We caught the overnight ferry from Liverpool to Belfast on the Friday evening before driving to Burtonport in Donegal in order to take the local ferry to Arranmore . We stayed in 3 houses in Arranmore Holiday Village. Our skipper Jim came down on Saturday evening to meet us and discuss the plan for the week as the diving on Arranmore is totally dependent on the Atlantic swell and surge as it hits the coast, the wind speed and direction. (The next land mass to the west of Arranmore is Newfoundland).

Sunday

As there was a 2m swell on the west and surge on the Northeast we loaded our kit onto the boat at 10am to head south to dive The Gullies in the morning and An Tara Dubh in the afternoon. Dolphins played as we left the harbour.

Viz was 12-15m and water temperature 12C. Like all high energy sites with good viz there is a wide variety of marine life and a mass of colour provided by kelp, short green and red seaweeds, sponges, anemones, hydroids, bryzoa and sea squirts   It was Cotton Spinner city and a Cuckoo Wrasse nursery.

Best finds Cuckoo Wrasse, Ballan Wrasse, lobster, nudibranch, Candy striped flatworms, Compass and Moon jellyfish on 6m stop.

Monday:

We headed out to the west as the swell had subsided enough to look for suitable sites. The surge however was still considerable therefore some sites were still like washing machines. The scenery above water was stunning –sheer cliffs, sea stacks and arches, the light house and the steps leading down to the ocean.   There was a notable lack of sea birds on the cliffs.

We dived Frenchman’s Bite in the morning –a rocky wall with ledges, cracks and crevices leading down to a massive boulder field and a pebble seabed, and a similar site further down the cliffs, in the afternoon. The surge was a feature on both dives. The walls were a mass of Jewel and White Striped anemones. Baked Bean and Star Sea Squirts, the rocky ledges covered in Dahlia anemones, Deadmens Fingers and Devonshire Cup Coral.

Best finds:  Nudibranch, Conger eels, Crayfish, lobster, Tompot Blennies Edible and Velvet Swimming crabs.

Tuesday

The surge continued to ease, and the wind direction had altered therefore diving on the Northeast coast was possible.

We dived Cray Alley, a rocky slope with cracks, crevices and ledges. Again colour, a variety of marine life and 15m viz. Best finds: nudibranch, Candy striped flatworms, Spiral worms, Crayfish, Conger eel, Octopus, Tompot Blennies Scorpion fish, shoals of Pollock and Coal fish.

In the afternoon. Paradise Cave: the entrance was full of scoured boulders leading up to a huge chock stone. As we entered the cave our eyes adjusted to the light, our torches illuminated the walls and the ceiling.  Every surface was plastered with marine life and colour from the bright white patches of Coral Worms to the deep orange of Baked Bean Sea Squirts and the delicate pink of Oaten Pipe. Huge spider crabs on the back wall, lobster and Edible crabs in amongst the boulders and a large shoal of pollock at the exit.