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Alternative Names: Ferry point
Type of Dive: Shore
Suggested experience: Confident Ocean Diver upwards
Travel directions: Situated on the North shore of Loch Etive, past Bonawe Village
Parking directions: Park considerately by the wreck of an old boat at the car parking area. Google
Distance from Oban: 15 Miles 35 Mins Google Glasgow: 102 Miles 2hrs 31 mins Google
Lat & Long: N56.447143 W-5.228779
Tides: Tide tables
Depth: 30m available, tho’ we stayed around 15m for the bright sunlight
Site entry/exit: Enter either from the old slipway or over the rocks to the left. At certain times of the tide you can simply step in (and out)
Underwater directions: Swim along the wall/slope to the left to your turn around point. There’s a mix of bottom structure from kelp in the shallows to coarse Granite sand with copious amount of fingered sponges (Halichondria bowerbankii) and large outcrops of solid rock hiding deeper chasms on the other sides. Watch your timing on the way back to the entry point and begin ascending appropriately halfway back to come up into little bays of coarse sand and kelp, otherwise you may be taken past the end of the slipway and round the corner where exit becomes more difficult as the rocks are larger and more vertical.
Site Hazards: Rocky entry, currents at all mid tide times, Anglers use the site to fish from.
Nearest Public phone:
Accommodation: Connel (we were camping at Two Boat Bay)
Mobile Network service: O2 works fine
Other comments: This can be a fun dive when done on the first two hours of the Ebb tide as there’s an Eddy current in this area that takes you on a gentle drift UP the loch, as you’ll see from the sponges all leaning that way, til you get to 9-10 metres depth when it reverses completely and then takes one DOWN the loch. Again, you’ll see the sponges bending in that direction too. Also NOTE, this won’t happen on a Flood Tide, the underwater topography doesn’t allow it, ie, you’ll HAVE to swim against the current to come home.
Pub: We took our own as we were camping
Created by: Dive Tramp
Cafe: A couple of good cafes in Benderloch
Air & Nitrox fills: Puffin divers & The underwater centre
Date: 29-01-11
Revision:
Thanks To: UK Hydrographers Office for producing nice accurate charts so we can plan dives like these.... ;-)
Links: None
Surface Photos:
Underwater Photos:
Dive Map: Not required
Dive Report:
Live google map: