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The ferry was
crammed to the gunnels with tourists and their vehicles and we had a
trailer that wasn’t booked on. Our
solution was simple, just to put the trailer in one of the boats’ and
stow the trailer contents somewhere!
The ferry crossing was quick and smooth and we arrived at
Craignure with only a half-hour car ride to our destination, Tobermory. On arriving all
the equipment was unloaded at our accommodation and the boats were very skillfully
reversed into the tightest of spaces.
Everyone went about assembling their equipment in anticipation of
the next days’ diving.
After another good
dive all the equipment was stowed and we set about returning back to
Tobermory. There were a few
wise words spoken about fuel consumption but nevertheless full throttle
ahead! Terror struck for
some, approximately two miles from Tobermory. It was soon revealed that
someone had forgotten to pack the sails and oars and we needed
assistance. Another boat in
our party sprang into action. Fortunately the week before a similar
episode had happened and the coxswain now was very adept at tying
towlines. Arriving back at
the slip it seemed that there was not only the one crew with egg on
their faces, another had also needed an escort back.
Afterwards, we
stopped at Lochaline for lunch again and lapped up the remainder of the
sunshine. One unlucky diver went hungry as all he brought was a bar of
soap and bottle of shower gel. Our
second dive was to be the Shuna, the weather was starting to become
overcast and a few decided to sit this one out. The evening meal
was a group curry and it proved to be an unforgettable experience.
Drinks were served within the first hour of arriving, orders were
then taken and after two hours the food started appearing. The
restaurant staff were 'helpful' as we were told the food would be ready
when the chef cooks it! At
the end of the meal the bill was another story!
Lunch was served
while we were anchored and there was time for funning around which
involved baby lotion and dunking! We returned back to the slip with much
time to spare during the afternoon for shopping, relaxing and chilling.
It also gave a good excuse to dunk “Lily” who did a very good
impression of a stick insect on a pontoon. The same day we planned to
do a night dive on the Hispania, as slack water had been calculated for
early evening.
Our final days
diving was on the Shuna, and gave those who had decided not to dive the
wreck earlier in the week a second chance .
It was an excellent final dive with reasonable visibility and the
only regret being that the large rusty shackle found on this wreck was
not recovered.
April 2002 |
Our party of 16
all arrived at our rendezvous point on time to catch the ferry to Mull.
Our first day
started with all four boats being launched successfully from the slip at
Tobermory. 
The weather on
Saturday was starting to change so the plan was made to dive one of the
deeper wrecks within the Sound - the Rhondo after the dive marshall and
his deputy had performed meticulous hours of tidal calculations for
slack water. This was an excellent dive to 50 metres suitable for most
abilities.
On Sunday slack
water was around lunchtime so everyone had a leisurely lie in.
Arriving on the
Hispania in good time we waited for slack water and for darkness to fall
(the previous evening the clocks had gone forward for BST, it was also
the evening before April Fools day!).
Once everyone was
back aboard their RIB's it was a race back to the slip as the tide was
moving towards low water. There was excellent show of teamwork,
recovering the boats as the slip was uncovering fast. Anyone at this
stage who had not been dunked, did so and this concluded a fantastic
long weekend at Mull.