Diving in Donegal

Post date: Sep 25, 2014 10:01:18 AM

A small but dedicated crew of divers travelled to Donegal on the weekend of the Football All Ireland Final to counteract the mass exit of locals heading to Croke Park. An invite from Sheephaven club could not be turned down! When the car is filled with the dive gear nothing beats hitting the road out of Dublin on a sunny Friday afternoon to head for the hills of Donegal. (Unless of course the road leads to Cork!!)

After exploring every high road and by road around the Downings trying to find the Hostel, my co-pilot eventually resorted to the Sat-Nav. Luckily though it brought us via An Sibín Ceoil first to re fuel and sample the local seafood.

On Saturday morning we met up at Sheephaven Club house and after tea and a dive brief we made our way to the slipway to load up the boats. GSAC divers had the pleasure of John Joe Rowland as tour guide and Dry Cox’n.

We did two lovely dives on Saturday at 'Pat McGees' and Black Rock. The sun was shining and the wind was light. We were even part of scientific research as Helen Kennedy attached monitors to us while diving to measure the energy levels expended during a dive. Can't wait to see the results!

On Sunday morning John Joe brought the tourists to Frenchman's Rock for a lovely 30 metre dive. Once again the diving was great and our wonderful hosts Sheephaven sac looked after us very well. We very much appreciated the invite and the VIP treatment.

We left Donegal having convinced Sheephaven members that a trip to Dublin bay was necessary to check out some wreck diving and to allow us to return the hospitality.