Stoney Cove- My First Visit

Stoney Cove Car Park

Having heard a lot of people taking about Stoney Cove being the in-land diving place to visit, I thought as I was in Birmingham for DIVE 2013 I should pay a visit to Stoney Cove which is just nearby.  Not knowing a huge amount about Stoney Cove I wasn't really sure what to expect.  Taking to a few people at DIVE 2013 I asked around for advise on the best parts to dive and what the general layout of Stoney Cove was.  I was then told the bad news, Stoney Cove is always busy at the weekend and to be their at 7am!!  That meant Saturday night's pub plan had be just a few pints!

Staying at a guest house just a few minutes from Stoney Cove we got a full cooked breakfast at 7am and made our way to the dive center just after 7.15am, luckily we got straight in and managed to get parked at the first car park along side the quarry.  If the car park is full you'll have to wait till people leave or you get the option of being in car park 2 which is a little bit of a walk with your equipment to the entry points.  After taking a quick look around and picking up the tanks it was time to kit up.  I was diving with my new Forth Element 7mm Proteus Semi-dry and my friend with his Typhoon Divemaster dry suit.  It was the first time I'd dived with this semi-dry so I was eager to try it out and to see if all the raving reviews I'd read about it all added up.

After buddy checks we were ready to enter the water, as it was quite a sunny day I was ready to get in as putting a brand new 7mm semi-dry suit on is a bit of a challenge! We'd decided to swim out to the Stanegarth marker buoy and then descend rather than navigating our way out to the wreck.  The visibility was reasonably good so we circled the wreck and then took a compass baring make towards the exit point.  On the way back we came across a few other bits of wreckage, an old land rover, a submarine and a swim through under the pub bench.  There was quite a lot of marine life about including little crayfish, perch and carp.


During the surface interval we grabbed some food and hot drinks from the little cafe near the entry points.  Everything that was on offer was very reasonably priced.  We dropped off our tanks at the filling station which had a quick turn around time, kitted up again then planned the second dive.  This time we went looking for the aircraft cockpit, so made an entry at the bus stop.  We descended down some old train tracks to around 25 meters, missing the cockpit on the way down we came across it on the way back up, along with a couple of big pikes.  The temperature at 25 meters dropped to 10 degrees but I didn't feel the cold at all so the Fourth Element Proteus was really living up to the reviews.  A full map of Stoney Cove can be found here.

I'd highly recommend doing some dives at Stoney Cove as there is so many interesting things to see.  The conditions are great for divers of all qualifications due to it being an inland quarry.  Stoney Cove also offer a full range of diving courses along with a massive range of kit hire.  I also used the ScubaStrapp for the first time which is a new diving product which should be launching anytime soon.  It has a use for every element of diving, I've also found many other uses for the Scuba Strapp outwith the water.

DIVE 2013- Birmingham NEC 26th/27th of October 2013

The Birmingham dive show is one of the biggest events in the UK for scuba divers each year.  The show is packed full of great new product releases, prize draws, try dives, great deals on new equipment, seminars from many great divers and much much more.

Tickets are priced at £12.50 and can be purchased online here or at the NEC on the day.  Please note if you purchase your ticket before noon on the 23rd of October you'll save £3 per ticket or if you're buying six or more then you'll save £4 a ticket.  The NEC is easily accessible off the M6 and M42 for full travel details follow this link.

I think apart from the really good bargains you can pick up at the show the seminars are brilliant.  There is a couple of must see seminars and you can find the full list of speakers and timings here.

We will be wondering around the show on Saturday if you wish a chat, just get in touch.  Full details of the show can be found on the dive shows website- http://www.diveshows.co.uk/

Fun Diving on Koh Tao

Fire Dancing, Koh Tao

I contacted Scuba Duba Dive looking to organise a weeks worth of fun diving on the idyllic island of Koh Tao off the coast of Thailand.  Mungo was very quick to get back to me with a quote and rough itinerary which I could adjust to my needs.  Transfers to and from Bangkok were also arranged and both journeys went remarkably smoothly (something rarely guaranteed in the case of Thai buses!)

Dive Boat, Koh Tao

On arrival to Koh Tao, I was greeted by a rep who showed me to the reception desk.  The dive instructors in office were incredibly helpful and friendly, making sure I had all the required qualifications before showing me to my room.  The room itself was one of the beachside bungalows, simple and basic but good value for such a good price.  Unfortunately during a particularly heavy rainstorm the ceiling did drip a little.

Whatever shortcoming the accommodation had this was made u

p for in the quality of the dive instructors.  I dived with Brad and Rob, both of whom were very professional when it came down to our safety but also make diving a lot of fun!  During my week there I saw variety of different reefs, even when the weather conditions weren't favourable and the ships captions were relunctant to visit reefs too far away.  One of my favourite dives was where we visited a wreck, absolutely incredible to see and a memory I will keep for a long time.

I would definitely organise another diving trip through Scuba Duba Dive, they made it so easy for me, especially as a lone, first time traveller.  I would also highly recommend them to anyone looking for a reliable company to dive with, weather its for fun diving or attaining higher PADI qualifications.

Charlotte Cutler, 18, UK