself arrived on Luing, we were the first to arrive in the area and the last to arrive on the island. Sunday was to be a dive on
the SS Helena Faulbaums, she lies upright and intact in approx 62 metres
of water with her deck in 54mt. We had to leave the majority of the group
behind who opted not to dive till later on in the day. Neil and myself
went across to Graeme's house at Easdale and did the usual prep for the
dive. We flew back across to Luing before the dive and found that the
others had already gone across to Easdale to find us. Once we all
assembled it was time to dive. I have dived the Helena Faulbaums twice
before, always thinking my head was fairly clear. How wrong I was! The
Trimix completely took away any signs of nitrogen narcosis and I saw
detail in the wreck that I had never seen before. We were aft of the
bridge, the spare propeller was still in place, we had a total of 20
minutes on the wreck before we ascended to perform our deco stops. After the dive we
headed back into Easdale. Graeme decided to split the group, Neil would
dive with him for the remainder of the week and I would complete my skills
back in Northumberland after Whit. Later in the evening we decided to dive
Loch Melfort, I dived with Mandy Alderson and my girlfriend Caroline, it
was great to see someone who is new to the sport, enjoying their diving,
Caroline got so much enjoyment out of her diving. Mandy lead the dive down
a boulder slope and across the flat bottom of Melfort, pointing out
different points of interest to Caroline, we then ascended up the steep
boulder slope looking for squat lobsters in the nooks and crannies. Reg
and Ian who dived together came up with half a bag of scallops and a large
edible crab! Monday was a similar day, we had a real lazy day, Caroline and Myself went into Oban to get petrol, cylinder fills and groceries, I also purchased a new reg. Later on Ian and Reg drifted Cuan Sound directly off the caravan site, later in the evening we had a second dive in Loch Melfort where I dived with Caroline. Tuesday we decided to dive the Benghazi, unfortunately we got a little too comfortable on Belnahua before the dive and missed slack water, Reg and Ian were the only two who actually managed to dive the wreck before the tide got too strong. We all settled for another dive at Loch Melfort. Wednesday was our day off diving, Neil had finished his work with Graeme who had now gone home. Ian Neil and myself had decided we would like to dive the Helena Faulbaums again using Trimix, we blended our gas and took the cylinders with us to Oban Divers for filling. We then all descended on Oban for our annual shop. We visited all the usual shops, McCaig's Warehouse, Outside Edge etc. Then at 13:00 we all met at the Chinese Restaurant "China" opposite the Oban Distillery for a huge slap-up meal. Afterwards we trundled back to Luing, bellies as full as our cylinders. Later in the evening, we sat down together after analysing our gas, to form a final dive plan and cut a table for the dive. We had a fairly early night, but as usual, when you need to sleep your body wants to do the opposite. Thursday morning was a slow start, like some ancient cave trolls, we emerged from the caravans and began to set our kit up. Twin-sets, stages, shot and our deco break-out were loaded into the boats, a final check was made to ensure we had not cocked anything up during the planning. As per usual the H.F. did not want to be shot, we missed the wreck several times with our shot, but eventually we got a "bite"
The dive went exactly as
planned, we successfully placed the shot on the bow, we were just aft of
the lamp locker, a glass laid
Friday, our last diving day.
We went out to the Garvellachs and took Mike along with us. We dived on
the small central island called A Chùlli, just south of Garbh Eileach.
There was a slight flooding tide that aided our swim, that revealed a
large amount of life. We saw 2 dogfish that were at least a metre in
length, and some sea pens growing on the mud. After the dive we all headed
eastwards, avoiding the Bogha ant Sagart reef, around the small isle of
Guirasdeal to a secluded bay on the south of Lunga. We could not stay long
as much work lay
Our expedition had come to a final close, however it just goes to show how good Luing is, all of us have left a deposit for our caravans next year!! Now on to the thankyou's, huge thanks to Paul and Mandy Alderson for diving with Caroline, she has had a great time diving with you both and for towing Christine & Shorty's boat. Huge thanks to Ian and the rest of the "Heeds" again for diving with Caroline and for diving the H.F. with us. Thanks to Reg and Val, Reg for getting back into a sport you are really first class at, and to Val for making such a brilliant boat handler. Thanks to Neil and Olive for putting up with me and Caroline, Thanks to Caroline for just putting up with me and making an excellent dive buddy. Finally thanks to Graeme Bruce and crew, you have really taught us an awful lot about diving.
Until Luing Expedition 2004...
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The
transits (above, showing 2 chimneys in a dip on Belnahua and Dubh Fhèith
lining up with a valley on Mull) and the GPS were spot on, below is the
reading from our echo sounder, showing the wreck directly under our keel.
next
to the shot, the glass was clear, that from a Mast Head lantern. Our time
on the wreck drew to a close, and we left the Helena Faulbaums alone in
the darkness once again. Our deco ran very smoothly , we broke free from
the shot and drifted (not very far). Afterwards we took Mike Barlow out
for a dive in Loch Melfort, and afterwards had a great barbecue that went
on well into the small hours.
ahead
of us, packing our belongings away and retrieving the RIBs. We left Lunga
behind and headed out through the narrow strait of Grey Dog or Little
Corryvreckan, unfortunately there were no magnificent tidal streams today,
only a few eddies and tiny whirlpools. We headed back agross a glassy
smooth Sound Of Luing passing the Fladda Lighthouse and Belnahua, around
Cuan Point to the caravan site. Everyone's faces were long as we packed
our equipment away and pulled the boats out.
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