GUS IS STILL DIVING AT 80
Gus Robson has lived on Arran for nearly 50 years and in that time he has been fortunate to have scaled the heights and dived the depths of this remarkable island, writes Hugh Boag.
Now 80-year-old Gus, who lives in Brodick, is still diving and has just completed his first dive of the year in Lamlash Bay, celebrating 20 years of an active and enjoyable retirement.
Gus first learned of Arran in late 1969 on returning to the UK from working in Portugal for a year. Friends who had camped in Glen Sannox spoke highly of its mountainous terrain and as a keen rock climber and hillwalker, the seed was sown.
Gus takes up the story: ‘My wife Jean and I came up for good four years later having secured work with a local company and managed to purchase our house in Alma Park, Brodick, where we continue to live to this day.
‘I was in the Arran Mountain Rescue Team for a decade or so and also assisted the late Billy Dickie BEM, a true gentleman, when he formed the Arran Junior Mountain Rescue Club, a Queen’s Silver
Jubilee project ‘to help young people help others’. Working with Billy and the JMRC were some of the most rewarding years of my life on Arran. ‘A holiday in Cyprus when I was 50 included a dive course which qualified me to dive to 30 metres and this was the beginning to my lifelong passion for scuba diving. Many memorable experiences followed, starting with diving among sting rays in Grand Cayman, also at Rottnest Island off Fremantle, Australia. Magnificent manta in the Maldives and bull sharks in Cuba. Cave diving in Menorca and a beautiful cave dive at Anse Chastanet in St Lucia.
‘A trip to the Red Sea took me into underwater photography and that is still my enduring interest today.
‘Over the years I have fond memories of past dive buddies – the indomitable John (Hooks) Graham, who was adept at raising sunken vessels; speedboat in Lamlash Bay and a large yacht in Lochranza successfully brought to the surface and returned to its relieved owner.
‘Always cool, calm and methodical the late John Ferris, together with his sons Sean and Martin, were all stalwarts of the Arran diving scene.
‘Locally, I have dived all around the island, including the challenging venture up to Coire Fhionn Lochan, aided by a strong support team of older JMRC members. We dived to around six metres deep, and although there were no signs of life (we did have a camera just in case) it was still an interesting experience.
‘We first dived Roraima reef off Pladda on July 31, 1994, which has still proved to be the best site on Arran. Truly, I have seen more life here than a dive in Ningaloo reef, Coral Bay, Australia. It’s not for the faint hearted – very tidal and 30 metres to the seabed – but it is so rewarding in the proliferation, variety and abundance of sea life seen nowhere else around Arran to date.
‘Lamlash Bay No Take Zone has its own vibrancy with recovering areas of sea bed inhabitants. Proof indeed that this type of project is such a successful story.
‘So, in the 48 years I’ve lived here and been fortunate to have scaled the heights and dived the depths of this remarkable island, I will happily end my days in this special place,’ Gus added.