Favourite Dive Sites

[parahandy]

Whats your favourite UK dive site and why.
So thought kick off with a few of mine.

1. Best Shore Dive
Martins Haven Pembrokeshire
Max Depth 20m,i've dived here a few times and the vis is usually good. Swim just out of the bay and theres a drop off loads of life, Huge Spider crabs, and conger lurking in holes.

2.Best Wreck Dive
Hispania, Sound of Mull Max depth 30m
First dived this in 1982,never tire of this one, mostly intact, definite slack water dive.

3.Best Cliff Dive
Calve Island Cliff face Tobermory Isle of Mull Max depth 60m
If underwater abseiling is your pleasure this is the one for you. Dramatic Drop off, nice ledges at 40m, loads of creepy crawlies.

4. Best Scenic Dive
St Kilda Outer Hebrides Max depth ?
Can't go wrong here, clear oceanic water, dramatic underwater scenery. Well worth the trip out.

5.Best Freshwater Dive
The Gnome Garden Wastwater,Cumbria 40m
The best lake dive i've done, not much to see other than the garden figures and there used to be a toilet down there.
Worth the trek for the vis alone. Respect the memorials.

OK whos next???

[Jay]

Overall - has to be St Abbs so far for me (not going to rate the inland sites I've dived so far )

Regards

[taz]

For wreck diving it has to be the Hispania. ( I'm sure that a lot of people will say the same). What I remember about her is when I first dived her there were still some letters in brass about 12" maybe 18" high on the side and stern. The vis was so good and unlike now she was totaly upright and I stood in the bridge and with the small bit of plankton and stuff floating by it felt like she was sailing.

I don't like scenic dives so I can't remember the best one.
But Driftdiving through Piper gut in the Farns is an experience you won't forget.

Freshwater is for training but rivers make intresting dives. I do like a good river grovel.
taz.

[Davey Willo]

I haven't dived the Hispania altho I only ever hear good things about it but Oban in general is a top spot as far as I'm concerned.

Our club does an annual trip year every May bank holiday and thats where I first got my feet wet, knocked out 8 dives over a long weekend and I have to say it was probably the best holiday of my life, I could not stop grinning...

The most memorable dive for me was a drift dive thru the Creagan Narrows, altho I'll call this a drift it was more of an extremely fast horizontal dive.

When we arrived the tide was coming thru the narrows much faster than we expected and the surface was quite churned up so after about 10 minutes of conflab it was decided that a very experienced couple would test the water so to speak.... well he loved it, but she shat herself, apparently tumbling and grabbing on to anything she could, only to be whipped away until she could grab the next thing and so on.... definately not a happy camper.... Dave told us that her problem had been that she just hadn't relaxed and gone with the flow causing her own problems which kinda made sense but still left me wary...

Anyway we decided to go for it, so with a slightly loosening sphincter that was knocking out those nervous belly smelly farts that you get I kitted up and hit the water...

The first thing I saw was a million jellyfish.... seriously.... well thousands of the things anyway, really small penny sized ones, up to about the diameter of a teaplate, after convincing myself that I wasn't gonna be eaten or stung to death we entered into the deeper channel were I could see that the kelp was getting a real bend on... that was where the current really started.

It was AWESOME!!! the current grabbed us and we were off... it was without doubt the closest feeling to flying I've ever experienced, both my buddy and myself were doing superman impressions and passing each other first one then the other... I could swoop up and over boulders and then back down low again just by changing the angle of my body slightly, look to the left and there was John one fist infront and one arm trailing behind doing his impression of Clark Kent in a drysuit.... Me, him and the jellyfish were all flying together.... man I get tingles thinking about it... Unfortunately the dive was marred slightly by the fact that once we hit the surface I was finning like a madman for the side but no matter how hard I tried I was getting pushed further into the lock with the shore quickly becoming distant..... I finally broke out of the current and got to the side but I've never been so knackered.

I'd do that dive again tomorrow, absolute class!!  

[taz]

You are not real diver until you do a super man impresion.
:-) taz.

[andy2tanx]

ohh  thats ok then...my wife tells me im superman constantly.  particularly at around midnight!

[Jay]

Thats cos you're wearing her tights with yer Y-fronts on the outside!

:rofl:

Regards

[andy2tanx]

THEY ARE NOT HER TIGHTS THEY'RE MINE.

:nuts:

[Jay]

Anyway, she wasn't calling you  super man. She was asking for her "Supper, man"

Don't you ever listen? :moon2::whip:

Regards

[Davey Willo]

Ok where the #### do you get all of these funny smiley type thingymajigs... and then how the #### do you use em??