Portaferry

May 8th,9th 2004

The first official weekend away this year was to the quiet town of Portaferry which is situated on Strangford Lough. The lough is renowned for it's wildlife value both above and below water. Our accomodation for the weekend was at 'The Narrows' where the standard of rooms, quality of food and overall value for money deserve a recommendation.

Eleven Trident members made the trip north. The M1 motorway extends to Dundalk where another hours drive will get you to Strangford and the ferry across the narrows to Portaferry, all in all a short journey from Dublin. We had visited Portaferry previously so with respect to the quality of diving the return trip speaks for itself. Up to 15 diveable wrecks are situated in the area and of the four weekend dives three were on wrecks situated within the lough.The lough itself is a very different ecosystem to the open sea and this was evident in the abundance of tree worms and polyps.

Our first dive of the weekend was on the Alasdair, a large motor yacht in Ringhaddy Sound. The wreck apparently sank after a fire, but is largely intact. We had two congers here along with plenty of wrasse. The stern is a very impressive narrow 'v' - obviously built for maximum speed. A standalone bath lies at the center below the cylindrical funnel which has a very streamlined appearance.

The MV Karina or 'The Pins' is thought to be a barque which sank around 17°° in Ballyhenry Bay at the north end of the Strangford Narrows.This was our second dive. Two congers were located on this shallow wreck.The hull is sheathed in copper with large pins holding the planking of the vessel together.

On our return we visited 'Exploris' the marine center in Portaferry where the many children who had been brought out for the day could'nt get over a group of eleven adults who looked as if they had been brought out for the day although in a slightly different context. After an excellent meal on Saturday night we wandered to the the local watering hole 'Fiddler's Green' where an excellent session was in full swing. Sunday morning's sky was not alone in being slightly overcast but the the first dive of the day beckoned.

The 'Empire Tana' was a Liberty ship but also acted as part of the World War II Mulberry harbour. It has broken into two large pieces off Ballyhenry point at the sheltered end of the Strangford Narrows. It breaks the surface at low water and sits in l0 m of water. Once famous for its tame conger eels it is teeming with life resembling "a garden full of colour". It is carpeted from stem to stern inside and out with a huge variety of marine life. It is one of the favourite dives in Northern Ireland.

Our final dive was in open sea at Gun Island. Many gullies to explore here which diverted our concentration away from the cold 8oC water temperature - dry suit diving beckons!. Octupus, pipefish, lobsters were among the marine life seen on this dive.

DV Diving were very professional and we would highly recommend using this 5* PADI center. The RIB was powerful and large and very well equiped.

Two nights B&B and an excellent meal including plenty of wine at 'The Narrows' came to £107 stg. Four boat dives with DV Diving including fills cost £66 stg per person.

DV DIVING