UK Shore Dives

[Wet & Broke]

Thought it would be a good idea if you know of a good shore dive, for members to share their info. This could be added to by others with a bit more knowledge of sites and hopefully we'll have an easily accesable online guide to UK shore dives. I'll start with setting out a suggested format, but feel free to add improvements to it. Maybe if this works the Mods could make it sticky.
Doug

Site Name: Swanage Pier


Location: Swanage Dorset


Parking: On the pier £6 for day and £4 for half day, pier closes at 6pm.


Access: Stone steps next to the public toilets are reported to be the most common access point


Dive Navigation: Physical nav, follow the pier pillars


Sea bed: Sandy with rocks.


What to look for: Blenny's, crabs, wrasse, pipefish, anemone


Maximum depth: 7m at the end of the pier at high tide, average depth around 3m


Best times to dive & when inadvisable to dive: Anytime but not advisable when there's a strong easterly.

Air fills: Divers Down on the Pier.

[Dan Wilko]

Fantastic idea.

[resting rifleman]

Also worth noting that a designated safe training area has been bouyed off adjacent to the "knuckle" on the south side of the little jetty out to the steps between decks on the end.

be aware that boats use both sides of the pier, so if you venture out from the piles, smb's should be used. (I really dont want to make diver soup )
mike.

[SoggyFox]

Details for shore dive at Selsey:

Selsea Lifeboat Station is great for a shore dive.

Slack water is four hours before or three hours after high water at Portsmouth. Visibility is better on the ebb tide slack. Slack is approximately ONE HOUR on neap tides. As tide tables sometimes give slightly different times, slack water always starts on the ebb tide when the water reaches the bottom horizontal bar of the X on each leg of the lifeboat station. This will be covered by water when you arrive but make sure you are kitted up and ready to go in when the water drops to this level.

By car from Chichester A27, turn off and follow the B2145 to Selsea. Before town of Selsea you will see directions off to the left at a mini roundabout. The Lifeboat Station is signposted all the way from here. There are public toilets and a good pub nearby.

The Dive Plan. (Make sure you have someone providing shore cover.)
Follow the pier legs out on a bearing of 150 degrees. (You can't cheat because the visibility is never as far as the next leg.)

When you see the horizontal lines of the launch ramp get to a metre or two above the see bed, turn to a bearing of 60 degrees (or having finned out with the Lifeboat Station on your right shoulder, now turn so it is behind you).

Fin on this bearing from approximately five minutes and you will come to the remains of the Old Lifeboat Station. This area is extremely pretty with a lot of marine life and the depth is only 4-5m.

To return, take a bearing of 240 back to the Lifeboat Station, then 330 to return to the beach.

If you have gone in late, please remember that you will no longer have one hour of slack water. You may want to revise your dive plan by staying around the lifeboat station legs, or taking a bearing straight back to the beach as to swim back to the lifeboat station after slack is very hard work and your SMB will be being dragged by the current in the opposite direction.

[alexmaclennan]

Have a look at Conger Alley and Finstrokes Rebreather and Tech Scuba website for two slightly different formats for divesite descriptions.

Both have now dozens of divesites listed (CA has about 90)

alex

[Wet & Broke]

Originally Posted by alexmaclennan

Have a look at Conger Alley and Finstrokes Rebreather and Tech Scuba website for two slightly different formats for divesite descriptions.

Both have now dozens of divesites listed (CA has about 90)

alex

The format on Finstrokes seems good but hopefully there is room to improve on what I had suggested in my original post, and please feel free anyone to add more. CA again seems good but unfortunately it only seems to cover Scotland. I'm not trying to re-invent the wheel, and if there's a site where all these sort of details are already there then whoever knows of it point it out. I just felt that it would be good if those of us that know of a good shore diving site we could share it with others.
Doug

[ericdv]

Also see similar thread by 'Stesh' started on 29.11.06 which contains a large selection of shore dives.

[Richard Mason]

Ooopps. Double post! (sorry)

[Richard Mason]

Not wishing to be a pedant, but shouldn't this be under http://www.yorkshire-divers.com/foru...n-liveaboards/ ?

Otherwise, I think this post would actually be a great title for a permanent sub forum in the UK Dive Sites etc category.

I reckon one thing which would put a lot of aspiring divers off is the fact that almost all dive reports/destinations on here revolve around organised boat dives, (great but costly), overseas travel (great but costly) or inland dive sites (not so costly but pretty sanitised, organised, regiumented and boring, unless of course diver soup is your thing.

An extensive list of shore dive sites, which could be an ever-expanding feast would be tickety boo for many divers who have neither the money, time or inclination to go on one of the 3 above every trip.

[ding]

Originally Posted by alexmaclennan

Have a look at Conger Alley and Finstrokes Rebreather and Tech Scuba website for two slightly different formats for divesite descriptions.

Both have now dozens of divesites listed (CA has about 90)

alex

Hi alex check out finstokes, hundreds of divesites on the map. Its much the same format as we looked at the format together.