Isle of Skye

On April 15th Cotswold 332 made the long journey to the inner Hebrides based in Stein, in the North of the Island. On route Jon and I encountered 4 seasons in one hour, and I thought then that this is going to be interesting!! Anyway the weather turned out to be quite pleasant with light patchy rain but mostly sunshine over the next couple of days.

The accommodation was great with good facilities and room to move about without tripping over each other, and the sleeping quarters were bunk beds that were very comfortable.

On the first night Shaun brought a chilli that was prepared by Sharon although Shaun did make the rice and garlic bread, that was quickly devoured by 10 hungry divers after which we strolled over to the Stein Inn for a few beers.

The following day and after a hearty full English breakfast we all hopped aboard Elena C (thats the dive boat just incase any of you were thinking otherwise!!) skippered by the much revered  Gordon of Skye he headed out of Loch Bay and travelled up the Waternish Peninsular until we reached the dive site just on the edge of the bay.

The diving over the three days was very good and after descending around 8-10m it opened up into a sandy sea floor punctuated by rock and boulders in deeper water. Max depth was around 20-30m.

Marine life was plentiful with wrasse, large sunstars, hermit crabs, cloak anemones, nudibranchs and  lobster to name but a few. Vis throughout our dives was superb at a jolly good 10-15+m. Back on board Gordon gave us tea/coffee that warmed our cockles and headed back to camp (as we would do for the next 2 days) for a surface interval.

I am sure that speak for the rest of the crew when I say Gordon was very accommodating, nothing was a problem and I felt very relaxed during my stay. It is also worth noting that everyone got on, all mixed in with the house chores and we had a very good time, except for that idiot who woke everyone up at midnight on the last night beating a tray with a wooden stick and mumbling some gibberish nonsense.. haha!!

Overall it was a worthwhile experience. My thanks to everyone who made this trip special and we shall be travelling up again next year. Steve.

Thanks to Jayne, Ian and Steve for the photos.