Sheephaven divers took full advantage of last week’s continuation of good weather to get onto dive sites new to a number of the club members, as well as providing boat cover for the canoe element of the Coastal Challenge.

The Wednesday evening Trainee dive was led by Anne Boyle to the lagoon between Inishinney and Chloc Glas near Burtonport. The two boat dive party put out in the beautiful warm summers evening from Burtonport Pier and travelled around the coast to moor in the secluded lagoon between Inishinney Island and the mainland.

This dive site is very well protected from the sea and with a maximum depth of 6 meters it is ideal for trainees and snorkelers. As the dive leaves the lagoon there is an exit to the north that has a swim-through under a sea arch that is nearly a cathedral window in portions and appearance, a very special dive indeed.

Once out of the swim-through the divers can turn right into deeper water of at least 20 meters or left into water no deeper than 10 meters, depending on the diver’s maximum depth. Wednesday evenings dive benefited from in-water visibility of no less than 10 meters and water temperature recorded at 18 degrees, unheard off for most divers in these parts. For further information regarding this dive site and indeed other sites in this area check out the Rosses Snorkelers website and Facebook account for details of the locations and access points.

Saturday morning’s club dive was to the Kalliopis off Melmore Head, directly after Sheephaven divers provided boat cover to the canoe element of the Coastal Challenge. Sheephaven divers arrived on site at 8.00am as the first canoeists were leaving Killhoey and remained on scene until after 12.00 noon when the last had completed the 2 km crossing to PortnaBlagh Pier.

Once the Sheephaven divers had completed their cover boat obligations they then proceeded across the bay to Melmore Head where they got onto the site of the wreck of the Kalliopis. Once again the dive was enhanced by the near perfect sea conditions, outstanding water visibility and warm temperatures, maximum depth was 25m with dive times of over 40 minutes.

The first stick of divers dropped directly onto the three boilers and then travelled North West along the series of gullies that radiate out from the wreck site. Initially fish life was limited but later in the dive there was a lot of Pollock, both large and juvenile. For the second stick of divers the dive also commenced on the boilers but they then moved onto the propeller shaft and gearbox and enjoyed one of the best dive sites in the area.

Sunday morning’s Trainee dive was back to Burtonport and the opportunity to get onto another rarely visited dive site due to its exposed location near to Aranmore Lighthouse. The general area is known as Barracowan Bay which has a huge sea stack called the Giants Reek along with other exposed rocks and inlets.

The two boat dive party was conducted as a one-stick dive thanks to Anne Boyle who provided dry coxswain duties and to Joe Neely who directed the boats to the site. The maximum depth on this site is over 30 meters and so the divers were dropped off at locations that allowed them to conduct the dive in accordance with their diver grade. As in the other recent dives the water visibility was at least 10 meters horizontally and water temperature was no lower than 14 degrees Celsius, with dive times were up to 40 minutes

As scenic as the site is on the surface the marine life underwater was equally as impressive including Potato Crisp Bryzoan, Dogfish, shoals of Pollock, Wrasse, Nudibracks, various colour combinations of Jewel Anemones, Lobsters and a Conger Eel. Another top class dive for Sheephaven divers in this series of amazing summer dives.