What can you find scuba diving in British Seas?

Question

To complete my diving course I have to go diving in open water, I'd love to go to a place like the Maldives or Malta but I would have to go with an adult and none of my family actually likes the water except me. My dad said he would send me to go diving in British seas as it's not expensive but I have never heard anyone go diving there, and it's very cold. Does anyone know if there's anything down there or whether it's worth it?

Answer 1

Shopping trolleys, tyres, knives, guns, old bicycles, syringes, used condoms, the odd car, outboards, anchors, fishing tackle, chavs, untreated sewage.

The list goes on.

Answer 2

You'd be surprised how many divers (including me!) *choose* to dive in British waters. I've dived in the Caribbean, Mexico, Belize, all around the Med, in Egypt and Jordan, in Bali and Australia... but I still like UK diving too. =)  

Yes, it's cold-water diving, though in late summer and early autumn the Channel reaches 16C or so, which isn't bad. You'll need a proper cold-water wetsuit or a drysuit, but then you'll be surprisingly comfortable. I've been much colder at the end of dives in Egypt and Bali in a swimsuit than from anything in the UK except lake-diving in Wastwater in November...

Anyway, you want to know "if there's anything down there or whether it's worth it"...

We have one of the biggest and best choices of shipwrecks anywhere in the world. The German fleet at Scapa Flow has got to take first place, but there are many amazing wreck sites in the Channel too (two world wars... ). The P&O liner Salsette is my personal favourite, and I'm always moved to the edge of tears by the M2 submarine, lost with all hands. Neither of those is suitable for a novice, but there are lots of fun wreck sites that I've taken people to very early on in their diving careers.

Another thing our waters provide us with that's really special is currents. This means drift-diving -- the nearest thing you can get to flying underwater. Again, not for your first few dives... but it's easy enough to find places where currents are stable and slow so you can have a 'taster' of drift-diving.

Big, beautiful drift-dive sites for more advanced diving include St Adhelm's Ledge and Portland Bill in Dorset, plus the Channel Islands; plus there are many in Cornwall (including some lovely slow, easy ones.)

Third: wildlife. Basking sharks (absolutely harmless) are a bonus in many summers if you dive off Cornwall or the Isle of Man. I've met them in both places; you can just hang in the water a couple of metres down and watch them cruising. Awesome.

But the one I really love taking novices on (once they've done four or five dives) is playing with seals off the Farne Islands. The yearlings are always longing for a game of bite-the-diver's-fin (no, I've never known them to bite anything else!) It's a hilarious game of hide-and-seek crossed with tag. Really shallow water, too. Even better than dolphins, which are actually a bit big if they get too playful...

Finally, scenery. Here you want clear water -- and we certainly can't compete with the Maldives on that. Places to go for the best underwater visibility ("viz"): St Abb's Head marine reserve; the western reaches of the Channel (dives from Penzance, like the Eddystone and Hands Deep); the Channel Islands and the west coast of Ireland. All routinely see 25-30 metres viz if it hasn't been stormy etc.

You get submerged pinnacles smothered in pink and orange jewel anemones; shoals of fish sweeping by; weird sponges in fantastic reds and coral colours; velvet crabs and spider crabs and squat-lobsters and ... well, lots!  

Good places to take your enquiries further: the British Sub-Aqua Club is your cheapest source of good-quality training and diving. Go to http://www.bsac.com/intro.html to find your nearest branch.

If you want your training-and sea-diving rolled into one fast-track package, here are two good places to start your enquiries: Old Harbour Diving School in Weymouth http://www.waterfrontweymouth.co.uk/memb... and West Wales Divers http://www.westwalesdivingschool.co.uk/c...

Anyway, good luck, and happy diving.

=D

Answer 3

You will be surprised how warm you can stay in a wet suit.