I’ve been planning on finishing off my Advanced Diver qualification for a while now, but life, and the difficulty of finding an Advanced Instructor or accessing a RHIB, kept getting in the way. The great thing about being in a BSAC branch, though, is that you are part of Britain’s biggest diving club, and able to link up with other branches. So when the opportunity arose to join a Southport BSAC Advanced Diver expedition to Loch Sunart I jumped at it.
One of the requirements for the final expedition of the BSAC Advanced Diver course is that you manage diving at a location you’ve never been before. I’ve wanted to dive around Loch Sunart and the Sound of Mull for ages, but never managed to get there, so this was the perfect opportunity. And I wasn’t disappointed!
Stephen Dorricott from Southport BSAC, the North West regional coach, had managed to find a fantastic place to base the trip, complete with on-site compressor and mooring for the RHIB. Situated on the north coast of Loch Sunart, on the sparsely populated Ardnamurchan Peninsula, it’s a stunningly beautiful and remote location. The remoteness did pose some interesting logistical challenges. Getting there was a challenge in itself, but we also had to think about how much food and fuel we needed for the week, as there was no popping out to the supermarket if we ran out of anything!
We had fantastic weather for the whole of the week long expedition, with calm seas and warm sun. Three prospective Advanced Divers completed the Dive Planning and Management module (AP2) of the course, each planning and managing two days of diving. Two of the remaining divers also completed their Diver Coxswain assessments, so it was a week chock full of achievements.
For my first day I chose to dive the Hispania, a stunning wreck in the Sound of Mull, encrusted in life, and with notoriously difficult to predict tides. We all had great dives, and felt more than a little smug because a local charter boat turned up while we were there and decided not to dive it!
For my second day my “plan A” was to dive Risga Pinnacle. But the weather forecast was fantastic so I decided to switch to my plan A+: Bo Faskadale. An offshore pinnacle, rising from 60m to within about 3m of the surface, Bo Faskadale requires perfect conditions to dive by RHIB. And that is exactly what we had. It was an opportunity not to be missed! With dramatic shear walls covered in life it was a fabulous dive. It was also a great boat trip out around the Point of Ardnamurchan, the most westerly point on the British mainland.
The setting for the whole trip was breath-takingly beautiful, and featured plenty of wildlife. We saw dolphins, pine martens, seals and sea eagles, but sadly no otters. In the evenings we all mucked in together, taking turns at cylinder filling and cooking. Between us we produced some amazing meals, featuring cuisine from around the globe. Certainly no chance of coming home hungry!
All in all a fantastic trip, made possible due to great teamwork. Huge thanks to Stephen Dorricott for his excellent coaching and mentorship, and to everyone else involved for making this such a great week: Lee Ingram, James Jones, Jon Partington and Steve Bellion. I’m already looking forward to returning to Loch Sunart to explore more.
