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NDC Questions

1K views 11 replies 7 participants last post by  Bantam 
#1 ·
Hi ppl....

I have been looking at the NDC as a poss dive site in the near future.. does anyone know what I can expect (never been there before)?

Long walks/queues/areas of interest??
Do you need to get there really early?? if so what times are we talking about?

Cheers
Neil
 
#3 ·
Hi Neil,

I have been 4 times and have never had a problem with numbers etc [although I have mostly been there in the week]

You park well away from the water and you and your kit are driven down to the waters edge, to be honest there is not much by the way of attractions when compared to some sites but it is well worth a visit and the swim through's are fun, the staff are very helpful and seem genuinely pleased to see you, they have a few trollies and changing mats for you to use. Finally a food shack and a place you can sit and shelter when it rains.

HTH

Safe diving,
Steve.
 
#5 ·
Neilm said:
They take your kit for you??? Nice :D

are there site maps avail down there? What is there to see
Hi Neil,
yes to the site maps, a load of rubber tubes to swim thru, a wet bell, an explosives store and a couple of small boats, I didn't see any fish but I'm assured they are there, then they have the drop off to the deep bits all the previous have shot lines attatched.

Safe diving,
Steve.
 
#6 ·
#9 ·
Hi,

I was there today and really enjoyed it. I thought the staff were very friendly and willing to help. I like the way they have it organised esp the mats and the trolleys (great for my twins ;) )....

I think that will definatly go back there again........ I even saw a YD Tank sticker... (only briefly) ........

The drive from Cheshire was a little long (300+miles round trip) but it was worth it.......

Cheers
Neil
 
#10 ·
Went there last week and feeling is mixed. Firstl apparently its never ever very busy, partly due to its odd weekday opening times (everyone out of water by 4) ensuring unless you can arrage a group of 10 people you cant dive in the evening or after work.

When i was there surface temp was 15c surface, 9c at 30m and apparently 6c at the bottom.

Due to algae it was very dark below about 7m and needed a torch, lots of silt as well so visibility was maybe 2m.

Found the plastic swim through pipes, safe, explosives box and a barrel, failed to find the cabin cruiser and diving bell.

There is a raised lip separating the approx 30m area from the drop off to 80m making it hard to blunder over it by accident.

Apparently there are 6m training platforms but i didnt see those.

Kit is thrown in a trailer and divers sit in the back of an ex army landrover and are taken to/from the centre to pontoons in this way.

Has a burger van, portacabins serve as toilets and changing rooms, a small looking shop etc.

All in all it was "ok" and i guess ok for training but i much prefer the sea.
 
#11 ·
The decision to go to the NDC rests on one crucial question you want to ask yourself...
What do I want to get out of the experience?

I use the NDC a lot, during the winter, it has everything I need for maintaining my diving skills during the months when I don't want to or can't go out in a boat - depth and convenience.
Now this sounds like it must be on my door step - it's not. I live in Kent, and it takes me pretty much 2:30-2:45 to get to either Stoney, Vobster or the NDC, but I will ALWAYS choose to go to the NDC over the others for the following reasons:

It's deeper...for what I need. I want to maintain a skill set in deep diving (for trimix wrecks), and the necessity, or the ability to do 50m+ trimix diving throughout the winter is a big bonus.
It's never busy. Because of the shuttle service they run from the car park to the water, everywhere in the carpark is pretty much a prime position. People moan that the deal with the trailer is a pain in the ass - well, it's much less of a pain than walking from the top carpark at stoney with a twiset and a couple of sidemounts, and there is very little variability in this, whether you turn up first thing or at 11am.
Friendliness of staff. The guys that run the place, whether it's the shop, the gate, the gasroom or the burger van, are sooo amenible, you would not believe. How many places can you think of, that it doesn't matter if you want a trimix fill while you wait 30 mins before closing on a saturday, or a burger.....you will almost always go away happy.

Now this is quite a one sided argument so far, and I'm not going to stop here, as the place does have some negatives, but there is good reason for all of them.

The quarry is boring. There is really nothing of interest in there, other than a few boats and things.
The deep area is completely devoid of things to look at - and there is a good reason for this. When building the site, they worked very closely with the HSE and as such there was a requirement to not put anything deep that might attract unqualified people. Personally, if I want to go deep in an inland site, it is for nothing other than practicing skills. I don't need some sort of "attraction" down there, it would only distract from my primary goal.
Living in England I have to pay an extra £4 to go over the toll bridge, than if I went to Vobster of Stoney.
It's cold, whatever the time of year, if you go deep. Recently (June) I was diving there and me and my buddy planned a 60m dive on trimix just to keep things fresh for a deep wreck we were planning a few weekd ahead. The surface temperature, and the temperature we had during our shallow stops was 17 degrees. Not too shabby I hear you say. Well, no, but considering it was still 5 degrees at 60m, the quarry seems to remain damn cold at depth throughout the year. (the bonus was that the vis went from 5m in the shallows, to 20m at depth)

So there we have it, my view on the NDC. If you've not been there before it's well worth a trip, but before you dismiss it, bear in mind exactly what you are aiming to get out of the visit, as for the more advanced divers, there is a very useful, and most importantly, safe, place to practice things, potentially deep things with the knowledge that you are not on your own if the $hit hits the fan.

Take care..

Si
 
#12 ·
I've dived there a couple of times and found it a very good place.

The reason they don't have much in the way of stuff to look at is mainly because of it's unfortunate location. The main road it sits on has a low bridge literally next door to it (the railway bridge) and another one a few miles in the other direction, so they can't get anything bigger than a small boat to the site.

They're trying to discuss with the Army about doing some chinook lifting practice with some containers etc.. but the cutbacks and the war mean they're not doing anything like that at the moment.

Also, they're building a massive hotel on site too - which will be the main reason for the site. The dive site is actually a secondary thing, but nonetheless the investment has been huge and it is a very good quality dive site.

Other sites could do well to visit and see how some things are done.

NB - I live in North Yorkshire so I've no vested interest in the site - I'm just passing on the discussion I had with one of the bosses there last time I visited.

Mark.
 
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