London Calling

[Ant7609]

Can anyone recommend areas of the South Coast for diving in the summer?

 

[SlugLife]

Anyway, I'd like to buy her a Sidemount set up as she showed an interest and tried it at this years Go Diving Show

Does your wife have Sidemount training? It sounds like she does not. I absolute love diving sidemount, however, it can be extremely finicky, difficult and frustrating without both training and experience. There are a few other complications with sidemount I won't get into here, but it might also not be ideal for typical "dive master" activities, like leading a group of divers.

Picking SCUBA gear for someone else (even if you are a diver) is also something I'd usually not recommend, unless you specifically hear them talking multiple times about how they want a specific piece of gear (like certain fins, or a specific dive-watch).

What I would highly recommend instead is giving her a budget for scuba gear. It's like a gift-card, but she can spend it anywhere but it's for SCUBA gear such as tanks, BCDs, fins, or anything else.

If your wife then came here and then asked for recommendations for types of equipment, it might be easier for us to ask her the right questions, and steer her towards stuff that would be a good fit for her.

edit: I know a "gift card" doesn't have the same level of excitement (perhaps people here have suggestions for how to make it exciting), but you could say you were thinking of buying her a sidemount setup, and would have surprised her with it, but were advised by other divers to give her the budget for it and let her choose the equipment that is best for her.

edit 2: It looks like you changed your post after I responded?

 

[Lorenzoid]

Welcome to SB!

Consider posting questions like this in the region-specific forum: British Isles

@Wibble ? @BlueTrin ?

 

[Wibble]

Can anyone recommend areas of the South Coast for diving in the summer?

Lots of dive boats all along the south coast English Channel, literally from Plymouth (and beyond) through to Dover.

Need more information about what you want from your diving; what level you are diving at; what kit you use; what kind of things "float your boat".

I do a lot of diving out of Brighton and Eastbourne; couple of dive boats to recommend: Channel Diver and Dive125. Most of (all) my dives are "independent" diving, effectively solo. Their dives range in the 30m/100ft through to 60m/200ft depths, all are wreck dives.

Without knowing what level your diving is it's hard to recommend more specific info. However, if you're in the single cylinder 30m/100ft NDL range this can be a little frustrating as you'd be up in 45 mins whereas other divers will be down for a couple of hours.

Another important thing is if you're new(ish) to diving and certainly in the UK, you'd probably be better off with club diving or diving from a RIB. A great bunch for this is Newhaven Divers who have a RIB and specialise in NDL diving. They are also proponents of the buddy system and will match you up with someone. It's worth popping down one weekend to have a chat with them. I started with them many years ago and am very happy to recommend them.

Other places of interest are Swanage, diving from the pier and off of the many dive boats there.

Finally, there's the club scene. Most ports along the Channel coast have BSAC clubs which are very good starting points. Most have RIBs and dive regularly.


A quick note about the season. It's the height of the May Rot (algal bloom) at the moment which will ease off in mid June. Good visibility (5m to 10m) comes in July. Temps are max of 18C in August. Diving stops when the autumn storms mess things up. Best visibility is mid Channel; the tradeoff is crappy weather blowing the dives out.

 

[ARJohnson93]

Can anyone recommend areas of the South Coast for diving in the summer?

I'm doing south coast dive in Brighton with Oyster Diving in July - I do recommend them

 

[happy-diver]

Crap and they recon I scare these good people off

Just go diving mate, and listen to the people there



and a select some of the good people talking here

and hello

 

[Edward3c]

Can anyone recommend areas of the South Coast for diving in the summer?

Most diving in the U.K. is unguided. Charter boats are only the taxi to get you to/from the dive site. The diving is your responsibility.

Contact a BSAC club to see if you can joint them for a trip.