Diving in The United Kingdom
When I first thought about learning to dive, I looked at all the diving magazines available, DVDs on diving in the Red Sea and websites for dive schools.
Then I joined The Black Country Divers, a local friendly club that had members at all diving levels and experience. We trained in the pool once a week for an hour, went to
the Dive Officer’s house to do the Theory lectures. Then, once the theory assessment had been completed and the pool training finished, we hit "open water".
Dosthill is an old quarry site near Tamworth and this is an excellent training site with a range of depths from the 3 metre platforms, to a 9 metre shelf descending to around
23 metres at the bottom. This was (and still is) the location of the 1st open water lesson. Upon completing this lesson the smile on my face was almost ear to ear, a fabulous
experience and one I see again and again on trainee’s faces.
So what is there to see in the UK?
The UK has a good range of inland dive sites such as Dosthill, Stony Cove, National Dive & Activity Centre (NDAC) , Vobster Quay and Cromhall, just to name a few used by the
club. The visibility at these sites can vary and as a result is excellent for training for all conditions you are likely to meet.
Most of these sites have various species of fish, Perch, Roach, Trout and Pike are abundant as there is no fishing on the dive sites. There are freshwater crayfish, sponges,
freshwater muscles and eels, newts and other wildlife.
Along with the living attractions, there are countless attractions such as old sunken boats, helicopters, aeroplanes, old mine workings, cars and even an old telephone box.
All these attractions make for an interesting dive and all build experience.
But for me, the best UK diving is to be found off the coast. There are shore dives where cuttlefish zoom around you like alien space ships. Spider crabs the size of dinner
plates and so many fish you think you you’ve dived into an aquarium.
There are boat dives where you are taken out to reefs. Jewel anemones, sea fans, beautiful jellyfish, starfish and crustaceans of countless colours adorn them.
Countless wrecks are dotted around the coasts of the UK and these make for fascinating diving. The same flora and fauna as the reefs adorn the wrecks but, in addition, the
historic appreciation of the sites and exploring the wreck is part of the attraction in itself. Scapa Flow is famous for the German fleet that was scuppered there at the end of
the 1st world war and is a popular dive destination.
The UK diving experience is superb and with a range of dive sites to suit all conditions and experience, it is hard to beat.
Mark Mosley
Training Officer
