Sound of Mull and Aviemore – Cold but Gold!

Ever since my first year at University (2013) I had been desperate to take my partner to the Sound of Mull. The views are stunning and the diving is some of the best I have experienced in the UK so far!

The opportunity arose that Jane Wilkinson was organising a trip to dive the Sound of Mull and it was just too good an opportunity to resist! Fast forward to August and Robyn and I find ourselves motoring 500 miles north to Oban where we would get onto the ferry that would land us on the Isle of Mull. Robyn had never been to Scotland before so I was enjoying showing her a few of the sights on the way including Loch Lomond which is the largest loch in Scotland. We pulled up onto the ferry and parked right up to the exit with our nose almost touching the ramp! As we landed on the Isle of Mull we watched as the ramp descended and off we went!

We made our way through the scenic ocean views to Tobermory which would become our home for the week. We stopped off at a couple of beached boats which, a local told me, the owner claimed one day would be made ship shape again - alas he has been saying this for apparently 20 odd years and the boats were looking worse each year!

We finally pulled into Tobermory and crept our way up to Bad-Daraich the house that we, along with the rest of our dive club, would be staying at. The property had a sloping garden with stunning views of the bay off the sea cliff. Picturesque was an understatement. . The property itself is an 1860’s build which sleeps 12 and is perfect for a diving group.

After we had unpacked we went for a short explore down to the shops to top up on supplies for the week. Day 2 was meant to be an explore of the island, sadly poor weather drove Robyn and myself to the local distillery and booked onto a whisky tour instead! Poor us! Fortunately for us the weather on later days was much kinder and far more accommodating for divers!

Waking up in the morning of the first day of diving we settled down for a breakfast before assembling the cameras and making our way down to the dock with our gear. We could see our boat, Peregrine, motoring in with Malcom as the skipper. We’ve dived with Malcolm from Lochaline Boat Charters before, so it was great to say hello and get our gear on and setup for the weeks diving. It was looking to be an awesome week ahead!