Day 1 – Saturday
After an exhaustingly long drive, with Sam, Meg, Lewis and Dan coming from Bristol and Hayley and Alex from other parts of Scotland, we met in Oban just in time for dinner. We all went to a fish and chip shop and ate while trying to fend off the hungry circling seagulls. Afterwards, it was time to board our ferry over to Mull. However, this became slightly tense when Hayley struggled to find parking and just about managed to make it aboard. Our crossing took around an hour when we had our first look over the sound while heading into the sunset. When we finally made it to the cottage, we relaxed with a few well-deserved drinks while listening to the legendary banger that is Mull Holiday by Calum MacLean.
Day 2 – Sunday
Allowing ourselves to have a much-deserved rest we awoke at a leisurely time before heading down to the harbour to launch the boat ready for the week of diving. At this point, we got access to the compressor room at the marina building. We had the whole room to ourselves with space to dry kit and a shiny new compressor. It was the perfect little setup!
When heading out the conditions could not have been more perfect, the sea was glassy and the only clouds in the sky were sitting atop the majestic mountains surrounding the sound. We first decided to dive the Rondo as our first dive, a shipwreck which lies almost vertically on a pinnacle rock formation. The stern sits at around 6-10m while the bow lies all the way down at ~52m. It was a great first dive as it allowed us to warm up for the week by picking the depth as there is lots to see all the way up. I decided to keep it shallower as it was the first dive in my new drysuit whereas Sam and Lewis tried to investigate near the bow.
For our second dive, we headed to Calve Island Wall which starts at around 10m and goes all the way down to 90m (not that we got nearly that deep)! On the way over, there was another dive boat already on site – Honeydew. They turned out to be one of the friendliest boats we’ve bumped into on our trips as they immediately offered us cake which we gladly took. After getting some advice on where to drop divers, we jumped into what was a wall covered in life with a nice kelp forest on the shelf above the wall. Unfortunately, Lewis decided to bring a half-empty cylinder so Dan and I only managed quite a short and shallow dive.
After heading back to the port we waited around for the compressor to do its thing before making our way back to the cottage. At the cottage, Hayley cooked us some delicious Mexican-style pasta before we watched England lose to Spain in the Euros final.
Day 3 – Monday
On Monday, we did the Shuna in the morning. A huge and very intact cargo ship which met the seabed at 30m and protruded 10m upwards. In the afternoon, we all did the Hispania. Another slightly smaller cargo ship which had many holes to penetrate into. Running along its deck were 5 cargo bays which made it possible to swim (almost) all the way from the bow to the stern inside the ship. However, since the Wreck Tours article was published the passageways between holds 3 and 4 had almost entirely collapsed (we couldn’t see a way though). Unfortunately, Lewis and I didn’t have working torches on this dive so we couldn’t get very far into the wreck.
Once diving had been completed, we headed back into port. On arrival at the port, we needed to radio the Coast Guard to let them know we had safely arrived home. As Dan was driving we let him his first go at this. To which he started broadcasting for all to hear on channel 16: “Stowaway Coast Guard, Stowaway Coast Guard, Stowaway Coast Guard, Just Add Water, Just Add Water, Just Add Water, Routine Traffic, Over”. Which got a few laughs as what he really meant to say was “Stornoway Coast Guard”. The Coast Guard didn’t seem to find it as funny as we did.
After mooring up, we filled all the cylinders before heading back to the cottage where Sam made us all fajitas.
Day 4 – Tuesday
As a lot of the cylinders we were getting from the compressor were quite hot, they were giving us poor fills. We decided to spend some time this morning topping some of them up. However, when we turned the compressor on, it quickly started smoking! After calling over a very flustered harbour master and having a qualified electrician (Sam) take a closer look, one of the capacitors had completely burnt out. Although we ordered a new part, shipping to Mull isn’t exactly a speedy process; it wasn’t going to be back in action for quite a while! Looking at other compressor options, we managed to find a shop called Highland Basemap located at Lochaline. It would be quite a motor over but we planned the days diving around heading there at the end to get fills.
Once on the water, we motored all the way past Lochaline to the wreck of the Thesis. This is a small shipwreck but means you can see lots of it from just one dive. However, disaster struck when Dan dropped his computer into the sea while helping someone get out onto the boat! Today also happened to be Dan’s Birthday, which gave us a good idea of what to buy him as a present! We managed to sneak (not so successfully) a cake onto the boat which we had in between dives.
Our second dive that day was Lochaline Pier Wall. This was a similar dive to the Calve Island Wall and allowed us to float above another 90m abyss. Seeing these walls on the boat’s echo sounder was quite something! After the dive, we came into the slip at Lochaline to grab some fills. Dave from Highland Basecamp was really helpful in driving down to us to collect the cylinders. After having a coffee at the cafe shack by slip, we headed on our way. Poor weather made the trek back to Tobermory Marina a long and uncomfortable journey but we made it eventually.
That night we celebrated Dan’s Birthday by having a meal at Macgochans. After showing Dan the computer that we bought him, we finished off the meal with a flight of whiskies!
Day 5 – Wednesday
On Wednesday, unfortunately, Hayley had to do some work which left only five of us on the boat. We decided to revisit some sites for our first dive. Lewis and I did the Rondo again but this time I wanted to find some depth and explore the bow. This was a fun dive but did bring on the narcosis quite a bit! Lewis also showed me a very obvious swim-through under the keel that I’d somehow managed to miss the first time around. Dan, Meg and Sam did the Hispania again.
After this, we motored back down towards Lochaline to dive the Thesis again. Unfortunately, none of us found Dan’s computer which would have been screaming from the deco time it had amassed. We had lunch at Lochaline (the venison special burger was amazing) before we headed back to port. On the way back we spotted a huge Sea Eagle sitting on Calve Island. Once safely back at the cottage, Dan and I cooked mushroom risotto before we played cards.
Day 6 – Thursday
On Thursday, we decided to try some lesser-visited wrecks and found two on the charts: the Pelican and the John Preston. The Pelican sits between Calve Island and Tobermory, however, not all of us managed to find it given the poor visibility. While waiting on divers down, we saw two seals jumping in and out of the water and chasing each other – Hayley said they were doing one of two things beginning with ‘f’ and ending with ‘ing.’
Once dive one was ticked off, we decided to head out through the sound towards Lochaline. However, the weather was totally disgusting, the beautiful conditions from the first few days were replaced with low visibility and rain – I had to drive the boat wearing my dive mask.
Once on-site at the John Preston, we shotted the coordinates and prepared to dive it. Nobody managed to find the wreck on their dive, however, just next to it was a really chill wall dive. Afterwards, we spoke to some locals who said it had mostly broken up.
One final time we headed into Lochaline for some food and to get fills. Not before I rather too rigorously moored the boat by driving it into a concrete step (sorry Sam). After an arduous trip back to Tobermory, we headed to the cottage where Meg made us all unbelievably tall Halloumi burgers.
Day 7 – Friday
On our final day of diving the weather was due to get really poor by midday, therefore, we only planned one dive in the morning. As we were only doing one dive and the sites were close to each other, Sam, Meg, Dan and Hayley decided to dive the Shuna while Lewis and I dived the Hispania. On our way to the Hispania, we passed a hard boat full of divers headed straight for the same site. Not wanting to share a crowded dive site with them, we sped past and prepared to get in the water as fast as possible. However, once they pulled up to the site with us they immediately decided that the current was running too much and left. We did find that it was quite a struggle to hurry down the shot line but once on the wreck, everything was nice and sheltered and we had a great time.
Once we got back to shore around midday, we moored the boat and headed straight to Tobermory Distillery where we’d booked a tour and tasting. Afterwards, we spent the afternoon packing up kit before heading for a curry for dinner and a pint in the Mishnish.
Day 8 – Saturday
After getting up early, we headed out as soon as we could to begin the long drive home. Skipping breakfast at the cottage, we headed straight to the ferry port knowing that they served a full Scottish breakfast. After disembarking, we all parted ways eager to get the many hours of driving behind us.
Thanks to Sam and Meg for bringing their boat along! Thanks to Lewis for organising the trip as a part of his Advanced Diver experience! And thanks to everyone for having to put up with me!
Fucked kit:
On the trip, we managed to break or lose quite a lot of kit! Here is the full round-up:
- A Compressor
- 3 torches – 1 flooded, 1 dropped, 1 smashed
- Thunking JAW
- Latch on the boat
- A computer dropped into the sea
- 2 Mask straps
- Fin straps
- Flooded SPG
- Lewis’ drysuit wrist seals