Why should warm water divers consider the UK?

[TimIng]

Ok for anybody questioning UK diving have a look at:

http://www.grodmanssyndikatet.se/f-salt.html

this guy came over from Norway last year and did a tour of some of the better site on the east coast upto Abbs.

Anybody really not want to see some of this stuff for real?

I'm moving over to the Emerald Isle soon so can't take anybody around any of the gret sites I had in mind. Still, I'll be discovering the delights of the Irish east, south and sw coasts - really can't wait.

Tim

 

[cdiver2]

HI Timing a x Burley-in-Wharfdale dweller here. I learned to dive in NI boy are you in for a treat. I Now live in Largo Florida right on the coast of the gulf of Mexico but still dream fondly of the NI dives. If you have not already seen it check out Irishwrecks on line

 

[TimIng]

Crikey B-in-W. I live about 30 mins from there and about 30 seconds walk from the river Wharf - small world.

You don't fancy swapping homes do you?

 

[Adrian Kelland]

Why should warm water divers consider UK diving?

What is there to see? Crap vis, wrecks at 40 metres and deeper?
What 'cute' fishes are there?

Why go to the expense of getting kit in cold water?

PS this is a deliberately provocative question and equally provocative replies are welcome!

So Dave, after last w/e, are you convinced yet?

Adrian

 

[dbulmer]

Sorry I did not see this thread earlier.

I'm not convinced ...

Having read the entire thread again, I have to grin .. a lot .

My question in all honesty was answered very well by a lot of the posters particularly by Adrian.

And my answer ( a few years on) to the question - the joy of being in the water.

 

[rivers]

And my answer ( a few years on) to the question - the joy of being in the water.

I concur

 

[TSandM]

It puzzles me -- why don't you guys have any fish? The Pacific Northwest sounds very similar in water temperature and visibility, and we have LOADS of sea life. But in all the dive reports I've read from the UK, there's at best a mention of an odd conger eel. Anybody know why your waters seem to be so sterile?

 

[dbulmer]

Honestly don't know the answer but I'd guess that overfishing and pollutants such as flame retardants entering the sea via rivers have played a major role.

There is sea life in Scotland but Southern England is not as varied. Lobster and crab populations are ok as is the wrasse population. There can be shoals of fish such as bib and pollack on wrecks but larger fish are scarce. Coldwater fish are reported to have moved further north possibly because of an increase in the mean sea temperature with some commentators speculating that this is down to climate change.

 

[Adrian Kelland]

It puzzles me -- why don't you guys have any fish? The Pacific Northwest sounds very similar in water temperature and visibility, and we have LOADS of sea life. But in all the dive reports I've read from the UK, there's at best a mention of an odd conger eel. Anybody know why your waters seem to be so sterile?

They're not sterile, nothing like. There are areas that have been over fished though or the sea-bed ripped up by scallop boats.

Sometimes we don't bother to mention the smaller species, they're a bit like background. We tend to remark on the bigger species, like some might report on seeing a shark or ray in the Red Sea, but not mention the 30-40 species of smaller fish that are always there.

 

[A load of pollock]

Just a bump to say that of the 30 dives I've don't ,24 of them have been in Southern Ireland all wetsuited. in water that's 14dgs in late October . It's like paradise , after a min or 2 the cold is gone .

Gloves - a pair of " skins"'under the suit and your ok for 40m

The thing that makes it for me is having good set up back at base camp . The tea on and something hot to
Eat . Even things like a bit of music and a glass of wine for the debrief
These are the things that make an cold water paradise dive all the more enjoyable .