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Derbyshire
is in the East Midlands of England. Even though there's no water
around Derbyshire's diving activities are varied. There are a
lot of diving schools and clubs. The diving schools offer education
at all levels while the clubs are mainly non-profit organising
with the aim of bringing divers together.
Always dive according to your level of training.
Never enter the water without checking with the local dive center
for safety, additional information, level required for each dive
site and without being accompanied by a professional. All the
information provided is purely informative for our readers and
shouldn't be used as is to plan your immersion. Almost all dive
schools have a club affiliated to them.
The dive schools give diving education and the club keeps the
new and old divers active by organising weekly meetings where
they can socialise, share their diving experieces and go diving.
Clubs also arrange outings within and outside the UK, barbeque
parties in summer and charity events.
Some of the inland sites to which outings are organised
are:
The Dosthill Quarry near Tamworth, a few miles
on the north east of Brimingham. It's a recreational inland dive
site in the area of Tame Valley. The visibility is good
and there are some interesting things to see underwater
including the original route of the quarry railway which can be
seen winding it's way at the bottom. An entry fee is required.
The Blue Lagoon is a lovely dive site. The water
isn't so deep, maximum 11 metres (36 feet), so open water divers
will find it ideal. This site is called Blue Lagoon because of
its striking blue colour but its official name is "Spring
Lodge Lake".
There are currently 2 training patforms, a howitzer
field gun, 2 boat wrecks, a hawker hunter jet plane and sabre
light tank. The marine life present here includes carp,
newts and frogs as well as toads, roach and sterlets. Projects
to add new features are underway. The facilities at the
site are good and there are changing facilities, toilets and a
café where you can get hot and cold food and beverages.
Non divers can enjoy a refreshing walk around
the lake.
Vivian Quarry is located in the Pardarn Country
Park of Llanberis village, Gwynedd, North Wales. It was last functional
in 1958 and is now filled with salt water coming from run offs.
It's a slate quarry which explains the clear water. The depths
go from 6 to 18m (20 -59 feet) and has good visibility
all year. At 6 metres (20 feet) there's a training platform
and the underwater features include a house and gnome
garden, a van and sunken boats. It's also home to common eels
and trout.
Jackdaw Quarry or Capernwray is located in Carnforth,
Lancashire on grounds where an old flooded quarry was abandoned.
The maximum depth is 20 metres (65 feet) and the visibility is
usually about 5 metres (15 feet). It's now a popular dive site
with many attractions.
The attractions include:
Podsnap, a 50 foot (15 metres) mine sweeper that was
sunk in 1995. She lies on her side in 18 metres (59 feet) of water.
This mine sweeper was built in 1944 to clear mines around the
harbour entrances during World War II.
Orca is a wreck which requires a long swim to
reach. There are lots of roach as you approach
this site. A Wessex Dragonfly helicopter lying
at 14 metres of depth was brought to Capernway in 1996.
The Sump is the deepest area of the quarry, 20
metres (65 feet). Divers should be careful as
the nature of the depression in this part of the quarry allows
silt build up.
Other attractions are The African Queen wreck, Dreamer,
a wreck lying in 8 metres (26 feet) of water and
The Gypsy Moth which is a beautiful wreck at
17 metres (56 feet). It's similar to the one that was used by
Sir Francis Chichester on his solo non-stop round the world trip.
Also to be seen is the gnome garden, the canon
an old weapon of ancient sea-farers, Lord lucan and Shergar, two
fibreglass horses and Candida, a vessel sitting by herself at
18 metres (59 feet) on the far side of the quarry.
She's well worth the visit although you will be required
to swim quite a distance. There is a novice training area in safe
shallow water with two platforms at 2 metres(6 feet) and 6 metres
(20 feet). The area being on a ledge on one side of the quarry
makes it easy to monitor trainees so that they don't drift off
into deeper waters.
Stoney cove in Leicestershire one of the best
inland dive sites in the UK. The facilites are good and the attractions
include a Hydrobox, a block house, cockpit, a boat complete
with a treasure chest and a cockpit. It's an ideal site for initial
open water dives and there's some marine life to see like crayfish
and pike.
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