We all made our way up to the Isle of Skye, enjoying spectacular views on the journey, and arrived at our accommodation in Lochbay, Stein on the Waternish peninsula, on the Saturday evening. Loz met Gordon, our skipper, at the slip on arrival as he was preparing the boat for us. The sun was shining and the loch looked flat calm and we had high hopes for the coming week. We got settled into our house and Gordon and Aileen called in later that evening to discuss plans for the next day and introduce us to the all important concept of “Skye time”.

The Diving

On the Sunday morning, we got our kit sorted out and drove the short journey down the road to the slip. After loading our kit onto the boat and donning our dry suits, we headed out of the loch to the tip of the Waternish peninsula, past the lighthouse, and onwards to our first dive site. We kitted up and then Aileen instructed us in how to enter the water, in pairs, using a backwards roll. It was a long drop into the water but once we were the right way round, the diving was wonderful. The visibility was generally good and there was no current. We just relaxed and enjoyed exploring the rocks and pinnacles. Getting out of the water involved a climb up a well-designed ladder.

The dive sites were generally rocky pinnacles and walls and were teeming with fish. We saw Ballen wrasse, Cuckoo wrasse, pollock, bib, scallops, Velvet swimming crabs, edible crabs, hermit crabs, lobster, long-clawed squat lobsters, crawfish, leopard spotted gobies, Devonshire cup corals, sea urchins, lots of different starfish, Snakelocks, Plumrose, beadlet and burrowing anemone, eyelash and bootlace worms, sea squirts and sea oranges.

The weather was very changeable with strong winds forecast. We were lucky enough to get our planned four days diving in, although Aileen said we did not see the best dive sites that Skye has to offer. There were no complaints from the divers, however, as we thought the dive sites were wonderful. Gordon’s mastery as a skipper ensured we were always in the lee of an island and we always had fairly slack water. We saw dolphins, seals, cormorants and eagles from the boat and enjoyed the dramatic landscape of this area.

Dive Sites:

Sunday 14th September –  Waternish Point & Clett Island

Monday 15th September – Isay South and Sgeir A Chuain (Rock in the Ocean)

Tuesday 16th September –  Sithean & North Pinnacle

Wednesday 17th September – Isay North West & Lochbay Pinnacle

The Snorkelling

As this was a combined dive and snorkel trip, the snorkelers joined us on the boat each day to enjoy a snorkel at a sheltered, shallow location. The timing of each day’s snorkel varied according to the site, tide, and weather conditions. In their wetsuits, the snorkellers were far more vulnerable to the elements than the divers, so frequently boarded the boat in normal clothes and didn’t change into their wetsuits until a few moments before entering the water.

Some of the divers also got in the water for a snorkel and discovered how easy the ladder was without a cylinder on your back! As an Open Circuit diver, it was also quite interesting to experience how quiet it was in the water when snorkelling without the sound of your regulators. I understand why people switch to rebreathers now!

The snorkel sites provided wonderful opportunities to see younger fish and fry sheltering in the seaweed near shore, flashes of a brilliant variety of red little anemone hiding between rocks, barnacles, shore crabs, harbour crabs, and jelly fish. In the shallower water you could also observe the unusual visual disturbances of fresh water meeting the sea water. It was interesting to experience our dives from a different perspective, with Clett Island a particular highlight when the snorkellers were on the same site as the divers. We could excitedly chat about the common sights we had seen, from entirely different vantage points!