Guides
Lochaline Wall Dive
This dive is a favourite with both the tech diving community and recreational divers as its a sheer wall from the surface down to 100m, it's a great dive but if your buoyancy control isn't spot on then try a shore dive up the Sound of Mull a little from the small free car park.
Recommended suppliers
Latest Photographs
'Who is that hiding under there?'
A general topographical shot, there are several large stone pinnacles on the site, the largest rising maybe 4m from the seabed and with a circumference of 50m. They do degrade over time as they are formed from a softish rock and do receive a battering every year from Southerly and Easterly storms.
A King....or Common....or Great Scallop (Pecten maximus) this one was just about to 'jet off'.
The common edible crab (cancer pagarus) you tend to get only smaller ones in shallow water but there are still plenty of them about.
A Velvet Swimming Crab (Necora puber) hiding under a Dead Mans Finger (Alcyonium digitatum), there can be quite a few creepy crawlies hidden away you simply have to take the time and look!
Everywhere that you look the bottom isn't bedrock, it is formed from sections of ship.
Scenic stuff with Poor Cod, Pout and other small baitfish amoung the ribs and spars
A Long Clawed Squat Lobster (Munida rugosa) this one had set up shop in an old broken bottle which I guess forms a good and secure home.
These are the outer cases built by a Sand Mason (Lanice conchilega) which filter 'bits' from the water. On occasion you can see them high and dry when there is an exceptionally low spring tide.
The general topography...... the rocks are not as smooth as you may expect considering the considerable tidal forces but the surfaces are smothered with various filter feeders which thrive in the oft moving flow!
On the southern side the edge is under-cut close to the deep gutter, with various critters living in the space under the rock
Kelp (Family laminariales) does tend to be quite a long lived plant with the stem above say the first twenty centimeters quite a safe place for a plant to grow without the risk of sea-urchins 'browsing' you away. In this case dulse and other sea-weed encases the stem, making an eco-system up in the water column!
A scenic of a couple of divers with part of the superstructure infront of them.
The bedrock here is rather undulating and carpetted in Dead Mans Finger (Alcyonium digitatum), it's pretty obvious that it is 'very' tidal!
Where the sandstone bedrock 'pokes through' the boulders it is worn into some fantastical shapes
Gas works!
Lost fishing net, at least its not monofilament drift or tangle net!
After the 'engine bits' there is an area where it's like a giant meccano kit, protruding maybe 4ft out of the sand.
A very scenic dip with dead mans fingers (Alcyonium digitatum) covering hard rock with boulders in some of the larger gullies.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
