SHEEPHAVEN SUB AQUA CLUB NOTES.
Sheephaven SAC dived The Arch behind Horn Head on Saturday morning in excellent weather and sea conditions. They left Downings in sunshine and took dive boat Bríd around to The Arch, where they conducted a two stick dive under the leadership of Paul Mc Cabe.
Dive times of nearly 50 minutes were recorded in depths of 25 metres, with in-water visibility that was very good at nearly 10 metres horizontally, while water temperature remains a comfortable 10 degrees Celsius.
The Arch is only accessible in good sea conditions as it very exposed to swell, but when dived it is has a wonderful combination of rock formation features that sets it out as one of the best sites in the region.
Starting from the eastern side of The Arch in 10 metres the dive profile rises up to go through the underway lip of the Arch and after that it falls away quickly to over 20 metres.
The sea bed is a mixture of large rock slabs and big cobbles until it rises up to 10 metres where there is an extensive kelp park.
If the diver keeps to their right they will begin to descend to 25 metres and onto an extensive area of gullies and rock pavements, which provide cover for a considerable amount of Ballan Wrasee and Pollock. Alternatively if the diver goes to their left they can enter a cave that is worth the dive in its own right.
Non-fish marine life of note included the very delicate looking Gas Lamp Sea Squirts, as well as various Anemones and Sponges. Other divers on-site this morning included Nicky Jackson and his crew and two boat loads of visiting divers from Alphamarine SAC from Co. Meath.
On Sunday with the continuation of the excellent weather and sea conditions Sheephaven divers got to dive another of the iconic dive sites around the region when they got onto The Kalliopis.
They left Mevagh with two dive boats, Áine and Bríd and travelled around to Tormore just north of the Rosguill Peninsula, where the wreck of the Kalliopis lies in depths between 15 and 20 metres.
The dive was conducted in two sticks, with maximum dive times of around 40 minutes in good water conditions. Water temperature was 11 degrees Celsius, while in-water visibility as under 10 metres.
It is always a thrill to dive on a wreck and this one has a lot of its wreckage remaining on site, including its oil fired boilers, steam engine and propeller shaft in one area of the site and the bow plates along with windlass and anchor chains it another part of the site. Another wonderful Donegal dive weekend conducted in perfect weather conditions.
On Monday Sheephaven Search and Recovery Unit was called out by the Irish Coast Guard to render assistance in the search for a missing person, feared lost near Scraggy Bay on the western side of Lough Swilly.
In a joint operation involving the Lough Swilly RNLI lifeboat, the Derek Bullivant, the local Coast Guard Unit from Mulroy Bay and the Irish Coast Guard helicopter the casualty was recovered by the Sheephaven Search and Recovery unit after a dive search of over one hour’s duration.
Sheephaven SAR wishes to extend their thanks to all involved for the use of local facilities and boat, which were an essential part of the speedy conclusion of this search and the return of the casualty to his family.
Finally the club wishes to express their sincere condolences to the family and friends of the casualty, Ar dheis Dé go raibh a anam.
