Clyde Weekend – August 2025

Diving the Clyde with Wreckspeditions

Report by Eddie Adie
Divers: Eddie, Aimee, Matt, Steven, Becky, Artur, Raf and Dan

Day 1 – Friday 22nd August

For most of our group, it was an early start to our first day as we had to be at Holy Loch marina for 08:30. After loading our kit onto the Starfish Enterprise, and getting the safety brief from our skipper Jason, we were on our way to our first dive site.

It took about 45 minutes to get to Loch Goil where we dived the wreck of the MV Avrella. In previous iterations, the Avrella was a small fishing trawler, and then a pleasure cruiser, however the circumstances around its sinking are unclear. This is a lovely dive, the shot-line is festooned in life and there are several fireworks anemones around the wreck. Avrella sits in about 28 metres of water, lying on one side with the top of the wheelhouse in about 23 metres. It is a very photogenic wreck, and an excellent start to our trip.

After tea, coffee, hot chocolate and home baking (made by Jason), we headed back to Holy Loch marina for our surface interval and had lunch at the excellent on-site cafe – bonus, Wreckspeditions guests get a 10% discount!

For dive 2, we headed out of the Holy Loch and headed to the Gantocks. This is a lovely scenic dive, and a fabulous opportunity for budding photographers to practice their skills! Although it is possible to get deeper, Dan and I decided to stick to roughly 15 metres, and enjoy drifting along on a gentle current.

With that day 1 was done so we all headed back to our accommodation and later enjoyed a wonderful meal at the 51st State diner.

Day 2 – Saturday 23rd August

The weather gods were with us during this trip; sunny spells and light winds made for fantastic diving conditions.

For dive 3, we headed out to Inverkip Pier, another scenic dive, and very impressive. Max depth was about 22 metres, and although the visibility wasn’t fantastic, maybe 5 metres, the dive was thoroughly enjoyable. It’s very easy to navigate as there is a pronounced slope which you follow up at the end of the dive. Due to the strong currents that can be experienced, there is an abundance of filter feeding life including anemones and soft corals. Raf and Artur spotted a large barrel jellyfish at the end of their dive. I really enjoy this site. I love the juxtaposition of a large industrial structure and the marine life that it has attracted.

We had planned to make our fourth dive on the Greenock Bucket dredger, however due to the activities of a local fisherman this wasn’t possible… so our alternative was the mighty Akka!

I’ve written about the Akka in previous dive reports, so I won’t repeat myself here. What I will say is that this is without doubt one of the dives you must do at some point. It’s a large wreck, too large to complete on one dive, so basically you decide whether to dive the bow or stern section. The deck of the Akka sits at about 25-27 metres and the best way to navigate is to follow the shot line and then the mast it is connected to down to the deck. Then turn right and find the port side of the wreck. If you then turn left you will head to the stern, if you head right you will head to the bow. The other thing about the Akka is that it is just covered in life so I make no apologies for only posting pics of squidge 😊

That wrapped up day 2, and after freshening up we enjoyed an excellent meal at the Lorne.

Day 3 – Sunday 24th August

Although the winds remained calm, the weather turned a little. I would describe it as mildly moist! Nonetheless, we headed back to Loch Goil to dive a site called One Tree Wall. As the name kind of gives away, this is a wall dive which you basically navigate by keeping the wall on your left or right depending on the tide. There is so much life on the wall and plenty of overhangs, nooks and crannies to investigate. There are an abundance of squat lobsters and leopard spotted gobies.

We discussed options for our final dive the night before, and the outcome was that we wanted to dive the Akka again as 3 of our group would be doing it as a significant dive. Steven and Raf would reach 100 dives, and Aimee would complete dive 300. Raf and I decided to investigate the stern section whilst Aimee, Steven and Becky headed to the bow.

It was a lovely dive to end our trip on, and I know I can’t wait to explore the Clyde further next time DBS visits!