Around Eilean Glas Lighthouse
Foghorn Gullies (photo by Scalpay Diving Services).
All around the Eilean Glas Lighthouse there are amazing sites, it makes for a pleasant day out. The views are stunning, on a clear day you can see for miles, right over to Skye, The Uists, Shaints, Rhenigadale and Loch Seaforth. The area is popular with local fishing boats which fish for crabs, lobsters, etc. The sight is also popular with anglers with both large pollock and even cod caught from the rocks. On walking across to the lighthouse you can see how this area would appeal to the diver, and indeed you will often see a large boat bobbing about with only one or two solitary crew waiting aimlessly for their main party to surface! Beware in the winter the weather can change dramatically within minutes and the winds are incredible.
DIVING
The Foghorn Gullies is just one of the sites worth diving around Eilean Glas Lighthouse. The gullies run away from the cliff face on the north-east side of the lighthouse with others running at right angles. They are clear of kelp from about 10m depth with sandy bottoms. Anchor at about 12 - 15m depth directly in line with the foghorn which you should find is about 75 - 100m from shore. Drop down the sides of the gullies onto the sand at about 20m. The site is best dived at slack (request details of slack water locally as this can vary from the tide tables). With good boat cover it can be dived at other times. As this is a high energy site (tides run at 3 - 4 knots - springs) it is a good drift dive for the experienced. The visibility is usually 12 - 15m but can be 8m when the plankton bloom.
Marine Life
The gulley walls are covered with jewel anemones (mostly green and red), various types of sponges, DMF, dahlia and plumrose anemones. There are patches of Devon Cup, Coral, Sagartoa elegans and maerl turning the rock faces to shades of green, cream and purple. Various colours and types of cushion stars, sunstars and starfish cling to the walls and the sandy bottom has featherstars, purple sunstars, scallops, seven - armed starfish and bloody henry (scotish type). A nice time to dive there is May, when the hydroids in the kelp in the shallower water are at their most prolific, looking like huge bunches of red blossom drifting in the current - the colours are stunning. Small fish - scorpion and gobies are in evidence and above shoals of pollock and saithe cruise over the kelp silhouetted against the sunlight.
For further info contact Scalpay Diving Services
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