The widest part of this loch can be found nearer the Clyde end, and it is here that you will find the villages of Cove on one side and Ardentinny on the other. Near here is also Coulport, a Royal Navy Base.

About a third of the way up the length the loch, Loch Goil branches off to the left, and finishes up at Lochgoilhead.

The diving in Loch Long is sadly limited in variety and access, especially in the upper reaches of the Loch, However it is easier to start at Kilcreggan and work our way up the loch.
Access to the water from Kilcreggan to Coulport is relatively easy, so long as you park with proper due care and attention, although access is easy the diving itself is fairly mundane. A look at a number of local history books state that over the years a number of small vessels, mainly puffers, have met their fate around Cove, but there are few details, especially as there is no indication on whether the wrecks were salvaged or not.

As Coulport is a naval base, diving is prohibited close to the perimeter fence.

From Coulport heading north, there is no access to the water until you reach Portincaple, which is opposite Loch Goil. Here diving from the shore offers nothing exciting and fairly limited access. There is however a nice cliff face to the south of Portincaple, but this requires a boat, There will be more about that later on. This cliff has a depth of around 30 metres and has cup corals, protanthea, plumose anemone, peacock worms, and various sponges. There is also the usual gobbies (black, sand and leopard spot gobbies), crabs and squat lobsters. Dragonets are also common in the silt and can be often seen swimming a few metres in front of the divers, resting periodically on the silt as if to allow the divers to catch up, before swimming ahead again.

The next available access is at Finnart Oil Terminal, here access is very easy and so this makes for one very busy dive site. As you pass the terminal you will two large car parks beside the

telephone box, one before and one after, If you can park in the one after the phone box. Access is obvious. A number of years ago a concrete pier was blown up, so large sections of the pier remain intact, but submerged, these sections are covered in marine life. A night dive at this site can be excellent.
Because of these concrete beams the site became known as the A-frames, which brings about the problem of names given to dive sites.

Different clubs call sites by different names, for example if we look at Ardgartan Reef, at the north end of the loch, we find that to some branches this same site is known as Conger Reef, whereas other clubs will call it Conger Alley. I have also heard this site referred to as Ali’s reef, this was after Ali Abubaker, who was a big noise with the Scottish Sub-Aqua Club eons ago.
It appears that it was Ali that found the reef or formed a reef out of tyres. If he formed a tyre reef, I have yet to locate it.

So if you think that by speaking to another club that you may have found a new site beware, it might be one you already know about, but with a different name.

Just around the corner is another car parking area on the right, from here access is across the road and down though some bushes, where you will find a small wall running out into the water.
A lot of dive clubs use this site for training as it offers easy entry points for trainees and gives them something to see, there are no real hazards here, current is no real threat, though it should be considered. The other drawback is that the silt is easily stirred up. Further up the road you will see an MOD pier, and before that a small slip, but again I will come back to the slip later on. There is no diving at the pier itself, and anyone doing so and getting caught will have to answer to the MOD police, but just past the pier you will see on the right hand side a muddy layby big enough for one or two cars.

From here to Arrochar, access is very limited, partly due to the access from the road to the water being very rocky and steep and partly because there are few places to park on this narrow winding road. Even if you are able to get into one of the few spaces available, there is very little to show for your efforts, a number of small cliff faces have been located through some exploratory dives, but those found have been fairly barren.

There are a number of torpedoes lying in Loch Long, though these are test torpedoes which were fired from the torpedo testing station up at Arrochar.

As you travel up the loch you will come to a large layby on the left, there is easy access to the water down a gently sloping rock face, sadly it doesn’t continue much in the water, Though there is a small rocky outcrop a little bit up the loch at around 25 metres, but this is an excellent location for training dives, though I would not personally bring new trainees here as there is little to see. This site is known as Fisherman's Point

Next available site is again one of the very popular sites, The Caves. Why this site is called the caves is beyond me, as the site has no caves at all, just a mass of huge boulders. Parking is very restricted with only 3 or 4 cars being able to park in a small layby on a bend. The parking is on the right side of the road as you head up the loch, with two cars on one side of a small bridge,

and possibly another two on the other side of the bridge. If you are worried about being at the right bridge, the take a look underneath, and you will find that you can walk under it and down to the waters edge, though it can be treacherous, especially during the winter. You may find that some generous sole has left a line in olace to assist you on the way back up. There is slightly easier access over the road from where the cars have been parked.

Once in the water follow the steep slope down and head off to you left, here you will find the huge boulders, which are covered in life. Beneath the boulders you will find all types of fish from two spot gobbies to congers. As I have mentioned before the only problems with this site apart from the darkness and cold is fishing line, and again there is a lot here. As your bottom time counts down you move up to the top of the boulders where you will find the tops covered with plumose anemones in white, green and orange. Head back the way you have come until the rock becomes gravel and surface, this should bring you back to the bridge. This is a very nice dive, though if you can its better done during the week, though there may still be fisherman here.

There is no real diving from this point until you are on the other side of the loch as the loch becomes very shallow.
Opposite the public toilets and the Pit Stop diner, a haunt for most diving clubs, you will see a ruined pier. In days gone by this used to be a T shaped pier and the local history books show paddle steamers on the cruises ‘doon the watter’ or in this case ‘ up the watter’ so if you had a wee look at the end of the derelict pier and followed it out to where the T used to be, you may find some old bottles or steamer related artefacts, though i would think that this has already been done.

After you mug of hot chocolate and bacon roll, served to you by the lovely Diane at the Pit Stop we head round the top of the loch until we see what looks like an enormous pale blue shed sitting in the loch. This was the torpedo testing station, I’m not sure what they did here, but I think they carried out test firing down the loch. The station has been closed for a number of years and is slowly becoming derelict The diving here is fairly boring with lots of mussel shells and starfish. Occasionally an old bottle will be found, even under the station, amongst the pilings all you find is starfish.

There is another couple of ruined piers just down from that, this is almost opposite a large layby on your right. There is a small cliff face and the wreck of a small boat here. Again this site is very popular with divers, as it is an excellent place for training, though access to the water is tricky.

Up towards the caravan park you will find a large boulder at the waters edge.

This is the entry point to Ardgartan Reef (also called Conger reef, Conger alley and Ali’s Reef). Enter the water and head up the loch, you will soon come across a boulder slope. This is the reef, here you will find the same sort of life that has already been mentioned. Again there is no major problems with the site, though take care while you are in the layby as this can be a very fast stretch of road, and the big trucks pass pretty close.

The road then swings of to the right and heads for the Rest and be Thankful, where there is another favourite divers hangout, The Rest and be Tanked full snack van run by Robert and Mhairi. I can personaly recommend their Breakfast Baps

Access to the water may be possible through the campsite at Ardgartan, however please ask permission.

Access from beyond this point is very restricted and involves driving on forestry tracks. This area may have potential sites, and will require a boat.

Boat dives
Looking at the chart for the area. The sites close to where Loch Goil joins Loch Long look interesting as does the east side of Loch Goil, launching the boat may be a problem however.

There are 2 proper slips on the loch, one is near the ammunition jetty and the other is at the top of the loch opposite the Teighness general store. Both slips are parallel to the road, which means that you may not get a large rib launched very easily.

There are also a couple of slips at Kilcreggan and Cove, though this means a fairly long boat journey to the upper reaches.
A number of years ago the local authority carried out some alteration at the head of the loch, this included car parking and a slip. The slip here is very rough indeed and may not have been intended as such, however it is possible to launch from here if you have a 4 wheel drive, though, this area does accumulate a lot of debris, both man made and natural, which may restrict access. The local authority does what they can to remove the rubbish.

The area still has a lot of seldom dived sites on the west side of the loch, and certainly some worth exploring, however most divers opt for the clearer water of Loch Fyne, rather than spend the time looking here.