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Ullapool Diving

Scuba diving > UK diving > Scotland > Ullapool diving
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Ullapool dive guide
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Ullapool offers some of the best diving in Scotland. The undewater life is prolific and the numerous dive sites are impressive.
The dive sites go from enormous caverns, to wrecks covered in soft corals and anemones, superb caves and really great walls.

Always dive according to your level of training. Never enter the water without checking with the local dive center for safety, additional information, level required for each dive site and without being accompanied by a professional. All the information provided is purely informative for our readers and shouldn't be used as is to plan your immersion.

Visibility is excellent and can go up to 30 metres (98 feet)in summer
Best time to dive: Late May and June
but water clarity is optimal in August and September.

The waters around the islands are warmed by the Gulf Stream giving a rich marine environment. The winds vary here but on this coastline there is almost always a sheltered shore from which to dive. The fact that Ullappool is between the Sound of Mull and the Orkney Isles, it's usually over looked but it's actually the starting point to reach the Summer Isles and Loch Bloom.

Loch Bloom
presents deep wall dives along it's shores. Although the waters are dark they're very clear. The summer Isles have a large variety of diving from wrecks to spectacular wall dives and other scenic dives. The visibility is excellent and the variety guarantees something for divers of different levels of experience. The tidal stream in between the islands is usually weak. Keep an eye out r dolphins, porpoises and minke whales.

Some dive sites around Ullapool are:

Cuckoo Point is on the left of Loch Broom. This is a wall dive that varies in depth from 10-35 metres (33-115 feet). This site has very little tide.

Conservation Cave (also reffered to as Cathedral Cave) is an underwater cave, about 6 metres deep(20 feet), at the south west corner of Tanera Beag. This cave is a great opportunity for underwater photographers as there are alot of sea anemones and other unique marine life. Conservation Cave has 5 faces and each surface has an abundance of marine life. The water surface is open to the air, however this cave should be dived with care and in the case of any swell should be avoided.

Bottle Island has a lot of anemones and soft corals. Seals are often seen under the surface. The wall facing the south east is a gently sloping boulder field going down to 30 metres (98 feet)where it merges to a sandy seabed.

Black Rock has kelp in the upper few metres, below these are open rocky areas, with gullies and channels. The west side of the rock is a more interesting and a little deeper. The southern tip has a wall blanketed in soft corals and plumose anemones.

The Isle Martin Island has some great wall dives on its northern side in the channel between the island and the mainland. The underwater cliifs drop verically to approximately 145 metres (475 feet).

Conger Stack, Little Loch Broom is a rocky pinnacle that is a superb dive. It rises from 50 metres (164 feet) to about 8 metres (26 feet) of the surface. The overhangs and ledges harbour lots of lobsters and crabs while the walls exhibit jewel anemones, sea squirts, deadmens fingers and hydroids.

MFV Fairweather V is a great wreck dive. This is a 103ft long (32 metres) steel stern trawler that sank on 4th Feb 1991. To date this vessel sits intact and upright in 30 metres (98 feet) of water off the Cairn Dearg headland. There's a lot of marine life including plumose anemone cover, bryozoans, nudibranchs, hydroids, shoaling fish, ling and pollack. Encounters with bottle nosed dolphins has been reported. Beware of the jellyfish in summer though.

Steam puffer Innisjura A 110ft (34 metres) long coaster that presumably sank during WWI and is situated very close to the Fairweather V. It was dicovered by commercial divers during their search for the Fairweather V. The wheelhouse has collapsed but the vessel is otherwise intact. There isn't as much marine life here as compared to Fairweather V. The site is silty, best dived on incoming tide. Today this vessel lies on the seabed at about 38 metres (124 feet). Recommended for the very experienced diver.

MFV Boston Stirling is a 110ft (34 metres) long, steel stern trawler lying on her port side in about 16 metres (52 feet) of water . Although she is largely covered in kelp she is still quite intact. She sank in 1985 just off Tanera Beag. There's a lot of marine life including; plumose anemones, deadmen's fingers, ascidians and sponges. At low tide the mast is visible.

MV Jambo wrecked in 2003 while transporting a cargo of concentrated zinc sulphate mixed with cadmium. She now lies upside down in 32 metres (104 feet) of water and is still completely intact. Although most of the cargo was salvaged, remais of unsalvaged cargo can still be seen on the seabed and if disturbed could stir up. No significat marine life is present as yet considering that it's not so long ago that the vessel went down. This dive is recommended for the experienced diver.

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