best dive site

moonfish

where is ireland's best dive site any opinions especially for wildlife and visibilty

paul o

Havent done it yet myself but the Malin wrecks are supposed to be great for vis and history but most are very deep, some over 100m with many in the 50 -70m bracket

denismc

Leaving the Malin wrecks aside the best divesites are always going to be subjective.
My favourite recreational dives for visibilty and life would be around the Skelligs and Valentia area in Kerry, The Aran Islands, Kilkee,Rathlin, Inishturk and Inishboffin.
All of the above require a boat and are dependant on weather conditions.
Top shore dives for me would be Hook Head in Wexford, Kilcrohane pier in Cork and the Mizen peninsula when weather allows.
Kilary Fjord and the salt lake near Clifden are pretty cool also.

Zulu

Skelligs is meant to be in the top 10 according the the national geographic. ...or was it top 100?

yankinlk

i think some of the easier sites to get to can still be the best. Plenty of shore dives off Kilkee that can be brilliant.

I find either my memory is going or i am getting better at navigation as i keep coming up saying "best dive evar" lately.

Keep the list coming tho - some of these are on my to do already.

joeKel73

Great shore dive - St Johns Point

AngryHippie

St Johns Point gets a big thumbs up from me, used to love it.

Thumb rock in Mullaghmore or the gullies used to be pretty good too, but vis is better in late spring before the summer crowds arrive.

The Bridges of Ross in Clare can be spectacular on a good day, but can be a tad choppy.

Under the cliffs down from the Ceide fields can be really good also, nice dropoff with heaps of fish-life and if your really lucky, the birds from the cliffs will be diving into the water around you to feed.

The wreck of the Quebra off Great Blasket is pretty nice too. no souvenirs though, still some phosphorous down there I reckon, and it does have a 5 or 6 know current during peak tidal flow.

denismc

I am not familiar with the Bridges of Ross or the Ceide Fields, interesting names though.
Are they boat dives or shore dives?
Denis

vince

toor pier mizen head my top shore dive weather permiting

wrecks1971

One of my favourite dive sites would be, The birds Valentia Island, great for wild life, you have the birds nesting along the cliff dropping eggs into the water below and all the sea critters feeding off of them. Amazing amount of life on this site and colour. you can have birds diving into the water all around you while on the dive. If you like taking photos of underwater wildlife then this one would be well worth doing.

wrecks1971

If you want the Viz well its very hard to beat Donegal, bad viz could be 15 m good Viz could be 50m and well you just can`t beat all those wrecks in different depths I just love it.

loctite

denismc wrote: »

I am not familiar with the Bridges of Ross or the Ceide Fields, interesting names though.
Are they boat dives or shore dives?
Denis

Don't know about the Ceide Fields but Bridges of Ross is a shore dive.

mossym

blue pool in kilkee is an immaculate dive, trouble is you need a pretty calm day to get in there

yankinlk

I done Blue Pool in a force 4 a few weeks ago. entry point totally surrounded by 4 huge walls. I wonder are you referring to the same blue pool. In the old days it was known as Cameron Creek.

Google "Cameron Creek Kilkee" and take the first link...a very good account of the shore dive with directions.

mossym

yankinlk wrote: »

I done Blue Pool in a force 4 a few weeks ago. entry point totally surrounded by 4 huge walls. I wonder are you referring to the same blue pool. In the old days it was known as Cameron Creek.

Google "Cameron Creek Kilkee" and take the first link...a very good account of the shore dive with directions.

the one i am referring to is this one
http://www.ldsac.ie/news/120-the-blue-pool

and i don't think it's shore divable. my reference to calm was about getting a boat in there, if it is the same place it's possible you could shore dive it on a day it's too wild to get a boat in there. i know when i was there the dive club said a few times it was very rare they got in there

yankinlk

mossym wrote: »

the one i am referring to is this one
http://www.ldsac.ie/news/120-the-blue-pool

and i don't think it's shore divable. my reference to calm was about getting a boat in there, if it is the same place it's possible you could shore dive it on a day it's too wild to get a boat in there. i know when i was there the dive club said a few times it was very rare they got in there

That's the same spot i was referring to. Look in the next sub sea for a shore dive article on it. Great Spot.

http://www.limericksubaqua.com/scuba-dive-training-ireland/242-cameron-creek-kilkee.html