Trip Report – Click here for images

The venue for the club’s June Bank Holiday trip this year was Achill Island. Reflecting on the bleak, windswept and wet conditions that prevailed during the 2005 trip to Achill, the Committee decided to address the ‘weather issue’. As a result, a fatted Trainee was sacrificed to the Sun God, Lugh, during last Thursday’s Pool Session. Lugh was not found wanting and duly delivered with three fabulous days of sunshine, blue skies, high temperatures and flat-calm conditions.

Some twenty divers, and accompanying entourage converged on Achill on Friday evening with both RIBs and compressor in tow. On Saturday morning the RIBs were launched from the harbour adjacent to the accommodations. The harbour location is not being disclosed so as to prevent other dive clubs from discovering its whereabouts. The first dive of the day was at The Bills – some fifty minutes from Achill. The literary flourishes of Eamonn would be required to do justice to the quality of the diving at this dive site. Suffice it to say that superlatives such as ‘super’, ‘great’ and ‘fantastic’ were being used to describe the conditions.

On return to Achill, tanks were re-filled and both RIBs headed for the south side of nearby Inishgalloon Island for an enjoyable if somewhat less spectacular dive. The return trip to Achill, however, was enlivened by the special guest appearance of a Basking Shark. As a result of my extensive studies in the area of marine biology and years of painstaking research into sea mammals, I can inform you that the Basking Shark (or Centorhinus Maximus as the club’s many Latin scholars would have it) is a filter-feeding shark that grows to approximately 10m in length. Estimates as to the length of the Shark observed in Achill vary but approximately 6m would not be an exaggeration. It is grayish brown to black to bluish on the upper surface and off-white or darker on its belly. It swims like Peter F sleeps – with its mouth open – consuming masses of water filled with prey including plankton, baby fish, and fish eggs. After closing its mouth, the shark uses gill rakers that filter the nourishment from the water. Gill rakers are bristly structures about 4inches / 100mm in length in the shark’s mouth that trap the small organisms that the shark then swallows. The Basking Shark is not aggressive but can get a bit stroppy after a few beers. They normally reach sexual maturity at about 2-4 years – a slightly older age than the average northsider.

Having spotted the shark, many divers quickly donned masks and fins and entered the water to take a closer look. This is in stark contrast to most developed countries where upon hearing the word ‘shark’ people generally exit the water as quickly as possible and seek sanctuary. The suggestion that both RIBs be used to drive the shark onto rocks so we could club it to death with our weight belts and feast on shark fin soup was deemed inappropriate. A third dive was squeezed in before we headed to the Achill Head Hotel for a meal and a session.

On Sunday both RIBs returned to The Bills for another excellent dive. Congrats to trainee Coxswains Sean and Cathal for their top-class boat handling. In the afternoon, the RIBs headed to separate dive sites. Martello1 returned to Inishgalloon Island while Martello2 went a little further to the foot of Minaun Cliffs. Congratulations to Liz who successfully completed her first Irish water dive at Inishgalloon. Given the balmy conditions, Leah and Deirdre decided we should have a BBQ and promptly designated Colin’s apartment as the venue. In fairness it did have the best view – see image gallery below. A chilled-out evening ensued and was enjoyed by all until an unfortunate incident involving ladies of ill-repute, undergarments and the Church of Ireland. You had to be there.

On Monday two dives took place at Minaun Cliffs before we returned to Achill and The Bee Hive for lunch. Those club members with real jobs took their leave of Achill on Monday evening while various slackers stayed put to enjoy an extra day or two of superb weather and excellent diving. Many thanks to Leah for organising great accommodations not only adjacent to the launch site and a good watering hole but with superb views thrown in for good measure. Thanks too to John N who left behind great weather and a BBQ and undertook to return Martello2 to Dublin on Sunday evening.

Trainees please note, we will be sacrificing one of you shortly to appease the Sun God Lugh prior to the Club Week in Downings, Co. Donegal from June 24th to July 1st. Please ensure that you are suitably fattened.

8th June, 2006

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