Dive Trips | Clydebanksac

Club Members Accounts about Diving Trips and Holidays.

Clydebank Sub Aqua Club Diving Expedition Log Sheet

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It's the time of year for Night Diving. Please Scroll to the bottom of this page where you will find an article about points to consider when Night Diving.

DIVE TRIPS

First Dive of 2026 for Cameron, Gordon, Jemma & David. Gordon says; "Fantastic choice to go to St Catherines, Loch Fyne. We've just had the pleasure of a seal visiting, a stunning octopus and Davie's Fantastic rolls and Sausages."

Capernwray 29th November 2025

5 brave troopers left home at 5 am, crossed into England, and began the most important experiment in British diving history.🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿

Does Scottish water taste better?
Spoiler: yes it does!🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿

In between “sampling the local water”, we enjoyed some cracking viz, funky underwater features, fearless fish, and an elite-level photobomb by DO James ✈🐟🙋🏻‍♂

Bumping into our sister club @uonsubaqua was pure coincidence 😉🤿
Definitely not planned 💚💛 Nope 🙅🏾‍♂

First Night Dive of Winter 2025

Photos by Jill Rollo/Mowatt

3 members of Clydebank Sub Aqua Club braved the very cold night of 20th November, to enjoy the first Clydebanksac Night dive of the winter season, since the clocks changed back to GMT. The party were Jill Rollo/Mowatt, Robert Winters and organiser David Ryrie.

The Dive site was St Catherines Seal Reef on Loch Fyne, meeting at about 7pm, after work. Jill came over from Arbroath, for goodness sake!! The air temperature was 1degree C as the 1st dive on the reef started around 7.30pm with a fair amount of life out and about, including a shoal of fish above the reef. Fortunately the water temperature was a balmy 9-12 degrees C, maximum depth 29metres and a 45 minutes duration with the underwater visibility in the darkness of around 2 to 3 metres. The chilly dive interval was passed trying to stay warm and have something to eat and a hot drink before finally entering the water for a 2nd dive to 22 metres for 44 minutes. It was around midnight when the long trek home started whilst most of the less hardy members of Clydebanksac were tucked up in bed.

Text: Keith Waugh

Red Sea Liveaboard

Story & Photos by David Richford

So it started with a WhatsApp message from Gordon Anderson in August 2024, for anyone interested in a week Liveaboard to the Red Sea next year, the trip would cover the Brothers/Daedalus and Elphinstone reefs. With viz at 20 metres plus, diving in a wet suit and water temperatures of 28 degrees, I was in.

The day had arrived, 4 October 2025, flying from Glasgow to Hurghada then a short over land journey to Port Ghalib where our home for the week was waiting, Sea Wolf Dominator.

Our itinerary was 17 dives, 3 dives a day for 5 days and 2 dives on the 6th day. Weather forecast was for some windy conditions; a slight adjustment was made to our destinations.

First day ropes off at 7am we headed for Abu Dahab IV for a shakedown dive to check weights and dive operations, a giant stride off the boat, weights checked l descended to find a Blue Spotted Ribbon-tail ray, then a Crocodile fish relaxing on the seabed, Lionfish, Masked Damselfish and Pufferfish, it was a great start to the week. After lunch we moved to Abu Dahab III where our 2nd dive and night dive would end our first day. With the last diver aboard, we started a 5 hour journey to Elphinstone reef, forecast was for some rough seas, so everyone hunkered down for the night.

Arriving at Elphinstone reef in the early hours, wakeup call was 6am for a 6.30am briefing onto to the Zodiacs and into the water for 7am, [Elphinstone reef south] No breakfast until after our first dive, as I descended, there at 30 meters I watched a Turtle having its breakfast!!! what a sight. On surfacing into 2 meter swells getting back onto the Zodiac was challenging. No finesse here, you where flung onboard, safely transported back to Sea Wolf for breakfast, 2nd dive at Elphinstone Reef North then 3rd dive at Ras Torombi.

The 3rd day brought us to Big Brother South once again first dive is before breakfast. A whale shark was spotted on this dive and 2x Large Morays in the rock face. 2nd dive on Big Brother west and the wreck Aida, 3rd dive Little Brother North. For the next day we move to Daedalus reef east which is a 10-hour sail away. Spending 2 days here we would spot a Hammerhead shark, Oceanic Whitetip shark and a Silky Shark, shoals of Trumpetfish and large Barracuda and the first time for me a Torpedo ray and Potato Grouper., leaving Daedalus behind we were heading to Marsa Shona. Here we would not disappoint with a turtle, Sting ray, Scorpion fish and Feather Tailed ray.

This week has been full of challenges and some great experiences, having Nitrox mixes of between 28%-30% l had to be aware of my depths. I would like to thank Gordon Anderson for organizing the trip, Regal dive/Emperor divers and the crew of the Sea Wolf Dominator.

Sound of Mull 2025

Story & Photos by Keith Waugh

The weather had been glorious for several days beforehand. So far, we’ve had an amazingly warm and dry summer, but would it hold out for the middle of August? Once again, members of Clydebank Sub Aqua Club and a few guests from elsewhere, were making their annual pilgrimage to Lochaline, on the Sound of Mull. Gordon Anderson had worked hard to get everything organised; booking the bunkhouses at “Highland Base Camp”, booking the boat “Peregrine” expertly skippered by Bodie, arranging transport and letting everyone know, particularly the newcomers, what to bring and what to expect in terms of diving. Fortune favoured the “bankies” and everything fell neatly in to place, particularly the weather. It was forecast to be absolutely glorious for the whole weekend.

We met at Highland Base Camp on Friday evening 15th August. About half of the party of 12 having had a dive at the Lochaline Cliff Face. The visibility was a little disappointing but nevertheless it was a good dive on this sheer cliff face, which drops, in places to about 60 metres. We came across a fairly large lobster attempting to climb the wall. Good buoyancy control is rather important at this site. We all managed the dive before the tide turned to flood at 1700. You don’t dive the wall on a flood tide!!!

The Saturday plan was to dive the Hispania, followed by Sligneach Mor, an island in the entrance to Loch Sunnart. The down side was that it meant an 0700 “ropes off”!!!! Oh dear!!

We blearily made it on time and enjoyed a calm, sunny, wind free voyage up to the Hispania. This wreck is always spectacular with its covering of red seaweeds, yellow corals, orange anemones and resident Ballan wrasse and Pollock, but again the visibility was not all it could be. Not to worry, the cold water woke us up and we all had a great dive exploring the broken-up wreck and swimming through the tangled superstructure.

Onwards to Loch Sunnart with more calm sea and blue sky. On the way we had the great good fortune to come across a pod of about 8-10 Bottle-nose Atlantic Dolphins!! They were fantastic, swimming in our bow wave, with so little apparent effort. Oh! If only we could swim like that!!! This encounter was definitely one of the highlights of the weekend.

Arriving at Sligneach Mor, we kitted up and dropped down the cliff. The site is similar to Auliston Point, just to the south of us at the corner of Loch Sunnart and was a new site for most of us. Underwater visibility improved as we moved west along the northern wall. The cliff overhung dramatically in places and there were countless crevices and gullies for fish to hide. Definitely worth further exploration.

Another calm and relaxing trip down the Sound of Mull in the late afternoon sunshine eventually found us a short distance from Lochaline, and another brilliant encounter with the resident White-tailed Sea Eagles. What a day!!

And what an evening, with 12 Pizzas on order at the Lochaline Social Club. A small amount of alcohol was also consumed (plus the malt whisky!), BUT…….. since it was an even earlier start on Sunday morning than it had been on Saturday, it was an early-ish night to bed for an 0645 “ropes off”.

Another glorious Day on the Sound of Mull greeted 12 rather tired divers. Not to worry, we could relax on the boat and enjoy the early morning sunshine, whilst Bodie took us up to the Calve island Cliff Face for our 1st dive of the day. Again a dramatic wall dropping to infinity with plenty still life and a reasonable number of fish. It was a bit crowded to start with, as 12 divers leapt off the boat, but we soon spread out and gave each other space.

Our final dive took us, no less, across the calm sea to the bottom end of the Isle of Coll and the Tapti. It sank just off Soa island on the east side of Coll in 1951. She is now quite well broken up, covered in soft corals, anemones and seaweed and is a safe haven for Pollock, Ballan and Cuckoo wrasse. I’m afraid that I’m old enough to have first dived Tapti in 1969. She was very much an intact ship back then, but as always happens, time and the sea has taken its toll on this very popular shipwreck.

After this last dive, a 4 hour cruise lay ahead to get us back to Lochaline. Nothing can beat the spectacular west of Scotland island scenery when the weather gods are on our side. The Ardnamurchan peninsular, Rum, Eigg and Muck lay ahead of us, with Coll to our west and the Treshnish isles to our south-east. Eventually we reached the still waters of the Sound of Mull. It would not be long now until we started down the road to the Corran ferry with a drive up through magnificent Glencoe, across the expanse of Rannoch Moor, the Black Mount and Strath Fillan and on to Loch Lomond side and the grid-locked traffic to the south of Luss.

Never mind, it was a small price to pay for what had been a fantastic weekend for the 12 members of the party. A VERY BIG thank you to Gordon Anderson for organising the trip and keeping this rabble together.

The Group was Gordon Anderson, David Richford, Jemma Anderson, Andrew Sinclair, Peter Gunn, John McNealis, Robert Winters, Shona Winters, Keith Waugh, with guests Nigel Spike, Paul Doyle & Eddie Adie.

Gordon must have had fun organising the trip because he is doing it all over again next year!!!!! You’d better start arranging the weather!

A Balmy weekend in Loch Sunart

June 2025

Story & Photos: Peter Gunn

On Friday 20th June six club members set off for a weekends diving at Loch Sunart staying at Laga Lodge self-catering, in the Laga bay area of Loch Sunart. Our trip began with very promising weather of clear skies and sunshine for the weekend with an unexpected heatwave forecast. An approximate journey time of 4 hours resulted in a slightly longer journey than expected, due to a road accident on the A82 which pushed our arrival time back an hour. Hopefully this was the only setback of the weekend…! Not really…. Andrew forgot to bring all his clothes and food for the weekend! At least he had packed the most important thing, his dive kit!

On arrival the road down to the lodge is very steep. Andrew was very confident he would have no issue driving down the steep narrow road and onto the beach to launch the Rib. We all admired Andrew's skilful driving as he managed no problem to get down the steep entrance and manoeuvre the trailer round for launching near the jetty which is ideally located directly outside the accommodation. After the Rib was launched and ready we unpacked and got our dive gear together. Due to the travel delay we thought it wise to dive a site closer to the accommodation so that this would allow enough time for boat handling training after the dive in the evening.

Sron Nam Brathan – near Laga Bay

Our first dive of the trip was at Sron Nan Brathan a steep boulder slope and reef with sections of rock walls directly around in the next bay a very short distance away. Having dived the site a few years ago I knew this would be a good dive to start with. Visibility was a good 6m. During our dive Gordon spotted a ray which we later found out was a juvenile Flapper Skate, a first for us all having never seen one before.

Juvenile Flapper Skate – Sron Nam Brathan

Arriving back at the lodge my task was to fill the empty cylinders for the following day and Andy took the rest of the group out for boat handing skills on the loch. With a successful day one over we enjoyed a late dinner with some refreshments on the balcony overlooking the bay.

The plan for day two was to make the most of the fantastic weather and ideal tides for a dive further out at the mouth of the Loch. Sligneash Mor north wall was the first target of the day. Having dived this site a good few years ago I remembered it was a fantastic dive with usually very good visibility and life. Dropping down the wall heading north we explored a beautiful rocky reef with vertical walls and overhangs covered in cup corals, masses of red and pink fingers, deadmans fingers and plumrose anemones. The site also attracted a large number of male and female Cuckoo wrasse and Pollock, which will be why there are lots of seals resting on the surface. This was also a very special dive for Cameron Kirkcaldy having completed his 100th dive at this site. A huge well done to him!!

With everyone safely back onboard Jemma took a turn at driving us back down the loch to change our cylinders for the second dive of the day which would be in the Risga Narrows. This dive started with a search and recovery dive as Davie managed to drop his weight belt while getting back on the boat… Not to worry! Myself, Andrew and Cameron decided to go look for it and after a 20 minute search of the seabed at 17m we managed to locate the weight belt, mark it with a DSMB and continue our dive which was in perfect slack conditions along the vertical walls in the narrow channel.

The evening consisted of boat handing skills on the loch and filling cylinders for the last day of our trip.

Davies weight belt found safe and well 😊

Gordon Kirkcaldy, Jemma Anderson and Cameron Kirkcaldy during Boat handling training.

On the last day the weather turned and we had a large downpour through the night with thunder and lightning. Conditions were still good enough to head out so we chose a site which was sheltered from any potential wind and currant on the north east point of Oronsay called Rubha nam Aisig wall. Glancing at the chart there appeared to be a large vertical wall here down to 40m directly from the surface. On closer inspection with the sounder, we managed to locate the site we intended to drop in at. This site was less exposed to the tides and appeared to be siltier along the wall than the other sites, but still had a good amount of life along the entire length of the wall and reef at the far end.

For the second dive of the day we chose a more exposed site on the north point of Carna which looked like another wall down to 25m. When descending to the wall the currant began picking up and we enjoyed a gentle but consistent tidal flow along the wall which was covered in deadmens fingers. The current eventually stopped and dropped us on a large flame shell reef. I began showing Gordon the flame shell “nests” and how to find the flame shells inside. With the diving over for the weekend we headed back to Laga bay a short distance away to pack up our kit and take the boat out the water ready for our journey back home.

Rubha an Aisig Mhoir wall/drift– Carna

A fantastic weekend had by all, I can’t recommend Laga Lodge enough as a base for diving the Loch Sunart area. Andy and Allison at the lodge could not have been more welcoming and helpful during our stay. If anyone is interested in booking or looking for more information you can visit their website: https://selfcatering-ardnamurchan.co.uk/

A special mention has to go to Andrew Sinclair who spent a lot of time training boat handling and diver Coxswain during this trip. Everyone was very grateful for the time and effort Andrew put in. He is an asset to the club. The trip also wouldn’t have been possible without Andrew towing the boat for us and launching in the bay which I have to say takes some skill!

The party consisted of: Peter Gunn, Andrew Sinclair, Jemma Anderson, Gordon Kirkcaldy, Cameron Kirkcaldy and David Richford.

Night Diving

by Keith Waugh

Introduction

In Scotland we are lucky to have such a varied and diverse coastline in which to dive, from the islands and long sea lochs on the west coast, to Orkney’s Scapa Flow and Shetland Islands to the north and the dramatic seascapes and reefs of the east coast and south east corner of Scotland. Nutrients and warmish water flow in, aided by the Gulf Stream and North Atlantic Drift. However, it is this nutrient laden current which also brings in limited underwater visibility. At certain times of the year, the underwater visibility can result in almost night dive conditions at depth, even in the middle of the day!!!

These more “challenging” underwater conditions can be a useful and gentle introduction to full night diving conditions. Some might ask; “Why would you want to dive at night, in the pitch dark?” Good question, which I will try to answer. I will also, if I may, suggest how night diving can be done with maximum safety, as well as enjoyment.

Why Night Dive?

The main joy of night diving is that you will often see creatures which only come out to roam and feed at night. For example, in November there is a good chance of seeing the very small Bobtail Squid or Cuttlefish. Norway Lobsters and Common Lobsters are more likely to be on the prowl at night and various fish species may be found “sleeping” under rocks. They hardly move, caught in your diving light beam. If you turn out your diving light, you may see microscopic bio-luminescent creatures giving off a light show, as you move your hands or fins in the water. Your exhaled air bubbles may also cause a light display. It looks like the Milky Way…… underwater! Above all, the colours of the seascape can appear more vivid caught in the beam of your diving light.

Night diving can be an exhilarating and exciting experience, however there is the potential for things to not go according to plan, so Night Diving should not be undertaken by new or inexperienced divers. Most of us live in towns and cities where we nearly always have good street lighting at night. It may therefore be quite a surprise to realise how dark it really is in the countryside or on the coast. It really is pitch black, especially on a moonless night. Underwater it will be black ink black!!!

Diver experience

Consequently, you need to be a confident, reasonably experienced diver, very familiar with diving techniques, with your equipment and have logged a good number of dives under different conditions. You should, of course, be diving with an experienced Night Diving buddy diver. Nevertheless, it is important to have some “self-reliant” skills. For example, you should know, by touch alone, where all your equipment is located; your diving computer, your compass, your air contents gauge, your suit inflation and deflation valves, your alternate air source, your BCD dump valves, etc. You should be confident that your equipment has been well maintained and is in perfect working order. No leaky hoses or dodgy “o” ring seals!!! You should also be carrying at least one fully charged and reliable underwater light, which you will be using through-out the night dive!!

Underwater visibility will be limited to what you can see in your diving light beam, so you need to know exactly where your buddy diver is located at all times. Good, clear and concise hand signal communication with him/her is essential. Obviously, you should keep fairly close to your buddy, but one advantage of night diving is that you will probably be able to see the glow from your buddy’s diving light at quite a distance. This should not be used as an excuse for poor or sloppy “buddy diving”!! However, if you do become “slightly separated!?!?”, you should be able to locate your buddy again, if you have not strayed too far apart, but watch it!! Diving experience and “self-reliant” skills will be an asset in these circumstances to avoid stress or anxiety, as it is very easy to become separated on a night dive.

It is all too easy to become disorientated underwater on a night dive. There is no sun shining down through the water to guide you and there is a very limited view of your surroundings, reef walls, the sloping seabed, etc, so it is for this reason that you should set your compass for the direction of the shore. As you will already be familiar with the dive site, facing the direction of the shore should help re-establish your orientation in the water.

Communication

So, how do we communicate underwater? A specific set of “diving light” signals has been developed over the years and can be found in various diving manuals and publications. This involves waving your diving light around in a manner similar to semaphore. However, I suggest that as most of us do not night dive too often, it would be more appropriate to just use the “normal” hand signals we use during daylight dives. The difference at night is that you use your diving light beam to illuminate your hand signal, whilst being careful NOT to shine your diving light in your buddy’s face!! S/he will not be at all pleased to be dazzled and, of course, it is potentially dangerous, as many modern diving lights emit a very powerful beam which, at close proximity, could damage eyesight!! PLEASE Be Careful!!

It will not have escaped your notice that most diving gear, for some reason I do not understand, is BLACK! Not very helpful in the night diving scenario, so once again, we have a good reason for not straying too far from your buddy as you might not be able to actually see him/her more than a couple of metres away!!

Planning a Night Dive: I offer these suggestions.

The Dive site should be well known, with minimal current, a sloping seabed, reef or wall with a known reasonable maximum depth. There should be good road access** if it is a shore site with easy access across the beach area to the water.
Avoid adverse sea and weather conditions. This is meant to be fun!!
Appropriate Expedition positions should be appointed; ie Expedition Leader, Beachmaster, Safety Officer, Dive Leaders, Standby Diver, etc as required.
Full Dive briefing by the Expedition Leader and Records kept.
Entry/exit point(s) should be marked with lights/flashing lights.
Buddy pairs ideal, or maximum of 3 divers together.
PROPER buddy gear checks prior to entry.
Avoid dives deeper than 30 metres.
Avoid dives requiring decompression stops (other than Safety Stop)
Maximum dive duration of 1 hour.

** Good road access required in case of an emergency requiring evacuation to medical facilities or access for “Search & Rescue” assets. Having an incident is bad enough, having it at night, with difficult access, just complicates the issue ten-fold.

The Diver & Personal Diving Gear

As underwater visibility will be limited, more or less, to what can be seen in a torch beam:

Divers must be fully familiar with their own diving gear.
Each diver is already experienced to the target depth.
Brightly coloured diving gear where possible.
Each diver has own emergency independent air supply if possible.
Each diver has a diving light and a backup diving light.
Each diver has a compass AND it is set to point to the shore!!!
Buddy & signals check prior to the start of the dive.

During the dive you should be aware at all times of the location of your buddy. This should be quite easy, as you will see the glare from his/her diving light beside you. However, it is quite easy to become distracted by a critter under a ledge or rock and before you know it, your buddy is a very faint glow in the distance!! Oops!! That “distance” may be only 3 or 4 metres, but it could be enough to be of “concern” or start an incident.

At the end of the diving, it should go without saying, that the Expedition Leader checks that everyone is confirmed out of the water!! Before you leave the dive site and head for home, do a double check that all that black coloured diving equipment has been safely stowed away and not left lying around the ground or the bushes, cunningly disguised in its black finish!! It could otherwise turn out to be a very expensive night dive. Having done all that, have another, absolutely final check around!!!

Additional Facilities

It is highly likely that most night diving in Scotland will take place from late autumn through to early spring, when night falls early in the day. This will invariably mean that the evenings/nights could be rather chilly. It is therefore absolutely essential to provide yourself with food, hot drink and plenty of warm clothing, such as anoraks, changing robes, hats and gloves. Your normally quite acceptably warm dry suit and thermal under garments may not “cut the mustard”, especially if you are standing around between dives. You should also be equipped with an ordinary torch and/or head torch for moving around the pitch-dark diving site. Don’t waste your diving light battery!!!

Night Boat Diving

Boat diving at night opens up a whole new area. However, everything above applies plus making arrangements to enable divers to find their way back to the boat as the dive draws to an end. The boat should be well illuminated both above and below water. If diving from a “liveaboard” or “Day” boat, there should be a tender/inflatable boat to enable diver pickup. However, this tender boat presents a risk of running over unseen surfaced divers!! When divers surface at the end of a boat night dive, it is a good idea to keep your diving light on, until you are picked up. Alternatively, if you are carrying a strobe light, turn it on so that everyone knows where you are!!

Conclusion

Night diving presents us with new challenges, however, with proper training and experience any risks are minimised and understood. The limited visibility, the complete blackness of the water, the feeling of being completely on your own, make it essential that you have some “self- reliant” skills. This, in itself, is a controversial subject for another time and place.

Having said that, night diving can be a thrilling experience and present you with a new aspect of interest, give you a new visual experience, interest and understanding of the creatures we enjoy seeing underwater. Above all, night diving will add to your skills and confidence underwater.

This article is just an introduction to the concept of Night Diving. Much more information is available on the internet. If the idea of a Night Dive appeals, then please speak to experienced Night Diving members of the Club.