The United Kingdom is home to some of the best scuba diving spots in the world. From the Outer Hebrides to the Pembrokeshire Coast National Park, there are plenty of places to explore and discover the wonders of the deep. St Kilda, Lundy Island, Scapa Flow, Capernwray, The Manacles, Anglesey, Rhoscolyn Beacon, HMS M2, and Orkney Islands are some of the best places to go scuba diving in the UK. St Kilda is a paradise of caves, arches and walls covered in marine life with incredible visibility from the water.
It's a great place to see seals and puffins diving in the water, huge locusts, and beautiful anemones with multicolored jewels. Lundy Island was the first area to be named a Marine Conservation Area in the United Kingdom. Located just a few kilometers from Barnstaple, in North Devon, it is one of the most vibrant marine life areas in the country, with 10 shipwrecks where you can dive and great visibility. Scapa Flow is one of the most famous dive sites in the UK.
Blockship Tabarka is a favorite of many divers. It was voted one of the best diving sites in Europe because it is easily accessible (between 14 and 18 m), is covered with marine life and is surrounded by crystal clear waters. Capernwray is one of the most unique inland diving centers in the United Kingdom. Located just outside Lancaster, you'll find a quarry well flooded with more than just seaweed at the bottom.
A helicopter, a minesweeper, a cannon, a 120-seater plane and two giant plastic horses from Blackpool Pleasure Beach are some of the places you'll see below. The Manacles is a well-known Cornish dive site on the Lizard Peninsula. It has incredible slopes, pinnacles and reefs covered with Gorgonian fans, beautiful anemones and dead man's fingers. More than 110 shipwrecks can be found here, with a depth of between 8 and 80 m. One of the most famous ships is the Mohegan, which sank in 1898 and is said to be haunted.
Watch out for the congrios that hide inside the shipwreck holes. Anglesey is every diver's dream, with a fantastic variety of marine life and shipwrecks to explore. Rhoscolyn Beacon is one of the best places for drift diving in the UK. Located on the outermost rock of Rhoscolyn, the reef falls to about 18 m. When the current is right, fish and lobsters emerge and the anemones open.
There are many rocky ravines to explore, villages of pollock, shrimp, cuckoo fish and crabs. We've heard that rainbow trout are especially friendly to humans. If you're lucky, expect to see locusts, moon jellyfish, soccer ball-sized hedgehogs, and playful seals. The Pembrokeshire coast in Wales is home to the UK's only coastal national park (the Pembrokeshire Coast National Park). As its designation suggests, the area has plenty of beautiful beaches and diverse wildlife. You can also find more than 300 wrecks here, so it's easy to understand why the area is one of the best places to dive in the UK. Among the most prominent species of marine life are seals, porpoises, dolphins, sunfish, cuttlefish, dogfish and flounder.
In addition, the coast is home to one of the largest populations of gannets in the world. The Orkney Islands can be reached by plane or ferry from the UK mainland. The diving season generally lasts between April and the end of October, and the water temperature reaches a maximum of around 13°C (55°F) in mid-September. A dry suit is recommended for diving in the Orkney Islands. Abbs in Scotland is home to some of the best shore dives in the UK thanks to strong tides and deep waters. Learning to dive here can be an unforgettable experience. In Galway and Clare on Ireland's west coast there are numerous exceptional dive sites many of which are also suitable for beginner divers.
Local dive shops located in most major cities across Ireland can help you complete your PADI Open Water Diver course. Finally if you venture 40 miles from Scotland's Outer Hebrides you'll find Underwater Arch at St Kilda where you can explore HMS M2 wreckage voted one of Europe's best diving sites due its easily accessible depths (14-18m) crystal clear waters and abundance of marine life.
