LOCHALINE DIVE TRIP UPDATE

Thirteen of us had a good weekend diving wrecks in The Sound of Mull. It was getting dark when we all arrived so I didn't appreciate how scenic the area is.

On the Friday night we all headed down to The Lochaline Hotel for food as we were all starving, only to find when we got there that the Chef was locked up for drinking and driving!!! Panic stations! luckily The Whitehouse Restaurant saved the day and we all enjoyed a beautiful meal and too much wine!!! well I did anyway as you no doubt will be told.

Saturday morning at 8.30 a.m. we all headed down to the Peregrine dive boat to start our trip. Three out of the twelve divers were on rebreathers and the others on air or air & nitrox. Some old club members were on there:

Phil, Andrew and Neil Turton with a couple of guests of Charlie's, Murray and David. Jonathan was left on the pier as the boat was only licensed for

12 people. Anyway, he was happy to have time to catch up with accounts for his work back at the dive centre.

We were very lucky that the weather wasn't as bad as we expected on the saturday. The water was pretty choppy but not bad enough to can the diving.

Although it was wet with an occasional burst of hailstones it didn't deter our enthusiasm for diving the Hispania and then the Rondo. The best thing was once we were back onto the boat, Jeff was on hand with nice cups of hot tea and chocolate biscuits. There's nothing better than a nice cup of hot tea and chocolate after a dive in cold murky water!

In between dives David our Skipper told us that the other diving group we met the night before who were also staying at the centre and were on the Brendan had to take one of the divers to Oban to meet the Lifeboat as one of the divers had had quite a serious incident. Seemingly, he ran out of air at

16 metres and during a fast ascent took in water.

Back at the dive centre it was good to get a hot shower and relax before dinner. Some of us sat and chatted about the diving, the fish, the things we saw on the dives, where we had been diving abroad since we last met etc and some went for naps before we all enjoyed a nice dinner in the evening, no wine for me! I had enough the night before! Later, some of us went to bed early and others went down the social club for a few jars!

On Sunday the weather was so calm and nice such a change from the previous day, it was lovely just looking over the Sound, the views were magnificient.

Phil nearly missed the boat going out for the day! Our first dive of the day was the Thesis in nice calm water. No rocking to and fro trying to climb the ladder to get back in, the sea was calm and smooth, lovely!

Murray forgot his torch so we came back to Lochaline at lunchtime to pick it up for the next dive on the Shuna.

We all huddled into the wheelhouse on the way back to keep out of the cold and have a quick forty winks! Soon it was time to back all the gear away and get ready to head home.

I would like to thank you Charlie for organising the trip I personally enjoyed it very much and also thanks to you Jeff for your wit!! There was never a dull moment with you around :))

It was great sharing the weekend with fellow divers and I would encourage you next time there's a trip being organised within the club to seriously consider going for the experience and the fun! I've attached some photographs of the trip below that Andrew took with his phone.