{"id":12178,"date":"2023-06-05T22:30:28","date_gmt":"2023-06-05T21:30:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ecsac.org.uk\/?p=12178"},"modified":"2023-07-23T18:17:48","modified_gmt":"2023-07-23T17:17:48","slug":"arranmore-27th-may-3rd-june-2023","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ecsac.org.uk\/?p=12178","title":{"rendered":"Arranmore – 27th May – 3rd June 2023"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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Arranmore - 27th May - 3rd June 2023<\/h4>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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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).<\/p>

Sunday <\/strong><\/p>

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.<\/p>

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 \u00a0\u00a0It was Cotton Spinner city and a Cuckoo Wrasse nursery.<\/p>

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

Monday: <\/strong><\/p>

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 \u2013sheer cliffs, sea stacks and arches, the light house and the steps leading down to the ocean.\u00a0\u00a0 There was a notable lack of sea birds on the cliffs.<\/p>

We dived Frenchman\u2019s 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.<\/p>

Best finds:\u00a0 Nudibranch, Conger eels, Crayfish, lobster, Tompot Blennies Edible and Velvet Swimming crabs.<\/p>

Tuesday <\/strong><\/p>

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

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.<\/p>

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. \u00a0Every 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.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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Wednesday<\/strong><\/p>

Back to the west coast as the surge and swell had lessened. A full-on awesome topography day.<\/p>

Morning – The Lighthouse Steps.\u00a0 This was a\u00a0 scoured silky smooth rocky floor, a huge gully with steep walls leading to a giant boulder field. A high energy site with walls plastered in life.<\/p>

Afternoon –\u00a0 Nauti Cove: The dive followed the wall of the arch to a sink hole, the gully then steepened and narrowed as we came up to 7m. A sharp left took us onto a sloping slab where the surge propelled us to the lip of a steep drop off \u00a0and down onto a large boulder field.\u00a0 Not for the faint hearted. A truly spectacular day in the sunshine finishing at Early\u2019s Bar for an evening meal.<\/p>

Thursday:<\/strong><\/p>

Back to the Atlantic west coast to dive The Pyramids in the morning and Patti\u2019s Boulders in the afternoon. The swell had lessened, and the surge was easily managed. The marine life on the boulders and walls were the same as the other west coast sites with the addition of Elegant anemones, and several walls and slabs covered in mussels. The dive took us left shoulder along the rocky walls of the pinnacles, across a small, scoured boulder field then up a gully to 7m, over the top and back down a rocky wall. Best finds: Conger eel, Cat Shark and Starry Smooth Hound.<\/p>

Jim took us on a island bus tour in the evening .<\/p>

Friday<\/strong><\/p>

Our final day was in the channel just outside the harbour on a site called Scotcha. There were a series of submerged pinnacles with steep walls on one side, sloping ledges on the other and a seabed of scoured rock slabs Another fantastic dive for topography. Best finds: a large old anchor, Corkwing Wrasse a very small piece of sea fan and a shoal of Pollock.<\/p>

Back to the cave for a final dive in Paradise before returning to the harbour to de-kit the boat and say good bye to Jim. We met up later for\u00a0Pizza night at Early\u2019s Bar to finish the week.<\/span><\/p>

A fabulous week with our expert skipper Jim, on board Elsie Jayne, a well laid out and well-maintained dive boat. Thanks to buddies Mark, Anna, Loz, Alison, Steve, Jane, Wilf, Tim and non-diver Catherine for joining us.\u00a0<\/p>

Pat & Phil.<\/p>

Website : www.arranmore charters.ie<\/p>

Alison & Mark <\/strong>\u00a0captured the wonders of this trip in the photographs, shown below:<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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\"GX010334<\/figure><\/div>
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\"20230531_123250\"<\/figure><\/div>
\"20230531_135136\"<\/figure><\/div>
\"20230530_163152\"<\/figure><\/div>
\"20230530_163203\"<\/figure><\/div>
\"Blenny\"<\/figure><\/div>
\"bloodly_henry\"<\/figure><\/div>
\"CottonSpinner_feeding\"<\/figure><\/div>
\"DahliaAnemone2\"<\/figure><\/div>
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\"Jewel_anemone2\"<\/figure><\/div>
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Arranmore – 27th May – 3rd June 2023 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 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":12212,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"elementor_header_footer","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"default","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"default","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12178","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-report"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ecsac.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12178","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ecsac.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ecsac.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ecsac.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ecsac.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=12178"}],"version-history":[{"count":18,"href":"https:\/\/www.ecsac.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12178\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12338,"href":"https:\/\/www.ecsac.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12178\/revisions\/12338"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ecsac.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/12212"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ecsac.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=12178"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ecsac.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=12178"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ecsac.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=12178"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}