Dive Site: MacLeod’s Maidens
Location: Near Idrigill Point, Isle of Skye, Scotland
Description: Pinnacle dive
Depth: 18 metres (60 feet)
Visibility: 8 metres (25 feet)
A beautiful, picturesque reef loaded with large, inquisitive crayfish. Aside from the crayfish there are lobsters, congers and loads of crabs.
Dive Site: Fairy Cove
Location: Paignton, Devon
Description: Reef
Depth: 10 metres (30 feet)
Visibility: 1 – 5 metres (3 – 15 feet)
It is a dive around the headland through kelp and round rocks. Marine life includes conger eel, wrasse, fan worms, flatfish and the usual south coast life like scallops.
Dive Site: NG Peterson
Location: Near Falmouth, Cornwall
Description: Danish steamship
Depth: 21 – 23 metres (69 – 75 feet)
Visibility: 6 metres (20 feet)
The Peterson and its cargo of 1900 tons of iron ore sank in 1918 after colliding with another ship. It sits on a sandy seabed, so visibility tends to be quite good. This is another very flattened wreck which is typical of the area, but there are still plenty of holes in which there are a number of conger eels, crabs, and a lobster rumoured to be 80 to 100 years old. The wreck is also home to a large number of bib that can be found in dense shoals. The Peterson is a ten minute boat ride north of Porthkerris Cove.
Dive Site: City of Westminster
Location: 50°1.33N; 5°40.33W (Runnel Stone, Cornwall)
Description: 6094 ton steamship
Length: 143 metres (470 feet)
Depth: 20 – 35 metres (65 – 115 feet)
Visibility: 5 – 15 metres (15 – 50 feet)
This really is a top site, it is right on the Atlantic’s edge so can be challenging! Runnel Stone and its inshore reef lie about a mile offshore of Lands End and cover a large area, much of which is relatively unknown. Most divers seem to stick to the area near the main stone where several wrecks are lying, although without doubt there are others nearby that have not been found yet. Runnel Stone used to protrude above sea level until the City of Westminster hit it hard enough to shatter the top section in October 1923.
The City of Westminster is still recognisable as a large vessel with much off the steel plating, ribs and deck fittings lying down the west side of the stone. The more intact stern section lies further south. There are numerous mature plumose and other anemones on the wreckage together with some stunning large ballan wrasse, congers, ling, tope, bib, cod and bass. All this in a setting of granite pinnacles and white sand bottomed gullies makes for a potentially stunning dive. Visibility here on a good day can substantially exceed 10 metres.
Not a site suited to inexperienced divers as strong tidal currents and challenging surface swell is often experienced here. Slack is 1.45/1.30hrs before high water at Newlyn on neap tides; there is very little if any slack on springs.
Dive Site: Puffin Sound Drift
Location: Puffin Island off Anglesey, North Wales
Description: Drift dive
Depth: 10 – 30 metres (30 – 100 feet)
Visibility: 5 – 10 metres (15 – 30 feet)
Stunning drift dive in the right conditions, a chance meeting with an old anchor or two, and a large array of marine life.
A drift dive over a varied seabed in a tidal swept area. The whole area here has been proposed as a marine nature reserve and several SSSI’s. It is one of several unique marine places in the area. The tides can be strong and dangerous at times, boat cover is mandatory. It is at the exit of one of the most dangerous tidal ways in the UK, with tidal differences to 10m or more, in 6 hours!
Puffin Island (Ynys Seiriol), named after Saint Seiriol lies off the southeast coast of Anglesey (Ynys-y-Mon) and contains monastic remains dating from the 6th Century AD. On its north eastern tip is a colony of seals. The isthmus between the tip of Anglesey past Beaumaris and Puffin Island is known as Puffin Sound and is a navigable channel. A black & white ringed lighthouse keeps watch on this turbulent passage and this is one of the exit points of the tidal Menai Straits. Across the other side is another lighthouse on Perch Rock.
The Menai Straits was formed at the end of the last Ice Age, when the local ice sheets melted, the then estuarial landscape was thus transformed into a tidal feature with strong tides entering the straits and opposing each other. This brings nutrient rich water & abundant marine life on the very diverse array of rocks (Cambrian and Ordovician), mud, sand and shingle.
The result is a pot-pourri of filter feeding marine life and masses of fish and seals, certainly at the Puffin Island end. A dive is usually made on drift through the Sound from the Straits outwards into open sea. Several Dutch men-o-war were believed to have gone down in the area, perhaps they gave the nearby Dutchman’s Bank its name – one of the treacherous sandbanks in the area.
The olive green water stays bright at 15m as your dive sweeps along a colourful motley collection of small boulders. The small plumose orange and white anemones cover every scrap of these rocks as the horizontal seabed continues for many metres. A dark shape on the seabed suddenly looms, but before the brain has had time to decide what it is, all hell has broken loose and you’re being swept into a dark chasm! The trench goes down to at least 30m and it’s about here a large conger or a larger lobster may just waddle out of their hole to take a look at the dinner plate eyes of the diver in front.
The trench’s vertical wall is home to variety of marine life species, and is jam packed with colourful sponges. In the lee of any current it’s possible to move along the wall for a while before it once more tugs at the diver who is then drawn out of the abyss and up a long slope. The slope looks devoid of life with many stones & pits but then a movement of grey gives away the position of the many dogfish whilst the puff of dust in the water reveals that large edible crabs inhabit these pits. It’s not before long that a complete contrast occurs when the dull colours of the slope suddenly give way to bright swirling sand in 9m, reminding one of a desert. Well before then the SMB would have been launched and the skipper will be ready to make the pick up.
Dive Site: SS Seaford
Location: 50°19’30”N; 00°20’00”E
Description: Wreck
Depth: 46 metres (150 feet)
Visibility: 10 metres (30 feet)
The Seaford lies in between shipping lanes and 25 miles south of the coast, so it is not an easy site to get to. However the distance from the coast usually ensures good visibility, especially in the summer. A conger eel, a huge lobster and a pregnant crab.
Dive Site: Outer Breakwater & Crab Row
Location: Port Erin, Isle of Man
Description: Reef / shore dive
Depth: 12 metres max (40 feet)
Visibility: Up to 10 metres (30 feet)
The old outer breakwater lies ruined under the water and the old t-blocks create a very sheltered bay on a low tide, one of the main reasons why this is a popular training ground. Port Erin’s local dive, affectionately known as Crab Row, is sheltered from most weather except W to SW winds which can unfortunately reduce the visibility. There are two choices at this site; either enter the water at the jetty steps (near the RNLI station) and journey west out towards the old breakwater or enter at the old breakwater steps (in front of the marine biological station) and journey east. Your max. depth will be around 12 metres and it’s an easy dive for navigation. If starting from the old breakwater descend along the boulder slope and then head east. If you keep the rocks of your right and keep an eye on that compass you cannot go wrong. One point to note is that you will need to ascend a little to clear the lifeboat slip before you continue you journey eastward towards the jetty. If you start from the small jetty take a bearing and keep the rocks on your left.
You will have a great view of conger eels, wrasse (including cuckoo, ballan and corkwing) and plenty of tompots hiding in all those holes (so take a small torch!). The t-blocks form loads of nooks and crannies to stick your head in to hunt for marine life. At night this site comes alive with squat lobsters feeding along the seabed and if you’re lucky, you will sight small bright orange octopus. Your main hazard at this site is boat traffic during the summer (SMBs are advisable). There is also a large amount of fishing line on the seabed which it is advisable not to touch due to fish hooks caught in the line just waiting to snag a passing diver!
Dive Site: Outer Mulberrys
Location: 50°44.70N; 00°42.12W
Description: Reef / harbour wall
Depth: 4 – 10 metres (12 – 30 feet)
Visibility: 5 – 10 metres (15 – 30 feet)
The Mulberrys were built to use as temporary harbour walls during the D-Day landings but never made it as far as France. They are located about three miles from Pagham, near Bognor Regis and lie in an east-west direction covering a distance of about 45 metres (140 feet). They are made out of reinforced concrete that has gradually degraded over time, leaving sharp metal spikes protruding from them in places that would easily puncture a stab or drysuit so make sure your buoyancy is under control.
The structure of the Mulberrys is home to a vast amount of marine life. There is a shoal of hundreds of bib that make the area its home as well as large numbers of pollack, pouting and wrasse. If you look more carefully you can find sea scorpions perched on the wreckage, camouflaged against the background. There are also cuttlefish that tend to swim off hurriedly with tentacles in the air if disturbed by a diver, but if you take it slowly and try not to look like too much of a threat they will gradually calm down and allow you to get close to them. A lobster that was spending time away from its lair, scuttling out to collect food before heading back to safety and in the sand close by there were a few spider crabs. Apparently there are a couple of conger eels that live among the Mullberrys, but they are diver-shy, so are not often spotted.
An excellent site with always plenty to see; very good for night diving when the lobsters and congers are out and about. The site is linked by rope to a landing craft (approx 100m) and a cuckoo rescue craft (approx 200m) – this nature trail takes about 35-40 mins for a complete circuit.
Dive Site: Myles Creek
Location: Kilkee, County Clare
Description: Reef
Depth: 18 – 20 metres (60 – 65 feet)
Visibility: 10 – 15 metres (30 – 50 feet), depending on weather
Drop into 8 metres, follow the gulley to a beautiful drop off down to 18 metres. Follow reef base around until you reach dive time or air limit. Lots of lobster, starfish, conger eel. Dived many times, each has been a joy.
This is a tricky site to get into in rough weather as the boat has to navigate between rocks. You also have to be careful where you surface, for the same reason. It recommend that you swim for 3 mins away from the reef for your safety stop.
You can get a bit more depth if you follow the main reef around to the left, after about 10 mins into the dive (as the reefs rounds a corner) leave your back to the reef. This will take you to another dive site called the crabs back where you can get about 30 metres.
A lovely dive if you have a mix of diver experience on your dive boat.
Dive Site: Madonna Cave
Location: Cap de Llamp, Near Santa Ponsa, Mallorca
Description: Cave / wall
Depth: 0 – 18 metres (26 – 60 feet)
Visibility: 20 metres (65 feet)
The Madonna Cave is on a promontory called Cap de Llamp, facing towards Santa Ponsa. The cliff disappears steeply down into the water and there is a very large cavern just below the surface, with an entrance that is about 20 metres wide. You should be able to spot it almost as soon as you put your head underwater. Start the dive by exploring the seabed at the cave mouth which is at around 25 metres deep. Once you have had a look around, leaving plenty of air to explore the cave with, head inside to take a look at the Madonna statue that has been placed in the bottom of the cave at about 18 metres. From here, swim to the very back of the cave to a gash in the rocks which a conger eel has apparently made its home (although it wasn’t there for our dive) – you will need a torch for this bit!
Next make your way up to the roof of the cave to the back, looking out for any creatures that may be hidden on the cavern sides. If you turn to look back out to open sea, the cavern opening is lit up from outside, which looks very beautiful. Just before the ceiling of the cave you should notice the water has a hazy shimmer to it for about a metre where fresh and salt water mix. This is also accompanied by a rapid drop in temperature. Up in the freshwater, which plays havoc with your buoyancy, it will feel colder than the seawater if it is summer but warmer if its winter. There are two air pockets on the ceiling of the cave, where you surface head and shoulders above the water level. The first air pocket is spacious and easily accessible, but the second one is slightly trickier to get into due to the stalactites that have formed. Finally, end the dive by heading back out of the cave and up the cliff wall where there are damselfish and cardinalfish, sea urchins and possibly even jellyfish.
Scubster 