More cold water diving, Boddam Quarry, Peterhead

Boddam Quarry, near Peterhead, Scotland

Geared up ready for the dive

I did my first ever cold water dive in Boddam Quarry back in May 2009, while I was doing my PADI Dry Suit course.  I'd only done a handful of dives in the quarry since then.  So I thought it was time to head back and have another explore of the quarry.  I rounded up two friends who were keen to dive the quarry.  We were all going to be diving in wetsuits after recently diving other local dive sites with the water being 14 degrees, there isn't a huge amount to see in the quarry but it is good for getting used to diving in lower visibility waters and cold water.

We all geared up and did our buddy checks before jumping in.  Initially jumping in the water didn't feel too bad.  So we descended down too around 12 metres, the visibility to start with was terrible but after about 8 metres it started too clear up.  On the bottom there was loads of interesting things including a game of noughts and crosses and a television.  After we explored that area we swam further into the quarry, finally finding the famous burger van that Boddam quarry has!  Having a play around the burger van was good fun.  The burger van was at around 14metres and the water temperature was still around 12 degrees so defiantly bare-able.  Afterwards we decided to find the bottom, swimming into the middle we found 21 metres but didn't stay around for long as at 21 metres it was 6 degrees and in wetsuits wasn't all that fun!  So we ascended up slowly along the side of the quarry to go find the noughts and crosses again.  Little play around and then it was time to find a spot to do a safety stop, as after 25 minutes everyone was starting to feel a little cold.  Safely stop completed we ascended up to the surface, the surface water felt like a hot bath compared to the water at 21 metres deep!

I really recommend Boddam Quarry for getting yourself used to diving again, testing out new equipment or just a place for some dives when the local seas are too rough.  We had a good day out but maybe should use 7mm wetsuits next time!

The view from Boddam Quarry

Diving in the North Sea again

After just over three years of not diving locally I finally dived again last night in the North Sea with North East Dive.  I'd been meaning to go diving with them for a couple of weeks but was concerned it was going to be too cold as I was mainly used to warm water diving.

Prepared for the worse I wore a 5mm full wetsuit and a 5mm shorty with hood, on the way out to the dive site on the rib I was talking to the other dives who said on Friday the water was 16 degrees.  At that I didn't think I would need my gloves after having been in 20 degree water in Malta a month before without a hood or gloves.  The moment I rolled back off the rib and hit the water I knew it wasn't 16 degrees and regretted not wearing my gloves.  However I continued without and descended down for the dive.

The visibility was around 10 metres and it was a shallow dive along the coast.  After spending the first few minutes getting used to my kit and the conditions again we started the dive.  There was lots of little swim throughs and getting thrown around by the current near the coast was a new experience which made me feel sea sick, so had to quickly descend again to get away from the waves.  The marine life was pretty good, lots of little spider crabs around the kelp and a lots of big edible crabs in the fisherman's pots.  Navigating in and out of the coast line never really exceeding 12metres we managed a 42 minute dive.  I was starting to feel the cold without any gloves on as the actual bottom temperature was only 9 degrees! 

North East Dive's Boat- Picture from Facebook

I will defiantly be back for more dives and next time will be wearing a pair of gloves!  I urge anyone who is a qualified diver and has diving on their doorstep to give cold water diving a try.  Yes, you have to wear a lot more equipment than warm water diving but cold water diving just lets you keep up your diving experience and that next time you go on holiday diving you don't spend the first days diving to refresher courses!