July 2006 - Brighton Pier
This is the first of the much anticipated "UK Virgin Dives".
The plan was to set up a series of relatively shallow dives to show the delights of UK diving to hardened and committed "holiday divers", or newly qualified Open Water divers.
The group was a mixture of both types but all very keen (and a little nervous) to experience UK diving. Whilst it was very sunny there was a fairly stiff breeze which would make all the preferred sites slightly difficult for novices. As a result at the suggestion of the Skipper we decided to dive Brighton Pier. This can be a very interesting dive at around 8 -11m deep. People who know me know that this could hardly be called my favourite dive but under the circumstances it seemed like a good option - and it was. We were dropped off on the far side of the pier where we had a look at the sunken barge before going under the pier about 15m away. On the barge we saw a massive lobster but they are just too quick. The idea was to stay around the edge of the pier so that we could still get sufficient light. Poor navigation lead us right under which made the dive dark. Nevertheless we still had a great dive and we saw shoals of pouting, Blennies, lots of crabs and starfish, along with a cuttlefish which really are a fascinating creature. We stayed down for about 50minutes and everyone thoroughly enjoyed it. It was far better than they all expected and they all would be doing UK dives again.
So to the rest of you, (and you know who you are) what are you waiting for??? It is time you tried a dive in the UK .
Oh by the way for the people who are worried about cold water the temperature was 19deg. Now I think that is warm enough!!!
Only one picture for this dive as I was too busy helping the divers dig for treasure !!
Here are the pioneers |
