YD trip recommendations?

[Arfie]

Hi guys,

In 2007 I did more diving than ever before thanks to Endoman, but more than that, it made me realise that I still didn't do enough and too much of it was in the puddles.

I am planning on going on more organised trips this year possibly some YD trips so which of the popular YD trips/destinations would you recommend?

I am currently only PADI AOW with about 75 dives, though I may well be joining a BSAC club soon. I'm not particularly bothered about wrecks in and of themselves (rusty metal I can see at a scrapyard without the hours of driving ) But I am happy enough to do a few especially if it's due to the life they attract. Depth doesn't bother me either, besides I'm only qualified down to 30m and thats plenty for now.

My thinking for one trip is Farne Islands and I may do Mull as I have a friend who has access to a cottage there. Obvously everyone talks about Scapa, but not sure if it sounds that interesting for my tastes.

But where else would be good, for my particular requirements?

Arfie

[weazelz]

where are you & how far do you want to travel? I would recommend Swanage & Weymouth/Portland, but that might be no good for you if you're up in the grim northern-ness

[big_si]

Originally Posted by Arfie

I'm not particularly bothered about wrecks in and of themselves (rusty metal I can see at a scrapyard without the hours of driving ) .
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... Obvously everyone talks about Scapa, but not sure if it sounds that interesting for my tastes.

From what you've said I guess Scapa might not interest you all that much then.

There a plenty of non-wrecky type dives around. Some nice drifts off the south coast. As Weazelz has suggested... Swanage has a nice variety of dives.

There's also Farnes / Pembrokeshire for seals and stuff...

Erm... I'm sure others will have some great suggestions. I like the big lumps of metal so I'm not the best person to answer. Sorry!

Good luck with lots of diving!

Si

[Helen F H]

I guess our interests are pretty similar

If you are a squidge rather than spidge person i would say St Abbs is spot on for you. Its just over the scottish border on the east coast and has *fantastic* scenic diving. I would be really surprised if there were no YD gigs from there this year.

Mull is also good, either based in Oban or halfway up the sound at Lochaline (regular YD trips run each year). Diving is usually a mix of wreck and scenic, but TBH the wrecks up there are lovely even for a fish spotter.

The Farnes are excellent too, but be careful who you book with. Some of the operators there are utter cowboys. Diving is mostly scenic, think big walls, boulder gardens, gulleys etc, but beware currents (always ask the skipper, the better ones will know what they are doing and tell you). Seals are also plentiful, try the blue caps for them

As for up here, i would say try the northern isles. Again its scenic wreck stuff, but the vis and life is awesome, as is Shetland although there may be a little too much rusty stuff on a normal shetland trip for your liking. We may well put on a more scenic based trip for fish huggers, cave explorers etc in the future

HTH

H

[Arfie]

Originally Posted by weazelz

where are you & how far do you want to travel? I would recommend Swanage & Weymouth/Portland, but that might be no good for you if you're up in the grim northern-ness

Aye lad, I'm up t'north, well Chesterfield, so pretty much halfway to nowhere, why I couldn't have chosen hill walking as a hobby

Helen, I do fancy a trip up there, but as it's so far and I realise that the northern isles get battered, I'm not sure I'm ready for that until I've done a few of the more reliable dives. St Abbs, I forgot to mention in my post, sounds like my kinda thing. You must let me know if you start a fish huggers trip in the future LOL Though if I find any Spidge, I'm having it

I suppose at the moment it's a case of finding out which places to add onto the to do list and which to avoid. I mentioned Scapa because although I've heard of it and it's known as a wreck place, for all I know there could be numerous shallower wrecks with plenty of life on them, if you dont ask, you don't know.

Myself and Endoman have done a few shallow bimbles in north wales and anglesea, Trefor is great, for a 6m dive and I'm sure there are many many more.

I should add that South coast is fine, probably about the same time in the car as Farnes/st abbs etc?

Arfie

[warmwaterdiver]

presuming its the twisted spire in Derbyshire, so anywhere on the south coast is a short 4 hour trip, North is just a bit more to the Farnes/St Abbs

Plymouth is good as its all dual carriageway/motorway, Weymouth is shorter but longer due to single track A roads, the further East you go the longer it takes, until you have to use the M25 , Wales/Pembroke is nice but a nightmare to get to, Mull is good but a trek you don't want to do every other weekend, Scapa is even worse but for a weeks diving is acceptable but some wrecks can be too deep for your limit

on the south coast the further west you go, the quicker it gets deeper generally

[aquayle]

.......... Tenerife ...........

[endoman]

Originally Posted by Arfie

Aye lad, I'm up t'north, well Chesterfield, so pretty much halfway to nowhere, why I couldn't have chosen hill walking as a hobby

Helen, I do fancy a trip up there, but as it's so far and I realise that the northern isles get battered, I'm not sure I'm ready for that until I've done a few of the more reliable dives. St Abbs, I forgot to mention in my post, sounds like my kinda thing. You must let me know if you start a fish huggers trip in the future LOL Though if I find any Spidge, I'm having it

I suppose at the moment it's a case of finding out which places to add onto the to do list and which to avoid. I mentioned Scapa because although I've heard of it and it's known as a wreck place, for all I know there could be numerous shallower wrecks with plenty of life on them, if you dont ask, you don't know.

Myself and Endoman have done a few shallow bimbles in north wales and anglesea, Trefor is great, for a 6m dive and I'm sure there are many many more.

I should add that South coast is fine, probably about the same time in the car as Farnes/st abbs etc?

Arfie

South coast would be fine for me, when I had a mate who lived in Poole it was about 4 hours ish to get there. Now he's gone and emigrated to convict land so it's a bit of a long trip.
St Abbs and farnes sounds fine as well., Just need some weather to do it.

[DIVE BUDDHA]

ive gotta admit arfie ya wont go far wrong with the farnes or eyemouth st abbs!

there is both wrecks and lots of scenic dives all the way up that coastline

south coast is nice too ,although ive been limited to diving plymouth and looe

[Buoyant Babe]

Originally Posted by endoman

St Abbs and farnes sounds fine as well., Just need some weather to do it.

You can get in at St Abbs and The Farnes all year round so don't be too put off by the weather. My first dive of 07 was 7 January at St Abbs. My last dive of 07 was at The Farnes, 1 December. Granted the viz is considerably better from April-October, but you can usually get in. If you need any numbers for skips, give me a shout

Here are the dolphins we saw at The Farnes last February. The viz was pants but we got two dives and the weather was great.