Guides
Ten UK dives you might just manage
I wrote this article following on from the social media lists of 'must do' dives, I hope you enjoy reading it and look forward to your feedback on your favourite UK dives!
Latest Photographs


This is the keel I reckon, only 'obvious' as the weeds have dropped away.
A good old RAF roundal...used everywhere apart from the pacific in WW2 (apparently they looked too much like the Japanese 'meatball')
Not sure what these sections are or did but there are several on the site so unless they form an integral part of a gun carriage we can say that the pipes are not cannon
A pair of brittle stars (Ophiura ophiura) these critters are actually quite rapid and much faster than other types of starfish
The boilers again
A very scenic dip with dead mans fingers (Alcyonium digitatum) covering hard rock with boulders in some of the larger gullies.
Everywhere that you look the bottom isn't bedrock, it is formed from sections of ship, although it is all well broken up and smothered in filter feeders which acts as a reminder that the dive is particularly tidal.
Part of a shoal of lesser sandeels (Ammodytes tobianus) there are huge bait balls of this foodstuff through the summer, some of which are attacked from above and below. These fish were quite happy to stay relatively close, they obviously didn't see a diver as a threat.
Only one in this shot but I ended up making two reels....
Dropping down, with a stone floor and walls the vis is uaually very good
Common Cuttlefish (Sepia officinalis), probably why a lot of 'non-locals' dive Babbacombe, I was a touch late this year.
When you get really close to the bows it does become a little more ship-like
This is a top third shot of a Greater Spotted Dogfish, or Bull Huss or catshark or Nursehound (Scyliorhinus stellaris) they are becoming a more common visitor every year.
A view of the sections of masts if you are heading away from the Hopper, they are in a section of sand filled gully at the base of the rock face
A scenic of the bow, due to the previous salvage operation it has 'snapped' and fallen away from centre to left of the photograph
A Pogge (Agonus cataphractus) or is that Hook-nose or Armoured Bullhead, these are a relativeliy common critter but with their camouflage you tend to see their pearly white barbules before anything else.
More dulse covered iron-work, this time a Ballan Wrasse is heading off at a rate of knots!
More girders and struts, this is a good distance from the main lumps of superstructure but the shallow water and big seas does increasingly move stuff about
Just a random scenic shot, its a big old wreck
In some areas the broken bottom comprises of large stones covered in life, strange that there is a centre section almost devoid of filters feeders.....
Harbour Crab (Liocarcinus depurator), quite a common critter but usually very skitterish and keen to be out of the way.