Proud Recognition
Whitby Dive Site

 

The Beginning

Welcome to the Whitby Dive Site I hope you find it interesting.

Welcome to the Whitby Dive Site, my first introduction to sub aqua diving was as a member of the BSAC in 1985 and continued on through the diver grades to become an Open Water Instructor using my knowledge and experience to introduce students to the wonderful world of sub aqua diving. Having had passed the Advanced Diving Instructor theory test, some close friends we were planning to open a new diver training school here in Whitby alongside a shop. Unfortunately finding a local suitable inland location outside of the diving season proved difficult as we had suffered some bad weather. The BSAC coach was far from encouraging and had little enthusiasm preventing me taking it any further, ending our school / shop plans.

Practical Diving

With over 25000 wrecks it is easy to understand why wreck diving is one of the most favourite pastimes. I looked forward to the challenge that deep diving offered reflected in the majority of dives I undertook. It would be quite difficult to choose the best dive I have ever done, but a 58 metre dive to an unknown wreck is one of my most memorable. The wreck was known locally as The Flagship, after an angler brought up an admiralty ensign! The wreck was well broken up, however the visibility and light was really worth the depth (and decompression time)! In contrast to my first open water dive in Hartlepool Coal Dock. It was a very cold and dismal day and it sends shivers down my spine to recall the thin wet suit I had on. The underwater visibility was such that I could just make out about two feet of the buddy line I had attached to me. I can but wonder what encouraged me to continue after such an eye opening dive.

I considered myself an experienced diver and instructor and used this to write my first book, Scuba Diving. The book is an overview of sub aqua diving, and whilst I was primarily a BSAC member the book was not biased toward any specific training agency. With the success of my first book, I started putting more emphasis on writing and had some limited success with diving magazine features. I didn't really find this productive and found the popular magazines sometimes complicated to work with. In early 1999 ill-health forced me to hang up my fins, and whilst I am no longer actively diving, I still retain an interest in sport diving. I have no plans to cut myself off from the diving community altogether, after all my diving experience must be worth something. This has meant some dramatic changes, to my interests but I hope to retain diving related content for quite sometime as the many wonderful wrecks off the Yorkshire coast have so much to offer. The wreck list I have is shortly going to be revised and the plans I have for this are looking very promising. I have moved some of the information from this page to a new page which carries information relating to dive planning. the page includes a unique mobile phone 'wreck app'. If you have used the 'app' please send the originator your feedback.

For many years Whitby had its own well equipped dive centre called Dive Whitby, a centre which I was actively involved with for some time. I knew everything about the business and was responsible for many elements of running the centre including maintaining a good selection of diving equipment. Having ran the dive centre here and all its facilities whilst Gary was off otherwise engaged we both had something to offer each other. I have a page dedicated to Dive Action which has more information, just follow this Dive Action link.

Going with the flow

100 Dives from the Forth Bridge to Eyemouth

This is the ideal place to plug a book by Mike Clark, a fellow BSAC Advanced Diver and Instructor. His book "Wrecks & Reefs of Southeast Scotland" covers 100 wrecks from Leith Docks where the river widens to form a huge estuary filled with volcanic islands and submerged pinnacles, blasted by fierce tidal streams. The wrecks and reefs of Southeast Scotland include hundreds of shipwrecks, many of which are of special historical importance. There is so much to explore including an aircraft carrier, a German light cruiser that saw action at the Battle of Jutland, aircraft and even steam powered submarines to name but a few. The author enjoys a career as a professional underwater photographer and has succeeded as a journalist with articles in many of today's diving magazines including Diver, Dive and Sport Diver. I have added a new page about the book Wrecks & Reefs of Southeast Scotland which has greater detail of Mike Clark's book.

To add to my original comprehensive wreck list this website now has another selection of GPS positions and depths, many of which even I have not heard of before. I have express permission to host the list on this website from its owner, use the following link to access the additional wreck list page.

Please take the time to view the remainder of the Whitby Dive Site, if you find it interesting please recommend it to others. If you have any questions or suggestions you may contact me using the link below, likewise if you would like your own page on the website drop me a line I welcome your feedback.

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