national Diving Centre UK

[Bonnet Ray]

Me and hubby are thinking of visiting the national diving centre at Tidenham. Is it worth the trip?

My main concerns are that having spent many hours sitting at Stoney Cove waiting for the car park to open do you need to get there at the crack of dawn to be anywhere near the water? Also is there a diver traffic jam getting in and out of the water?

The website doesn't tell you much about the facilities. What's there? A warm cuppa will do but the idea of warm changing rooms and a small alcholic beverage to finish the day might entrice me down the M5 . That and fun diving of course.

 

[Phish-phood]

Hi,

It doesn't matter how early you get there you will never be able to park your car near the water. The carpark is at the top of a steep quarry road which leads down to the water, but the centre provides old army vechicles which carry you and your kit down.

The water itself, mostly has quite good viz but on occasion has been known to have absolutely rubbush viz. The centre is still very much in it's early stages of development but there is still some stuff to do in the water, they have put in some swim throughs and there is a gnome garden, bits like that. Very good place to practice skills or just get wet.

There is a shop onsite and the usual food van and all the staff are very helpful and friendly. It is worth going to as long as you remember that it is not the finished product and there is a lot more work to be done on it

 

[the_dumper]

We organised a club trip a couple of weeks after they opened and had a realy good time there, just because it was somewhere different to go when the south coast is blown out.
As phish-phood said in the last reply it is pretty basic at the moment as it is the unfinished article but on the plus side you have depths up to 80m it isn't to crowded and there is always a night out in Chepstow.