Diving in England and Wales recommendations

[theiszy]

Im going to be in the UK for 3 weeks in May of this year. Ill be spending some time in Wales both north and south and also around the southwest of England (near Plymouth).
Its a family trip so I wont have alot of time for SCUBA - maybe 2 separate days. I wont have any of my won hear with me. And wont have a buddy. I can dive a drysuit but dont have drysuit certification.
Im looking for some recommendations of where and possibly who to dive with. I will also want to be diving with a guide.
Dont want to do anything above AOW Level. Nothing too taxing just wanna do some fun dives while im there.

 

[KenGordon]

Pretty much all the sea diving is done by people with their own kit, maybe club kit for training. Most training is done in inland lakes or quarries where kit can be hired, but for the sea it will be more difficult. There may be some shops who would be prepared to take you in. In Plymouth, In Deep and Aquanauts are probably worth talking to. They both run courses and are physically by the water. Plymouth has some excellent diving. Wales is harder, you could try Brian at Dive In 2 Pembrokeshire, he does boat trips and has cylinders available, not sure about other kit though.

In May you will be lucky to get 12C, so really drysuit weather. If you had your own suit it would be a lot easier. As it stands whoever takes you in will need to first get to be happy about your ability in very simple conditions.

Do you have relatives here? If so might they know someone in a club? People will go a long way if there is a bit of a link. Again though, your own suit would move the deal on from complete baby sitting.

 

[theiszy]

Thanks for the info. Unfortunately I dont know anyone in the uk. What is the lake diving like over there? Any suggestions on lake diving? I didnt even consider that, as its not really an option wheee Im from.

 

[chrisch]

Plymouth is a good start point. You can try several of the dive centres there for renting a drysuit, not sure if you need a card or not. In terms of diving you will either get an instabuddy or a DM from the centre. I have dived with a couple of centres and can recommend them:

Diving Shop, Diving Courses and Dive Centre in Plymouth - Aquanauts (hard boat 2 dive day)
www.plymouthdivingcentre.co.uk (RIB single shuttle dives)

Both rent kit.

Also the following:

In Deep Diving Centre, Plymouth, Devon, South West, England, UK (might have spaces for when you are there)

Wales is less well served by dive centres. You need to head West really to get the vis. Have a look at West Wales Dive Company: Home for more info and a possible centre to dive with.

Don't consider lake diving. Or quarries. Yuck.

 

[BoltSnap]

Plymouth is a good start point. You can try several of the dive centres there for renting a drysuit, not sure if you need a card or not. In terms of diving you will either get an instabuddy or a DM from the centre. I have dived with a couple of centres and can recommend them:

Diving Shop, Diving Courses and Dive Centre in Plymouth - Aquanauts (hard boat 2 dive day)
www.plymouthdivingcentre.co.uk (RIB single shuttle dives)

Both rent kit.

Also the following:

In Deep Diving Centre, Plymouth, Devon, South West, England, UK (might have spaces for when you are there)

Wales is less well served by dive centres. You need to head West really to get the vis. Have a look at West Wales Dive Company: Home for more info and a possible centre to dive with.

Don't consider lake diving. Or quarries. Yuck.

If one were to be in the UK for extended period of time, several months, and wants to explore the diving there. What parts of the country will have the best diving (in other words, where is the best diving in the UK?)? What is there to see in these parts?

 

[rivers]

Aquanauts in Plymouth is probably your best bet for gear rental and they may or may not do guided dives. Guided dives aren't really a thing around here. Torquay has a lovely shore dive called Babbacombe, where you might hit 10-12m if you're lucky. Divers Down in Torquay does guided dives at Babbacombe i think, and you should be able to hire gear from them.
As for lake dives, we have quarries in the southwest. Vobster is the closest at around 2ish hours away. They do kit hire and guided dives.
What is your experience like? 30m dives around here are 30m dives. They don't get much shallower and deco is par for the course for most divers 30m and deeper. Good dives above 30m in the Plymouth area are the James Egan Layne, Scylla for wrecks. Eddystone lighthouse and Hands deep are nice scenic dives where you can go as shallow or as deep as you want. Can you shoot a DSMB from depth? With few exceptions, you will need to ascend on a blob, and not the shot. Depending on dates, I may be up for a jaunt to a Plymouth and a splash.

 

[rivers]

If one were to be in the UK for extended period of time, several months, and wants to explore the diving there. What parts of the country will have the best diving (in other words, where is the best diving in the UK?)? What is there to see in these parts?

Southwest- Plymouth, Cornwall, Portland, Swanage. Scapa Flow in Scotland, off the coast of Brighton/Eastbourne, the English Channel, Isle of Man, Shetland, Scillies, Lundy, the Farnes, some of the Scottish Lochs, St Abbs. Pick a coastline really, there's bound to be something there. Lots of wrecks, but also lots of scenic.

 

[KenGordon]

I live in London and do day trips to the South Coast and longer trips away. The rule is that the further you go and the more awkward the journey the better the diving. There is excellent diving in Cornwall (both coasts, although the north is often deeper), the western half of the south coast (you can also be lucky with the vis out of Brighton etc but it can be poor), St Abbs (marine reserve), lots of the west coast of Scotland, Orkney (including Scapa). I went to Shetland twice last year (very awkward travel). I am hoping to get to St Kilda this year (near impossible travel).

Uk vis can be variable. In areas with a rocky shoreline and no big estuaries it is generally better. It also depends on time of year with plankton blooms, and weather generally. Sometime apparently good days can be destroyed by the wind and swell making the boat trip impractical.

Diving here is usually either scenic or wreck. The wrecks usually have a lot of life, scenic might be for the life but might also be big boulders, swim throughs and interesting geology. A typical south coast day might be a wreck followed by a drift, with a chance of scallops. Books of UK life are just as thick as Caribbean ones.

Top UK dive sites

Almost all the wrecks are real. People really sank, many people probably died. You get to see stuff which never made it to museums. The life is properly wild. If you see an octopus it is because you were lucky, not because some guide knows where it likes to hide.

 

[chrisch]

If one were to be in the UK for extended period of time, several months, and wants to explore the diving there. What parts of the country will have the best diving (in other words, where is the best diving in the UK?)? What is there to see in these parts?

That's a hard question to answer honestly as most of us have our favourite places and what excites me might not excite you.

As a rough guide generally the South West of England, the South West of Wales and the West coast of Scotland are good areas. The whole of the UK is littered with wrecks but poor visibility, bad weather and difficult conditions means a lot of the UK is hard work and the chance of really good conditions (being lucky) coinciding with a visit are poor. Scapa Flow is world famous and deservedly so, but getting there is not easy (or cheap) but definitely worth it. Northern Ireland is in the UK but often overlooked. It too has some good diving and is not far from Malin Head which is also very very good.

There are also other things of interests, diving with seals for example, the Farne Islands (North East England) might be what excites you. Generally though the Eastern side of Britain is not the best option as the North Sea tends to be poor vis. Just now and then it clears and the diving can be world class, but you have to be lucky and know the right people to go with. As a visitor I would look at the area round Plymouth in South West England and Oban in Scotland. Oban also has some of the most spectacular land scenery.

UK diving is mostly shipwreck diving. Wrecks tend to be the best places for wildlife too.

 

[Neilwood]

That's a hard question to answer honestly as most of us have our favourite places and what excites me might not excite you.

As a rough guide generally the South West of England, the South West of Wales and the West coast of Scotland are good areas. The whole of the UK is littered with wrecks but poor visibility, bad weather and difficult conditions means a lot of the UK is hard work and the chance of really good conditions (being lucky) coinciding with a visit are poor. Scapa Flow is world famous and deservedly so, but getting there is not easy (or cheap) but definitely worth it. Northern Ireland is in the UK but often overlooked. It too has some good diving and is not far from Malin Head which is also very very good.

There are also other things of interests, diving with seals for example, the Farne Islands (North East England) might be what excites you. Generally though the Eastern side of Britain is not the best option as the North Sea tends to be poor vis. Just now and then it clears and the diving can be world class, but you have to be lucky and know the right people to go with. As a visitor I would look at the area round Plymouth in South West England and Oban in Scotland. Oban also has some of the most spectacular land scenery.

UK diving is mostly shipwreck diving. Wrecks tend to be the best places for wildlife too.

Agreed on most of the points.

One of the best UK dives I have done was out of Eyemouth on the East coast. Great visibility and plenty of life to look at but I did only manage to get it on my second attempt (first attempt the vis was about 2ft - second attempt two weeks later it was about 60ft). The skipper did give us a freebie for the first dive as he had a thought it might be questionable the first time but took us anyway.

There are also the Scottish sea lochs to dive in as well. Some good diving there with scallops available if that is your thing - lovely cooked straight after they come out of the water (can't get much fresher than 5 mins out of the water).