SHEEPHAVEN SAC welcomed 19 visiting divers from Portmarnock and Kish SAC’s last week and they experienced mixed weather that impacted on their diving as a result.
The visitors sought out local advice of the best dive sites available, as the conditions varied over the week with the wind firmly fixed from the north the benefit of shelter in Mulroy Bay came to forefront.
They particularly enjoyed the drift dives at the First Narrows, while out to sea when the opportunity arose they got to dive the Black Rock, the Kalliopis and Duncap Head.
Sheephaven divers got to conduct a number of dives over the weekend, with a dive at Goat Island North Water Mulroy Bay on Saturday morning, where they conducted a one stick dive to a depth of 30 metres for duration of 38 minutes.
In-water visibility was not great at less than five metres, but the water was a very comfortable 16 degrees Celsius, in contrast to the air temperature which had dipped to 10 degrees.
On Sunday morning the 19 Sheephaven divers who were out were divided between three locations, with snorkelers in the water in Portnablagh, divers on a boat dive at the Frenchmans Rock and another boatload of divers at Duncap Head.
The north wind had settled and with it the seas had calmed down and the in-water visibility much improved, to well over 10 metres horizontally.
In Portnablagh the Sheephaven snorkelers were joined by visitors from University Limerick and Queen’s University Belfast, where they got to experience a little bit of what Donegal open water has to offer.
The Frenchmans dive was to 30 metres for over 40 minutes and as always the fish life was spectacular, with loads of Lobsters and especially a Monkfish to delight the divers.
The Duncap Head dive was a trainee dive to maximum of 20 metres for over 40 minutes, while other divers got a dive to 28 metres for over 30 minutes and all got to observe the wonderful rock structure that makes up the dive site.
On the way back to Portnablagh, Sheephaven divers were able to assist three Portnablagh kayakers who were in the right place to carry out a demanding rescue off the Horn Head cliffs on Sunday morning.
Two Border Collies dogs had got into bother when rounding up sheep and fell down the cliff face, with one actually falling into the sea.
The kayakers responded to the farmers call for help and got the first dog of out of the water and then transferred it across to the Sheephaven SAC boat, which had been passing nearby at the time.
The kayakers then turned their attention to climbing the cliff face, rescuing the second dog and passing it up into the hands of the relieved farmer.
The first dog then got a quick boat ride across the bay to PortnaBlagh, to be shortly joined by its colleague – thankfully neither where the worse for their experience.
The three daring kayakers were Boyd Robinson, Jeremy Worth and Pauric McGinty.
Jeremy Worth with the rescued dogs
