Becca at the blast hut at 43m
Can you describe the diving?
It is all shore based. Entry is from a concrete platform that gives access to the exciting tunnels, historic quarry buildings, and industrial machinery. A submerged forest on the far side makes for a great return route when the sun is shining above.
There’ s no escaping the fact that the site is cold at depth all year round. The thermocline during summer can be a jump from 6 ° C to 19 ° C; and even in winter when you get back to 6m it can be momentarily refreshing.
Many members just dive at Dorothea. It is a great site for videography and photography, there is plenty of fish life, and some members have been measuring and mapping the tunnels. This is ongoing; and we will be doing annual zebra mussel surveys too.
Alex in the 104m tunnel
Does the club offer training?
We have a Training Policy set out on our website. BSAC technical diver training beyond entry level can be provided at Dorothea by instructors who are members of NWTD. The most popular courses tend to be mixed gas courses( 50-80m) on both open and closed-circuit kit.
Instructors tend to be very experienced and have certified hundreds or thousands of divers during their time. They know the site extremely well, so they know where to go and how to get the most out of it. We have a great community who will back each other up, help each other out, dive together and provide advice to anyone who asks.
Anything else you’ d like to tell SCUBA readers?
We are carefully monitoring the outcome of ongoing consideration of the closure of recompression chambers and whether that has an impact on our own risk assessments. We would ask our members and all your readers to back the BSAC and join in with carefully challenging the recent decision to reduce the number of recompression facilities in the UK. �
Mike and Dave with Alby and Steve ' s memorials on the 40m ledge
27