Last week we were supposed to be trying for the UC-41 sub wreck out near the mouth of the Tay again but unfortunately the weather had other ideas. After three days of would have been perfect weather for the dive everything changed on the Sunday so the dive was cancelled (that’s just the way of it sometimes).
Despite the terrible forecast a few of us were still keen to dive and decided to head over to the west where we hoped to get a dive in the sheltered sea loch, Loch Leven. After leaving Dundee early, and stopping at the Green Welly for a quick coffee, it was easy to see the effects of the previous night’s downpour with all of the rivers and waterfalls along the Glencoe road in full flow (which was actually quite impressive in places).
We soon arrived at Caolasnacon campsite where the shore dive was located to find the weather was just as miserable as had been forecasted, with strong winds and heavy (sideways) rain. Ken, Callum, Dave, and I grudgingly got out of our cars and went for a look at the dive site, at least the land was providing some shelter from the strong westerly wind and the dive site actually looked quite pleasant. We were also treated to the sight of an otter hauling it’s catch up onto the rocks on the shore to eat.
Alistair arrived shortly after and after a bit of hesitation Ken, Callum, and I decided to get ready and go for a dive, we were already practically soaked through anyway.
We had all dived this site before but from the club boat, starting at the far end of the wall/boulder slope and working our way towards the shore so it was a bit different doing it as a shore dive. Once in the water we made our way over the gentle sand slope towards the rocky shore on the right. After meeting the rocks we just followed the bottom of the boulders deeper down keeping the slope on our right.
The topography here is quite impressive with huge boulders piled up, vertical walls, overhangs, and numerous small crevices for things to hide in. There wasn’t much bare rock in-between the covering of sea loch anemones, peacock worms, and numerous different squirts. There were also common/purple sunstars, cod, pollack, a few large wrasse swimming about, and a few Dendronotus sp. nudis. After 26mins we had reached 25m and it was time to turn back. Following our safety stop at 5m we surfaced with a 49min total time and couldn’t believe it when we seen blue sky and no rain!
The break in the weather didn’t last however so we all got soaked while getting changed and putting our kit away. After ending up wetter on land than we were underwater we all decided to call it a day and head for a pub lunch at the Clachaig Inn.
A bit of a disappointing day but at least a few of us managed to get one decent dive done. I’m certain we will be back to this site again as it is well worth the drive up from Dundee and offers loads of life/interesting scenery at a range of depths.
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