Diving in England and Wales recommendations

[BoltSnap]

Thank you all for the recommendations.

I have read somewhere about wreck diving out of "Aberdeen," is this something in addition to what you are recommending above?

 

[BoltSnap]

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).

I used to go "scallop diving" out of Beverly when I lived in the Boston/Worcester area way back then. We used to go for scallops around October. Even raw tasted great!!

 

[chrisch]

Thank you all for the recommendations.

I have read somewhere about wreck diving out of "Aberdeen," is this something in addition to what you are recommending above?

There are wrecks off that coast but it is not generally regarded as a popular venue. There are a few local clubs active but not much in the way of commercial dive centres. The Western coast is much more user-friendly for visitors. One of the problems for visiting divers is that a lot of the charter boats require you book the whole boat and don't offer individual places. So a lot of people will miss out if they are not in a UK club or facebook group or similar. In recent years the number of boats available has reduced greatly, costs are high for the boats and returns can be poor if the weather is bad. Plus other users, such as anglers can often be easier to please. I am on the South coast of England and Scotland is a very long drive for us. We can be cave diving in France in about the same time/distance. I love Scotland and love the diving there, I would definitely head for the Sound of Mull area in terms of best chance of good diving versus the very long drive. That's not to say other places are not good but just more risky in my view.

 

[KenGordon]

So, we all agree that the best place to dive in England and Wales is Scotland?

 

[BoltSnap]

So, we all agree that the best place to dive in England and Wales is Scotland?

What would be number 2?

 

[KenGordon]

What would be number 2?

You can dive France out of Brighton

Really there is no ‘best’. There are lots of different places with different depths, chances of good vis, wreck life balance and so forth. For example, the south coast of Cornwall has a lot of easy, shallow wrecks suitable for beginners, the north coat wrecks are a bit deeper but better preserved. The diving is very varied. Even the life changes, some of the stuff which is common in the south gets rarer further north, other stuff seems easier to find.

 

[TheCoolBeans]

North Wales? Then I'd be looking to do a Menai Straight drift dive

 

[60plus]

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Dive Gear | Scuba Diving Equipment | Deep Blue Dive
Have a look at the above two links. dive-site Home (Capernwray) is about a 2 hour drive up the M6 from North Wales. Hire equipment available and near certain good diving conditions in May.
Deepblue is just outside Newcastle in North East England, about 4 & 1/2 hours drive from North Wales. They organise weekend dives quite frequently and in May you should get clear calm conditions where they dive on the Northumberland coast where there are seals. Generally hotel and food prices in North East are quite a bit lower than Cornwall & South West. Deepblue have hire equipment