By Cha Power
Editor’s Introduction
For its two weeks in SW Ireland, Yellow was happily moored on a pontoon in the picturesque harbour of Portmagee. This small community earns much of its income from international tourists keen to pay €180 a head to visit the Skelligs.
Skellig Michael is home to a UNESCO World Heritage Site 6th century monastery and, along with Little Skellig, officially designated an Important Bird Area (IBA), as the state of yellow by the end of the week testified! These days, Skellig Michael is best known globally as having featured in Star Wars, which explains the number of former fishing and diving skippers who are happily benefiting from the tourist trade.
Cha was Dive Manager for Week 1 and overall Local Liaison Officer – a role he executed very successfully, despite being an ‘outsider’ from neighbouring Cork. Thanks to his skills, we were able to drop empty cylinders off every evening at a large shed 20 minutes’ drive away over a VERY steep hill with three killer hairpin bends. There, Willy – one of the aforementioned diveboat-turned-tourist-boat skippers – filled them for collection the following morning.
So much for a bit of context. Now enjoy Cha’s run-down of what proved to be a week of constant delight, with near-perfect conditions enabling us to enjoy world-class diving every day.
… and so to Week Two
So driving to the airport to pick up the Week Two group, I heard something on Irish radio that I am not sure I have heard before: ‘Ireland is now in an official heatwave and a hosepipe ban is coming into operation’. The good weather we’d enjoyed on Week One was set to continue …
I was excited to be meeting up with everyone and delighted to be able to introduce them to some of best diving in Ireland. We wished Happy Birthday to Elaine and a welcome to County Kerry. England beat Norway … Hey Jude. Good omens for the week ahead!
Ropes off in a heatwave (photo: Cha’s friend, Denise) + the Week 2 team: Marta (DM),Matt Brown, Elaine, Cha, Nick H. Sasha & Vineet and (most importantly) our cox’n for the week, David. Note the lifejackets – a legal requirement in Ireland.
The ‘warm-up’ dive was just outside the marina: Cuas* Diarmuid – a pinnacle with a mixture of soft corals, jewel anemones, crayfish, crabs, lobster, catshark/dogfish, wrasse and pollock – the stables for the week. *Pronounced ‘coose’ and meaning a cave or cove.
Dive 2 was special. Bray Head (‘split rocks’) was just off a picturesque headland on the Island of Valentia – a sloping reef with what seemed like acres of dahlia anemones, brightly coloured nudibranchs and crayfish hanging out as if they were proud gardeners showing off their work. Beautiful [and for those of us just arrived, already enough to send us home happy!].
The first view of the Skelligs is always impressive. As we got closer, the two islands – Skellig Michael and Little Skellig – rose from the depths. We were greeted by thousands of gannets flying above us gleaming in the sunshine. What a noise! Then of course there are the stunning dives. Sheer walls with a mixture of dead man’s fingers, jewel and dahlia anemones. Red or Portuguese blennies were sharing with tompot blennies on the shallower parts of the reef.
The next dive was under the helipad on Skellig Michael. It looked a real challenge to land a helicopter there! The reefs had walls of purple, green, pink and yellow jewel anemones in crystal clear water.
Yes, the vis really was this good, the colours this bright and the cliffs this sheer! (photos: Matt B & Marta)
We saw our first tangle net of the week. They are set at about 10m to trap crayfish and anything else that swims into them. We were pleased the vis was so good that we could easily avoid them.
On Tuesday, we did Washerwomen’s Rock, as conditions were kind. The dive takes you down plunging cliffs covered in life, bare of kelp due to the constant movement of water over the rocks. At 30m we could see clearly to greater depths – probably 50m+. The dive was slightly marred by the tangle net across the top of the reef, which we needed to negotiate while putting up an SMB in a sudden and flukey current.
Washerwoman’s Rock [photos: Matt B & Marta]
Seal Cove may not have given us seals on the dive but the underwater topography did not disappoint. Sculptured, smooth, curved rocks; deep crevices, inviting us in; and the odd bit of detritus from the Lighthouse. Why was there a hacksaw at 20m…?
Seal Cove above and below the water [photos: Matt B]
That evening we did a beach clean on Ballinskelligs Beach as part of the BSAC Marine Champion scheme. We also did some beachcombing for mermaids purses as part of the previous week’s project and did find a few. To be fair the beach was pretty clean but we nevertheless searched hard for flotsam and discarded rubbish.
The day I decided to have a rest, a large shoal of dolphins came to visit and play, which is what happens when you take a day off! Luckily Matt recorded a great video of Crawfish Reef [watch it on Youtube] and took photos of those elusive dolphins.
Dolphins enjoying playing with Yellow as it motors at a perfect 4kn [photos: Matt B]
The last two days always seem to speed up. Great dives with new buddies on Lemon Rock and Skellig Michael under the old lighthouse. Lemon Rock reef felt like a mountain range with jagged ridges on it – an outstanding dive. Skellig Michael had a shoal of pollock hanging in the current and wrasse swimming up and down. Mussel beds could be found at 10m [as can Elaine’s weightbelt!]. I do like people who sing and clap underwater and we were definitely enjoying ourselves!
Muscle beds, a sea spider and a rather handsome (singing?) lobster on the last dive on Skellig Michael [photos: Marta]
Marta and I did a night dive with South Kerry Dive Club, with Vineet keeping us company. It was past midnight before we got in the water but it was worth the wait. All the usual suspects – crayfish, lobster, conger – but also strange worms swimming in the torch light and a bobtail squid made an appearance. Huge shoals of tiny fish seemed to be attacking our lights when we got to shallow water.
The bioluminescence was fantastic – we turned off our torches and sparked up on the safety stop. The bioluminescence continued to be visible in the wash from the RIB on the way back into port. Vineet spotted Sky Lab passing overhead and the Milky Way and stars were so close you could touch them. This area is an International Dark Sky Gold Tier reserve and the only one in the Northern Hemisphere. This was the first night I had been up late enough for it to be dark, as the sun didn’t set until well past 10pm!.
Bobtail squid and delighted night-divers [photos: Marta & Vineet]
When we got back to the harbour we had the surreal experience of being interviewed by TG4 (Teilfis na Gaelige Ceathair – an Irish language TV station) as part of a programme on what people do at night. The interview was in both Irish and English and South Kerry’s Diving Officer Gearoid did a fine job. ‘Go halainn ar fad‘ was a phrase used quite a bit, meaning ‘absolutely beautiful’. I am still not sure what Vineet and Marta made of it but I am sure this night will stay with us all for a long time.
Last day dives are always a wind down but we still enjoyed great sites at South Puffin Island, with fantastic vis. Lots of mermaid purses and again some sheer cliffs without much kelp. For the first time that week, we had a bumpy ride home due to the wind.
Because it would be a shame not to publish them, three of the many nudis photographed by Marta during the week
There was lots to do to get the boat ready for its next adventure but there was great teamwork, with everyone pitching in. I was lucky enough to be staying on, giving me a bit of time to process what for me was the second of two weeks’ of amazing diving.
It was fantastic week – thanks to everyone who made it happen!
The view from our cottage at sunrise [photo: Elaine] and enjoying the late sunset [photo: Sasha]
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