UK Tech diving spots?

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OP
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MSBEW

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Location
Uk
# of dives
500 - 999
Hi guys,

I recently got my TEC45 qualification and now I’m looking to put it to use. I’m based in the North of England and I’m wondering if anybody knows any good UK dive sites which are worth diving on a tech rig so I can build up my experience.

I’ve already got a trip to Scapa booked this summer but any other inspiration would be hugely appreciated! Thanks
 
I’ve dived in Eyemouth a few times and that’s a great location with plenty of depth and "good" wrecks. Marine Quest are well set up with banked gases and great dive boats.

The bigger question is do you have other divers to play with or are you a solo/independent diver? If you’re diving with other buddies then sort out a date and go. If independent then it’s even easier :cool:

Are you with a club?
 
I’ve dived in Eyemouth a few times and that’s a great location with plenty of depth and "good" wrecks. Marine Quest are well set up with banked gases and great dive boats.

The bigger question is do you have other divers to play with or are you a solo/independent diver? If you’re diving with other buddies then sort out a date and go. If independent then it’s even easier :cool:

Are you with a club?
Thanks for the advice!

I’m with a club but nobody else has made the leap from recreational (yet), so at this point I’m solo.
 
Very much depends on your attitude to independent diving on boats.

Would some of the recreational divers come along on a trip? Am assuming north east means between the Tyne and Tees, in which case it's a couple of hours to Eyemouth.

Marine Quest run two boats; a 'tech' boat and a recreational one. Was out on the tech boat two weeks ago and thoroughly enjoyed their wrecks around 70m. At the same time their other boat was out doing dives in the 30m to 45m range.

Is hard to give advice without knowing your experience. If you've the course and little deco experience, then it would be good to do the 35m-40m range but using nitrox and a rich deco gas. You need to go diving and rack up some decompression so you build experience on the ascents. It's always about the ascents.

On the deep boat they use a lazy shot with trapeze which is good in some ways that you're all together at deco, but does mean you're not put on the spot to do an open water ascent with deco switches. Easier, but less learning! I don't know what they do on the non-tech boat; need to ask them if it's SMB or trapeze.

Also, slightly further north, there's the St Abbs boat. Never dived it but not far from Eyemouth.
 
Afternoon,
I'm Yorkshire based, and we tend to do south coats or Scottish borders. The geology of the seabed doesn't really suit diving from the Humber up to the Tees until a good way offshore, but from Newcastle / South Shields you have Spellbinder. They do Wednesday afternoon Tech trips in 40-50m with ropes off about 6 if I remember correctly. Its arranged on Facebook by a local instructor, Tim Cutter. Above that, as Wibble says, Eyemouth and St Abbs. Both have boats and a great range of stuff to get to. West Coast has limited diving from North Wales up to the Scottish border, and there might be a boat out of Liverpool, but not sure. Its a pretty shallow gradient on the seabed, so long way out to get depth and very muddy bottom. You can pop across to the Isle of Man and there are a couple of boats from there and they have some good tech depth bits. Then up the Scottish west coast to the Clyde, then the Sound of Mull, both have some great diving. And on to Scapa which is great for a 45m accelerated deco trip.

Depending how far north you are, there's a lot of tech diving out of Portland, which if you're the wrong side of the Pennines can be done reasonably straight down the M6, Brum Box and A34, and you'll get 30-50m stuff often, we've got this weekend nicely in 42-43m for 2 wrecks off Scimitar.

Depending on you're club, it can be a nice project to get divers interested after one makes a leap and has an interesting and exciting season, then work other people up to it over a winter period for the next season. BSAC ADP is a good course, and Region has support for it in a lot of areas. There's a good amount of dive planning on FB if you look at the groups, and often spaces to jump on. No buddy can be limiting though.

Hope that helps, good luck! We have some great wrecks in that range.
Rich
 
South East coast there's boats out of Brighton (Channel Diver, et al), Eastbourne (Dive125) and Dover (Maverick). Great wrecks too. Most in the 30m to 50m range. Dover's interesting for some great wrecks but tends to be max 60 mins, maybe 75 mins if deeper and deco on the shot line which means playing the flag!

Mull diving's great. Several boats, personally like Puffin Divers out of Oban.
 
The Pembrokeshire coast on the South West of Wales has some great diving, and some in the technical range such as the Lucy wreck.


I haven't dived it since I got tech trained, but I visit the UK every year and have shore dived around Pembrokeshire and the water is amazing. The Lucy is high on my list to dive when I can.

Great thread by the way, it will help me for future dives. And you will love Scapa Flow. I've dived it recreationally and the wrecks are phenomenal. I would definitely go back if I got the opportunity.
 
Following on from Wibble's comment, if you want to do tech diving the South Coast is absolutely heaving with great wrecks in the right range for you. Not just Dover, Brighton and Eastbourne but also Littlehampton, Swanage and Portland: Portland in particular has classic wrecks like the Salsette and the Buccaneer at your sort of depths. Many of the wrecks at 35m+ off Brighton / Eastbourne are often absolutely spectacular and rather unappreciated: if (say) the Aristos or the Ella Sayer were off Portland or Plymouth they would be legendary sites for British divers. Bit of a schlep for you to get down here but potentially great diving.
 
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