Dive Sites
This page has details of UK diving sites visited and reviewed by club members.If you know of and use a dive site or have information to update the information on one of the sites listed below then please send us the information and we will add or update it here!
Sites to be added soon, please come back or submit a report
Stoney Cove - Leicestershire
The National Dive Centre is situated in the heart of the UK this former Granite quarry now offers a great, safe and accessable dive site for everyone from beginner to proffesional.Stoney Cove is open for diving 362 days a year. On weekdays, you can dive between 8:30 and 16:00. At weekends, diving is between 7:00 and 16:00 (BST), and 7:00 and 15:00 (GMT).
You can also dive on the first and third Wednesday evenings of each month between 18:00 and 21:00. Please note that this is charged as a separate diving session.
For a map of the underwater site click here Stoney Cove Map.
For directions on how to get there click here Driving Directions
Facilities
Dive store - One of the largest in the UK - click here
Diver Training - Great facilities offering PADI and BSAC training - click here
Tech Services - Full range of servicing for all your equipment - click here
Air & Nitrox - Multi station air and nitrox facilities offering quick fills.
Diver Fuel - Nemos Bar & Diner on site with Bacon Butties to Bar meals
Review October 07 - Paddy Green
Stoney is one of the most popular inland diving sites, this also makes it one of the busiest!
It has great facilites and is centrally located within the UK.
With a huge 6m shelf it is popular with a number of dive schools as well as those more experienced divers keeping their hand in on the deep hydrobox at 34m.
I enjoy the site with its numerous things to see and great facilities, it is the perfect winter diving for me and a great place for OW training year round.
Its popularity however means early starts to get good parking (you need to be there before 6AM to be sure of parking near the water at weekends) and it can be very crowded at the weekends.
Vis varies depending on the amount of recent rain and student activity but can be from 2m to 10m+
Things to see include amongst others a helicopter, a boat, APC, and The Nautulus submarine (see above picture)
Plus points
Central location, lots to see & do, great facilities, reasonable cost.
Minus points
Very busy.
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Chesil Beach - Portland
As shore dives go, Chesil beach is pretty exposed.
Nevertheless, on a calm day, or particularly when there are strong
winds from the east, there are some nice little shore dives available.
Even when the sea appears calm, it can be a good idea to have a rope on the beach to assist with exiting the water.
At the Portland end of the beach is Chesil Cove, usually a little more sheltered than other sites and a popular training spot. Underwater the shingle slopes down steeply at first then levels out to a barely noticeable slope. It's a bit of a desert with occasional crabs and fish, though closer to the Portland end there are some nice rocks with kelp and all the usual rock life, and this provides shelter for a better selection of fish. The trouble is you have to walk or swim further to get there; and back again.
Back towards the Weymouth end of the beach there are a couple of shore-dive-able wrecks.
The Royal Adelaide was a 1,500 ton steel sailing ship
blown onto the beach by a gale in November 1872. The ship was carrying
a general cargo including a casks of gin, many of which were washed
ashore to the great delight of the crowds that had gathered to see the
wreck. An irony of the wrecking was that 60 out of 67 passengers and
crew were saved, but at least 20 of the spectators died of exposure,
having passed out on the beach due to over indulgence in the gin.
To dive the remains of the Royal Adelaide, drive back towards Weymouth to the large gravel car park just before the bridge across the Fleet and park as near to the Cafe end as possible.
Walk to the ridge of the beach then along the ridge away from Portland to locate a small brick cairn that is to the west of the car park, then stride another 14 paces (approximate yards) further along the ridge. The Royal Adelaide is now straight down the beach and depending upon the height of the tide about 70 to 90 metres off shore.
As there is usually a current running along the beach,
the most reliable way to hit the wreck is to follow the seabed out
along a compass bearing. Those who swim out on the surface invariably
end up diving shingle.
Over the years the remains of the Royal Adelaide have been pounded by storms and ground by pebbles until very little of the ship actually remains; just a few beams, plates and girders rising from the shingle. It is not the sort of wreck you dive for wreckage!
As a steel oasis in a desert of pebbles, the remains of the Royal Adelaide are home to an enormous shoal of pouting. There are also usually a few pollack, wrasse and bream to be found on the wreck and hordes of tompot blennies.
Over the summer the wreck also attracts cuttlefish and towards the end of the summer often has a complement of grey trigger fish, migrants from warmer seas. You won't see trigger fish over the winter though as they can't survive the cold water.
From the Portland end of the gravel car park, another easily accessible wreck is the remains of an American landing craft smashed against the beach when the engines failed in October 1944.
To find the wreck, walk to the ridge of the beach and line up the posts of the fence at the end of the car park, then stride 16 paces along the ridge away from Portland. The remains of the landing craft can be found straight down the beach and a little closer to shore than the Royal Adelaide. Again the most reliable way to hit the wreck is to follow the seabed out along a compass bearing.
Facilities
The dive centre at Portland, Fathom and Blues, has moved to a local pub The Ferrybridge Inn.
The ground floor is a full dive centre with slipway.
The upstairs is the pub and cafe' and you can go in in diving gear!
Alongside this they are opening long term cheap bunk style accomodation in four to six person rooms at about £15 per person per night, it has beds/ bathrooms/sitting room kitchen/wireles internet/T.V. viewing area and kit drying area.
For more info visit www,fathomandblues.co.uk or click the logo below
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Swanage Pier
A dive on Swanage Pier will rarely be the same twice. Sometimes you will see nothing at all, yet other times life can be prolific with shoals of pollack, hundreds of spider and edible crabs, anemones with their tentacles wafting in the current and snails and hermit crabs going about there business.
Towards the far end of the pier there is a bench if you need to take a seat and there are numerous girders littering the seafloor.
The posts of the pier posts are covered in barnacles and kelp and if the marine creatures are proving elusive, try picking up some of the rubble to see if anything scuttles from view.
The pier is a good place to do skills and serves as an excellent base for a dive club who have the use of a rib. Parking costs £6 per day and divers have to pay £1.50, all of which goes back into the maintenanace of the pier.
Fills are available on the pier from Divers Down and there is a small shop selling food and drinks at reasonable prices.
Friends of Swanage Pier - click here
Dive Site Directory - Swanage Pier - Click Here
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London Diving Chamber - St Johns Wood
Dry DivingDry diving is exactly as it sounds.
A hyperbaric chamber is the perfect environment to test a diver's ability at depth, but in the safe, water-free environment that it offers.
DCI often results from a diver's inability to handle nitrogen narcosis.
Currently the PADI depths of the Advanced Open Water course are, in our opinion, not deep enough to really experience narcosis.
So if a diver, for the first time, does experience that surreal feeling they can panic and risk DCI.
A dry dive can prepare a diver mentally for what can happen underwater.
A dry dive is also a great opportunity for technical divers to test their computers or Dive Cameras.
Members of 2Dive4 dive club enjoying a dry dive at London Diving Chamber
On the day the divers will come as a group to LDC.
They will then:
- Fill in a self-declaration medical form. Any ticked YES must be covered by a Dive Doctors clearance form. (These can be done at LDC with enough notice). PLEASE NOTE: Divers must be over 18 years of age for insurance reasons.
- Please bring certification and logs along with you to show that you are an active diver, as we don't take non-divers for the dry dives due to the nature of the dive.
- Sign the usual waiver form.
- Enter the chamber accompanied by a LDC tender.
- The maximum depth of a dry dive is 50 metres.
- Divers will breathe the surrounding air which will slowly pressurise to the agreed depth.
- Clothing will be provided by London Diving Chamber.
- After staying at the maximum depth for the agreed time, divers will then be surfaced slowly, deco stopping as necessary.
- On coming out of the chamber LDC will sign and stamp log books.
- Please remember that like a wet dive, a dry dive does carry a risk of DCI, a minimal one as the environment is so controlled. Please report any abnormal symptoms immediately.
A minimum of 6 divers is needed to dry dive, a maximum of 10.
Cost per diver is £30.00.
Payable in advance on the day by cash or cheque.
Divers must be at least 18 years old for insurance reasons.
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Vobster Quay - Somerset
Vobster Quay is probably one of the friendliest Dive Sites in the UK and is closer to our club area than you think!Situated in a disused Quarry in the middle of nowhere, and I mean nowhere, this little gem of a dive site has loads of attractions under the water. Location Map
Click the link here to see a map of the site - Vobster Underwater Map you will need Adobe Acrobat to open this.
Click the logo here to go to their Web Site. One of the best diving sites there are!While on the site go to the Essential Downloads page where you can download maps, and the entry & membership forms to speed things up at the entry gate.
The on site facilities include
Vobster Quay has its own compressor station offering air, enriched air nitrox & trimix fills to a maximum of 300-bar. With eight filling whips available, waiting times are kept to a minimum. For enriched air divers, Vobster is home to a state of the art partial pressure blending system - Whatever your mix, our skilled blending technicians are on hand at all times to ensure you get the gas mix you require. For rebreather divers, pure O2 is always available.
Visit the dive shop stocking all the best brands at the keenest prices! Whether you need a buckle or a complete set of dive gear, the fully trained shop staff can help you make the right buying decision for your needs and budget. We stock all the best brands including Sea&Sea, Typhoon, Oceanic, Lumb Bros, Fourth Element and DiveRite.
Feeling peckish after a long dive? You're sure to find something to grab your fancy in the catering van. Offering a range of delicious hot & cold snacks and drinks, you certainly won't go hungry! From a steaming cup of tea and a bar of chocolate to the famed 'Mega Deco' bap (trust me - it's more of a meal than a snack!)
Vobster understand that it's not just the quality of the diving that makes a day's diving fun. If you can't park your car or the changing facilities are cold and damp, it'll have a negative effect on the quality of your visit. That's why they have put so much effort into ensuring that, at Vobster Quay, you'll always find somewhere to park and - most importantly - the changing facilities are always warm, clean and not overcrowded. Plus, they even offer FREE hot showers!
Some Vobster Pictures.
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The Rez - Stoke on Trent
This is one of the more unusual diving sites I have come across - its an underground reservoir!This is a dive for those that dont suffer from clostrophobia!
visit their site at www.therezuk.net
TRY OUT YOUR NAVIGATION WITH OR WITHOUT TORCHES ON 'BONEY'S TRAIL'
COME AND SEE WHAT IS LURKING IN THE DARK-
WAITING QUIETLY FOR YOU TO FIN BY.
DARKNESS:
Total
darkness diving. The Rez is a 40m x 20m pitch black diving environment.
DEPTH
At
only 2m the dive experience is relatively safe but very deceptive, spatial
awareness is altered by the darkness and the internal structure of the
facility.
DANGER
Even
the shallowest of water presents a danger, so The Rez has a full 0.5
m of airspace throughout.
Excellent night diving facility - Intro to Cave Diving/Overhead environment, ideal for line laying practice. Due to its nature, The Rez is an adventurous undertaking and can only be dived by suitably experienced and qualified divers.
- a)
Belong to a registered governing body.
- b)
Hold the minimum qualification to allow safe diving
- c)
Be dry suit trained with a minimum of five open water dives in a dry
suit.
- d)
Be medically fit to dive according to The Rez membership Terms and Conditions.
- e)
Be partnered, no solo diving.
- f)
Be confident in a total darkness environment
- g) Be prepared for the cold. Temperature range throughout the year between 5°C and 15°C
-Excellent for line laying,
-intro to an overhead environment,
-search and rescue
-or night diving any time of the day.
For qualification
level required under your diving association please ring for details.
Opening Times: Tue – Sun 09:00 – 17:00
Closed Mondays
Annual
membership: £14.00
First Year Renewal: £10.00
Member Dive Session: £9.00
Non-Member Dive Session: £12.50
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