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Roroima Reef - Pladda
With this new section to the website we are
attempting to illustrate the species appertaining to particular dive sites
around Arran, and we may as well start with the best one we have found so
far, Roroima Reef just off Pladda.
The name is synonymous with the lost world of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle,s
book of the mysterious plateau in South America.
This too is a lost world to any passerby and it,s beauty and vibrance
deserves to be seen and appreciated by anyone with an interest in the
creatures in our local waters.
The reef has two marker buoys at present, and either point of entry offers
a shallow or a deep dive, if one decides on the latter the wall proper
lies east on arriving at the sea bed. Everything down here seems on the
large side, anemones, wrasse, edible crabs, lobsters and ling hide away in
the dark recesses at the base of the wall as you glide along taking it all
in as your torch illuminates the brilliant colours around you.
Keep a close check on instruments as 30m is not unusual on this dive and
as you ascend the wall the top edge reveals such a proliforation of life
that there seems not a patch of rock uncovered, anemones of all varieties
abound and shoalling fish are a regular sight .
Once again, this is a slack water dive, smbs/flags are essential as once
the tide turns you are away.
The shallow dive across the reef top is a stunner.
Camera enthusiasts will revel in what lies before them as it seems a never
ending range of species abound, the images with this text are just a
sample, on our last visit here the nudibranchs pictured, Facelina
Auriculata, were many and numerous, in one of the shots there are six,
this high density plateau is home to many of the dozen or so varieties of
nudibranchs we have identified around Arran.
It possible to travel between your start point on this dive along the flat
reef top to the other shot line to a safe ascent, there being a further
wee surprise along that route but you,ll have to do the dive to find that
out, Good Luck |
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Erins Rock - Whitefarland
The Erins Rock situated off Whitefarland
Point on Arrans West coast is best dived at slack tide, with reliable boat
cover and personal smbs/flags in use on surfacing.
Once the anchor is down and stable, the reef at low tide is only 10m and
the first view is a wide angle carpet of plumose anemones spreading down
to about 18m and being the predominant lifeform on the rock, they are
everywhere.
It,s possible to circumnavigate the site completely during the course of
the dive. As well as the images shown of the many plumose, we have
recorded nudibranchs and other fishlife seen here on other sections of the
Web site.
Access to the site using the new slip at Pirnmill is straightforward and
once located this is the best dive area we have come across so far, the
coastal sites we have tried bear no comparison, even on the Kintyre side,
so Erins Rock is well worth the effort, Good Luck.
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