Links

Lochaline and the Dive Centre

The Ardtornish Estate Ardtornish House Gardens are open 1 March to 30 November, 8.00am to 8.00pm.

International Association of Nitrox and Technical Divers (UK) courses are available through the Centre.

Charter boats: Lochaline Boat Charters have two hard boats - the Brendan and the Peregrine.

Outdoor Explorers courses, tours, trips and expeditions available through the Centre.

The Scottish Sub Aqua Club provides background information about diving in Scotland, and provides links to dive reviews and other resources.

' Sea Spray' - Coast to Coast - the Dive Centre also has seaside accommodation in the East Neuk village of Pittenweem, Fife, close to some excellent dive locations on the East Coast of Scotland. The property is available through Scottish Country Cottages and sleeps 4.

The White House Restaurant: A highly acclaimed eatingplace offering excellent local produce, located just nextdoor to the Dive Centre Lodge.

Conger Alley - The one stop resource for all things Scottish Scuba: they have plenty of information about scuba diving in Scotland, including many forums. If you’re looking for a dive buddy in Scotland, try the 'Looking for a Buddy' forum. If you’re interested in underwater photography and scuba video, or Photoshop techniques for divers, you’ll find a wealth of information and advice.

Weather and tides

Please ask us if you would like advice on times for slack water on any of the sites in the Sound to help you plan your dive.

UK Home Office/Admiralty provides tides for up to seven days ahead without needing to pay.

National Tidal and Sea Level Facility also provide tidal predictions up to 7 days in advance.

South Scotland regional forecast from the BBC. Closest useful town forecast is for Oban (24 hour and five day, again from the BBC).

Projects, programmes and miscellaneous

Below are a few links to some interesting projects that we are currently involved with, or have been involved with, over the last few years. They all have a nautical/underwater archaeology/wrecks theme. Hope you find them interesting!
(Mark and Annabel Lawrence, Lochaline Dive Centre)

ADvanced Underwater Survey (ADUS Ltd), is a company based at the University of St Andrews consisting of archaeologists Mark Lawrence and Martin Dean, and image specialist Chris Rowland. ADUS specialises in ultra high resolution multibeam sonar surveys for the assessment of shipwreck sites and has recently undertaken contracts for the Marine and Coastguard Agency (wreck of the Richard Montgomery off Sheerness) and the Ministry of Defence (wreck of the Royal Oak in Scapa Flow and the sunken Russian nuclear submarine K159 in the Barents Sea).

WreckSight is a new way of exploring shipwrecks in full 3D on your computer. High resolution multibeam sonar data is used to create very accurate 3D representations of the wrecks allowing the user to undertake a virtual tour around the wreck. free downloadable software & a dataset of the Brummer is available now - shortly to be followed by the rest of the famous scuttled fleet.

Rapid Archaeological Site Survey and Evaluation (RASSE) is a current two year project based at the University of St Andrews and funded by English Heritage to record and evaluate underwater archaeological sites using sonar and other remote sensing techniques.

Pandora expeditions The Pandora was the 24-gun frigate sent in search of the infamous Bounty mutineers in 1790, which was wrecked on the Barrier Reef on her voyage home. The wreck is regarded as one of the most significant shipwrecks in the Southern Hemisphere and has been the subject of a series of large scale expeditions by Queensland Museum.

Kravel expeditions The survey and recording of an early sixteenth century wreck in the Baltic under the direction of Jon Adams, University of Southampton.

Time Team Colossus (C4 series) the 74-gun British vessel Colossus fought Napoleon in the Mediterranean, but was lost returning to England with a cargo of Etruscan antiquities.

Time Team Kinlochbervie (C4 series) investigations of a mysterious shipwreck on the North West coast of Scotland, with its cargo of fine porcelain...

White Slaves Pirate Gold Timewatch (BBC2 series) investigation of a wreck in the Salcombe Estuary for which Annabel was the Archaeological Advisor. The programme explored the wrecks links to the shores of North Africa, and a history of kidnap, pirates and the white slave trade.

Wreck Detectives C4 series, programme on the Stirling Castle, one of the most complete wooden warships in British waters sunk in the Great Gale of 1703. The wreck of the Stirling Castle is one of the wrecks on which the RASSE project above is experimenting with sonar technology.

Extreme Archaeology C4 series, programme on Tintagel Castle.

Extreme Archaeology C4 series, programme on Chepstow.

Wessex Archaeology - as a one time Project Manager here, Mark was engaged in a number of maritime based projects funded by English Heritage via the Aggregate Levy Sustainability Fund, including 'Wrecks on the Seabed' and 'Englands Shipping'.

English Heritage Maritime - as part of this team until 2004, Annabel was engaged in modifying EH's functions (post the 2002 National Heritage Act) to include securing the preservation of ancient monuments in, on, or under the seabed, and promoting the public's enjoyment of, and advancing their knowledge of ancient monuments, in, on, or under seabed.

Save Ontario's Shipwrecks (SOS) A provincial heritage organization based in Ontario, and dedicated to the study, preservation and promotion of an appreciation of Ontario's marine heritage.

SUBMAP the survey programme of an early submersible the Resurgam.

Monster methane sinks ships! - to be taken with large pinch of salt.

Search for Lochness Monster - to be taken with an even larger pinch of salt.