After a few pandemic related false starts, last weekend marked the first club trip I have organised. 6 club divers [Me, Ray, Karl, Rob, Scott and Will] not forgetting guest diver Donovan [UW photographer, aquarium diver, scubaverse blogger, scouser] headed north toMcKinley Point where our journey would begin with the short 2 mile ferry across the Clyde to Dunoon, our base on the Cowal peninsula for the bank holiday weekend. Situated on the edge of Holy Loch, Loch Long and the firth of Clyde with additional sea lochs, Cumbrae or even isle of Arran all accessible within an hour steam there are diving options aplenty with reefs, walls and wrecks galore, in 3 days we could only get a taster of what’s on offer!
For this trip we would be 
. A lot of the team were new to RHIB diving, to be fair most of the club are! Our last RHIB adventure was to Porth Ysgaden in 2006 – before some of us had left school let alone learnt to dive, but with Jason at the helm there was little to worry about as he moved all cylinders, put on and took off all fins and provided hot chocolate complete with whipped cream and marshmallows!
We arrived at our digs, ate fish ’n’ chips and frequented the local pub before getting some sleep ahead of the 
first days diving.
For some this was a first taste of UK sea diving, it delivered choppy seas [some sea legs coped better than others] and murky fresh water in the top 6m. Scott had an encounter with a troublesome crustacean and I lost my buddies. All safely back aboard we retreated to Holy Loch marina for lunch followed by a challenging second dive on a pair of US landing crafts. Low vis would be an understatement but my team of 3 found both wrecks and plenty of critters. An evening of Chinese food and further beers at the Oakbank – where Scott was becoming quite a hit with the locals.
Day 2 and a chance to blow out the cobwebs with a 30min steam to Loch Goil. We started with a varied wall dive starting with an overhang filed with peacock worms continuing to a series of boulders providing shelter to young cod, squat lobsters, cup corals, sea loch anemone and an elusive conga eel only spotted by 1 buddy pair [me!]. The wall continued and looked full of life but alas it was time to surface. Dive 2 and a rarity for me, a shipwreck sunk in the 21st Century. The Averella was being refurbished for a new life as a live aboard before sinking on its moorings, make of that what you will. But with a rudder and prob still in place and several firework anemone in the slit below it was an excellent dive. She sits in 32m with the superstructure starting at 24m. A trip highlight for me
The last day forced a change of plan as the MOD
submarines didn’t want us to become part of their training exercise. With Loch Long off limits we crossed the Clyde to Inverkip jetty for a critter-tastic dive with upwards of 30 pier legs to explore. The photographers amongst us were in our macro elements clocking over 60mins underwater only ended due to a full SD card. Then to our final dive back in Holy Loch, Jason set us a challenge, 3 wrecks in 1 dive, but only if our underwater navigation was unto it. We largely fell short with only 2 divers making the second wreck so we all needpractice for next time.
There will definitely be a next time. A great skipper, varied diving and plenty still to explore.
