The Slates

What do you do when the daytime temperature drops to 2C, the evenings close in and even the dogs can't raise the enthusiasm for a trip outside?  You dive, of course!

Shore diving was indicated, in case the weather was too rough to launch a boat, so we needed somewhere sheltered, easy to park, not too far to walk with all your kit, with acommodation and (of course!) a pub close by.  Somewhere we could get home from without trouble if the weather closed in.  Somewhere with something to see once we got underwater.  So off we went to Balachulish to investigate the Slates. 

The Slates is a well-known dive site but none of us had been there before.  We left our various warm beds early on Saturday morning and, after a glorious drive across Rannoch Moor and through Glencoe, met up at about 10.30.  A group of divers from Glasgow were already in the car park kitting up.  They'd been before and gave us some tips of stuff to look out for.  Apparently there was a wee wreck, a motor boat of about 20 ft length, at 12 metres (we looked twice but we never did find it).

We did two dives on Saturday, the water warmer than we expected, but on Sunday most of us only managed one dive: the air temperature had dropped and we all chilled as we clambered out of the water.  One hardy member, for whose kit the word "drysuit" was a real misnomer, did a second dive with a buddy who'd not been feeling too good first thing (the previous evening having been a good one...).

And what did we see?  We saw the sea.  And slate.  Lots of slate.  With very little life apart from Sea Loch anemones, a few Dead Men's Fingers, some very small fish and a lot of kelp.  A couple of empty bottles, a few old tyres and a length of tracking provided light relief.

I wouldn't rush back there, but it was good to get wet again.  (Mercifully, not inside: thanks to Splashsports in Dundee for the hire of a dry suit that lived up to its name!)