Site Report for Vobster Quay

[daz]

OK after some prompting from Matt,  I have decided to give you an update on my second trip to Vobster quay yesterday.

(www.vobsterquay.co.uk for opening times and other info)

Left at 9:30am,  air temperature showing a chilly -3.  Arrived at Vobster at 10:30am.
Directed to the bottom car park and parked within 20 yards of the water.  There was only approximatly 10 other divers on site (I am sure the weather had nothing to do with it !!)

My observations,

OK this is not Stoney Cove it is definately a work in progress.  The staff were friendly and helpful.  There was no waiting for air fills and the setup was quite professional.

There is not much life to see in the water,  I did not see any fish although they are rumoured to be around.  There is quite a interesting tunnel at about 15m going down to 24m, this is a man made enclosed tunnel,  I believe it was used to transport rock to a crushing plant.  The tunnel is wide enough for 3 divers side by side although the sediment can get kicked up and a torch and redundant air supply is a must in my opinion.

There are training platforms at various depths, 7m, 10m etc.  These are scaffold pole construction with scaffold planks as a base.  Large enough for a few divers to practice on without kicking up silt.

The bottom composition is quite silty although it settles fairly quickly.  Vis was about 6m and water temperature was 7c at 26m.

Depth goes from 4m down to 35m+.

This was my first chance to have a good look around and I would return,  it is quite an interesting site, not as busy as Stoney,  we found a old car, I pulled a wheelie on an old bike and my mates had a wheelbarrow race !!.  There are some interesting block houses and other man made constructions to look at.

Entry and exit was very easy,  giant stride or walk in down a slipway.  The exit point was very icy when we got out and care should be taken when the weather is freezing.  They are also building an entry area directly by the shallow training platforms to avoid a swim from the main jetty.

They have toilets and changing area on site and serve basic refreshments, tea, coffee, bacon sarnies, soup and roll etc.

Cost is £10 per person refundable on exit deposit for all who enter the site.  £10 per diver. (£7.50 if registered).

As an alternate to Stoney in close proximity to Shepton Mallet it is definately worth a look.

Kind Regards,
Darren

PS. Saw a load of Golfers out yesterday morning on my way to the site.  Are these people mad, fancy playing golf in that freezing cold weather

[Mr T.]

Cheers for this Daz, nice wee report that. Consider youself given the field commission of 'Technical Advisor' when we, as a Troop, make our 1st foray down that way and dive Vobby!

Cheers,

PS, Golfers, HA! Bunch of nutters if you ask me. ;)

[daz]

No problem Bren,  

Just let me know if any of you are down this way and the urge to throw yourself in a quarry takes your fancy.  I can quite happily provide technical advice.

Kit up, fall in, swim around, climb out, bacon sarnies and beer.  

Or were you looking for more detail ;)

[MATTBIN]

Nice one Darren, sounds quite good for a kit sort out, should take some of the pressure off Stoney at the weekends, which can only be a good thing.
Matt

[Steve S]

went there yesterday managed 3 dives, only 12 divers on site temp about 3deg viz about 1m at most and they have put a line through the tunnel now.
I hope things go well for them.

Safe diving,
Steve.




(Edited by Steve S at 9:40 pm on Feb. 27, 2003)

[daz]

Hi Steve,

The vis is normally better than 1m,  maybe it has been knocked out by the recent rain ?

Did you see any of the other attractions that have been added recently ?

Daz

[Steve S]

Hi Daz,
found the 2 block houses 23m & 14m loads of pipe work and some sonar buoy cases, apparently they are waiting for the army to come and put all the promised new attractions [helicopter / boat] en-bloc.
Also one of the owners said they are awaiting about 3000 fish to be delivered.

Safe diving,
Steve.

[Wacker]

Only two trips, and able to say the viz is usually above 1m

Well I went there today and the viz was 0.5 m and no other divers had been in the water ! We were told that all last week had been the same.  I whould not recomend it as a dive site for novices as the bottom drops off very close to the shore and is very dark and intimidating to be safe I recomend a good light.
PS.
The WESSEX HELICOPTER has not been put in yet and they are not sure when it is going in coz of the war eforts it the gulf    

[daz]

<font color='#000080'>Vobster Update...

Things have changed a bit. &nbsp;The catering is now run out of a little hut to the side of the main building and the food is pretty damn good. &nbsp;The shop is also now open.

The boat was sank sometime overnight on the 4th. &nbsp;Dived on the 5th and found the boat in about 20m near the deep drop off. &nbsp;Top of the boat is at about 17m vis was between 4m and 6m. &nbsp;Unfortunatley they have not had chance to strip the boat yet so it is a bit of an entrapment hazard if penetrated. &nbsp;(They tell a great story about why the boat has not been stripped out yet, &nbsp;ask one of the staff !!). &nbsp;

Worth a look though, I will be going back on the 13th April if anyone wants to meet up.

Daz