Ballyvaughan, Co. Clare
More local diving in Dublin Bay held us in good stead for our June Bank Holiday weekend in Ballyvaughan, Co. Clare. We were treated to Mediterranean conditions. The only disturbance on the surface was when we were travelling to our dive sites or when we landed in the water off the side of our boats. We left our larger new boat back in Dublin and used our two smaller boats, the 5.75 metre Tornado and 5.25 metre Osprey. This area was a first for the Club and was virgin diving territory for all involved. We got some local information from Ronan and Denise Sweeney who own and run the local Burren Adventures Dive Centre in Ballyvaughan. Although we had all of Galway Bay at our fingertips, we dived the reefs on the nearby Illaunloo rock between Ballyvaughan and New Quay. For the rest of the weekend, we concentrated our diving at the wonderful Aughinish drift dive at New Quay. It was easy to cover 2 kilometres during a 45 minute dive. We were there on Neap tides and it was very suitable for trainees as well as a joy for the more experienced. The topography changed several times during the dive as did the predominant flora and fauna and because the current was not too fast in the shallow (<8m) water, we had some chance, albeit short, to catch sight of what was going on around us.
As with all drift diving, each dive group had their Surface Marker Buoy deployed beforehand and reeled it off as they descended. Depending how we wanted it, we could stay in the middle and follow the meandering inlet in the faster current or we could swim closer to the shore where the current was a little slower. We found it much better to start our dive at the seaward entrance of the inlet. Although not as exciting as the Falls of Lora drift dive at the entrance to Lough Etive near Oban, Scotland, New Quay has to be one of the very best that Ireland has to offer.
An added bonus for us on our trip was an opportunity to visit the Volvo Ocean Race in Galway Bay as it had recently finished the Boston to Galway leg. We utilised our boats to make the short crossing to nearer Galway City to get a closer view of the magnificent racing boats. Some of the crew wanted to experience the festival atmosphere taking the trip by road later in the evening.
Going in and out of Ballyvaughan at low water is not for the faint-hearted or uninitiated as the bottom seems uncomfortably close as we departed and returned to the small harbour. We had been well briefed on this and we did it correctly once by following the S-shaped channel through the sand bars at low water. After that and for all states of the tide, we could just follow the tract that was recorded on our GPS units.