2024 #60 Dive 295 LSAC ISAC Dive Week River Etive 12 11 24

First dive on day four from last week's joint Lochaber / Inverness Sub Aqua Clubs' (LSAC/ISAC) dive week in Lochaber.

This for me was the highlight dive of the whole week (which is why it has a video all to itself).

I'd always wanted to dive the Rive Etive, as I'd heard it was an impressive and atmospheric dive, and I certainly was not disappointed!

The site in question is a short stretch of the river cut deep into the bedrock on the eastern side of the Buachailie Etive Mòr. It is around 150m in length and is accessed via a wide collecting pool down stream of the gorged section of the river. The plan was for the four of us, in two pairs to submerge and make our way upstream to the waterfall, which is the point where we can't go further, then turn around and gently drift dive back to the pool.

Before entering, my dive buddy, Gerard (who'd dived it before) told me that if I got lost here, I'd "have my diving qualifications revoked and be bumped back down to Try Dive level".

All went well as we made our way upstream (no current to speak of, as the water level was low for the time of year). We made our way through narrow, rocky submarine crevasses with huge tumbled stones and into dark and moody basins full of small rounded pebbles (6.3m max depth), past a sleepy solitary brown trout, and on till we saw the tell-tale bubbles of the waterfall (which was no more than a babbling trickle).

We then turned for the return part of our dive.

After a while Gerard and I lost sight of Tom & Jacquelyn, who were ahead of us. Soon after, we reached a deep part of the river with many large boulders and passageways. Not knowing the route myself, I signalled for Gerard to lead, and guess what, we swam round a huge boulder and unknowingly, proceeded to do the dive all over again.

It was only when we reached the 'waterfall' once more that we realised our error. So we surfaced and gently floated back downstream. This added to our experience of being able to view the ravine from the water's surface.

A truly awesome dive!

Turns out we were only a couple of metres from the exit point. Hey-ho. Gerard and I enjoyed a 47 minute dive in 5°C water and loved every minute of it.

I think our diving party also caused confusion amongst any passing tourists, when in the midst of hillwalking and mountaineering country, they came across a group of SCUBA divers.

Gerard and I are now looking forward to booking our Try Dives soon:-)

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