Trip Report – Click here for images

Achill Island was the destination for this year’s June Bank Holiday weekend. Some 25 divers travelled west accompanied by wives, husbands, partners, lovers, off-spring, family pets, RIBs and compressors. To cater for the large number, nine apartments / houses were booked at Club Achill – a stones throw from the launch site at Purteen Pier. We had hoped for a repeat of the excellent weather we enjoyed on Achill in 2006 and this was certainly the case on Sunday and Monday. Saturday, however, was more reminiscent of the weather ‘enjoyed’ during the St. Patrick’s weekend trip to Kilkee. As a result, no diving took place on Saturday. For evening entertainment we contented ourselves with (repeated) viewings of the DVD of the Red Sea trip before heading to the Achill Head Hotel for a few beers.

On Sunday Achill seemed like another country as the poor weather had travelled eastwards to be replaced by abundant sunshine, blue skies and high temperatures. At 0900 both RIBs departed Purteen Pier with a full complement of divers heading for The Bills. Conditions were a little swelly and visibility was a little murky but a reasonable dive was to be had. After the dive, the latest member of the club’s Dry Suit Brigade was extolling the virtues of dry suit diving claiming not only was she warm and dry but she had also enjoyed the initial squeeze. Aforementioned member and her dry suit were spotted later on that evening having a quiet candle-lit dinner together. The ranks of the Club Diver Brigade were also augmented over the weekend as Owen successfully completed the two-star practical and theoretical tests. Congratulations. A further two dives took place in the afternoon. A more comprehensive report on these dives would be provided were it not for the distraction of the (drawn) SFC meeting of Dublin and Meath.

On Monday morning, eight divers set off for The Bills again but conditions there were not conducive to diving so we headed for Keem instead. Eight divers soon became seven as one went ashore to study the local flora and fauna. We returned to Keem beach in the afternoon for a shore dive and some al fresco fine dining before hitting for home. Thanks as always to all those who organised, towed and DO’d over the weekend.

June 5th, 2007

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