Dive Sites

Below are just a few of the locations we use to run our courses as well as SCUBA diving for fun in Northern Ireland and in Donegal.

Portstewart:

Portnahapple: Portnahapple is a great site for doing an Open Water Diver course. It is a naturally occurring harbour protected on three sides. It has a sloping bottom with a max depth of 8m. The bottom is made up of a mixture of rock & sand. There is a diverse mixture of wildlife in Portnahapple & it is not uncommon to see dogfish and conger eels among the inhabitants.

Strangford Lough:

There are very many sites in Strangford Lough worthy of a mention. We are frequent visitors to the Ringhaddy area which is home to arguably the most dived wreck in Ireland, the MY Alastor. The wreck lies in a depth of 19m and can be reached by following a guide line which runs from the end of the pier. Care must be taken on this dive as the bottom composition is very soft and visibility can easily be reduced to zero by errant finning. The site is also prone to strong currents but all said it is still a very worthwhile dive with lots of interesting features on the wreck itself.

Rathlin Island:

Words cannot adequately describe the wonder that is diving around Rathlin Island. It is a wreck divers wonderland & has plenty on offer for those divers more interested in cup corals and nudibranch. Wreck dives here include the spectacular Lochgarry. This vessel sank after striking the rocks at Torr Point on the night of January 21st 1942. This boat sits upright on the seabed at 32m with the deck level at 27m. Another wreck here is the HMS Drake. It sank in Church Bay following a torpedo strike from a U Boat U 79 on 2nd October 1917. It is very well broken up at a depth of 18m but still houses many features such as the 14.5" guns which rest just proud of the seabed. HMS Drake is a suitable and interesting dive for for all levels of SCUBA Divers.

St John Point:

St Johns Point in south Donegal has one of the finest dives in these Islands. With just a short surface swim there is a sheer drop from 6m to 18m. The wall is home to some very tame fish so used are they to seeing divers swimming around. This dive is best enjoyed by staying close to the wall. A torch is quite useful on this dive as there are quite a few dark crevices & overhangs.

Malin Head:

Courses are also conducted in Malin Head, there are a range of dives from scenic to wreck with depths from 10m to technical diving. There are a so many wrecks including the world famous Laurentic, U Boats and Liners. All these wrecks can be dived on during Inspiration Rebreather and Advanced Nitrox training courses.

For diving Malin we use the facilities of Geoff Millar, he runs a 9m RIB and provides self catering accomodation. There are compressors on-site and ample space for preparing diving equipment. Geoff is a keen diver and wreck researcher.

Visit his site on: http://www.malinheadwrecks.com/