Bonawe Wreck.
The wreck usually dived at Bonawe is a small wooden fishing boat lying upright in the harbour of Bonawe granite quarry on the north shore of Loch Etive. It is a shore dive reached by following a cable from the slipway. The peaty loch water is dark but can be clear, and the silty bottom is easily stirred up.
What's down there.
- Upright wooden boat with wheelhouse
- Guide cable from the slipway
- Mooring blocks and a derrick
- Old car among boulders on the western edge
- Boulder field with crevices
- Flabellina lineata nudibranchs
- Red gurnard
- Pollack
- Saithe
- Bib (pouting)
- Gobies
- Dragonets
- Flatfish
Small wreck at about 12–15 m in the quarry harbour; harbour maximum about 15 m.
Sheltered shore dive in the quarry harbour. Silty bottom that is easily disturbed, and dark, peat-stained water; visibility of about 10 m has been reported on good days. Strong currents outside the harbour entrance. Needs good buoyancy control. Access to the quarry may need permission.
How it got there.
A small wooden (clinker-built) fishing boat, described by divers as upright with its wheelhouse intact and its planking rotting away. Some divers name it the Kingfisher. No build, tonnage or sinking details were found.
38 dives.
From the reconstructed log — the dates follow the pattern I dived, so read them as representative rather than exact.