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Bantry Bay, Co. Cork

Bantry Bay is the longest of the many narrow bays that cut into the coastline of West Cork. The town of Bantry is situated at the head of the bay and the major fishing town of Castletownbere is about half-way along the Northern shore. The south shore is accessed by a minor road called the "Goats Path". Turn right just after the West Lodge Hotel when leaving Bantry on the N71 heading South. The road goes out to Sheep's Head 30km away. The North side, which is over 50km long, ends at Dursey Island with Kenmare River to the North. There is deep water right up the bay and this was the reason for siting a major oil terminal on Whiddy Island as it could accommodate the largest oil tankers in the world. This now effectively closed.

The diving on the south shore is not spectacular with bare rock faces plunging rapidly into the depths with little growth. There are a couple of location worth a mention:

1. Gerahies Pier
About 8km along the goat's Path from the West Lodge Hotel is the small harbour of Gerahies with a good slip, usable after half tide, giving access to the coastline to the West, where there are some interesting gullies just beyond the pier. It is also possible to shore dive by entering the water a little East of the pier across a rocky reef.

2. Collack Pier
A further 8km along the Goat's Path there is a turn off to the right down to the water at Collack Pier. The access road is a little rough, but it should be possible to launch a medium sized boat here. There is no shelter from Westerly winds, but on a calm day shore diving around the pier can be rewarding.

It is 16km on the T65 from Bantry to the picturesque village of Glengarriff, where the road splits and the L61 heads off towards Castletownbere along the Northern shores of Bantry Bay.

3. Zetland Pier
7km beyond Glengar take a left marked "Zetland Pier" and follow the road down to the shore for 2 km until you arrive at a charming open spot with a simple pier. while there is no slipway, it is possible to launch an inflatable into the water without much problem, while RIB's would have to be launched in Glengarriff or across the bay at Gerahies. The area around the pier is suitable for snorkelling while the attraction for divers is Sheelane Island about 800m offshore.

At the Western end of the island is a small outlying rock with a splendid open cave to explore. The rocky bottom is covered with brittle and feather stars as it runs down into deeper water and life begins to peter out around 30m.

4. Roancarrigmore Lighthouse / Lonehort Point
16km beyond Glengariff lies the straggling village of Ardrigole dominated by Hungry Hill beyond. 5km beyond the centre of the village take a left turn down to Bank Harbour which has a small pier suitable for small inflatables. This is the best location for departures to the rocks and reefs to the East of Bere Island. There is a wreck of a Spanish trawler here, but it is completely dry on the rocks!

5. Bardini Reefer
Continuing West past the large camp-site there is a left turn signposted for Bere Island Ferry, which brings you, after 800m, to a pleasant little harbour with a good slipway. About half-way across the bay towards Bere Island lies the wreck of the factory ship "Bardini Reefer" which sank about 10 years ago in 15m of water after catching fire at anchor. Finding it is no problem as the masts are visible above water!

The wreck is almost complete and it is possible to poke your nose into some of the openings. Due to the gentle currents that bathe the wreck there is a lot of growth on the superstructure. Given the shallow depth it is best to plan your dive at high water, when you can spend as long as you like exploring without going below 10m. Being within Bere Haven it can be dived when it is too rough to dive in the open bay.

6. Spanish Trawler
This 30m long fishing boat struck the rocks just West of the entrance to Castletownbere and sank in 30m. It is still substantially intact and lying on it's side. There are 2 slips at Castletownbere Harbour. The one at the far end of the pier complex is less public and more suitable for a group of divers with all their gear.

The wreck lies at the narrowest part of the Western entrance to the harbour about 3.5km from the pier, exactly on the leading lights, which can be spotted in daylight by the fluorescent orange backing plates. Continue out to sea along this line until Sheep's Head appears across the bay from behind the cliffs of Bere Island. About 100m further and a house will appear between the rocks on the mainland and this is the second transit for the wreck. It is easily picked out with an echo-sounder.

Watch out for heavy trawler traffic that comes through the narrow channel, avoid Sunday afternoons when they all put to sea! Be sure to dive your A-Flag flying and your divers have SMB's and be on the constant look-out. It is possible to launch a smaller boat at Dunboy Castle and thus half the journey to the wreck (Head West out of the town on the L61 and turn left at the signpost after 1.5km).

7. Black Ball Head
Head West out of Castlebere on the L61, passing a junction to the right to Allihies after 10km. About 1km further a national school is passed on the right. Take the next left turn and then quickly right onto a narrow lane and Black Ball Harbour is reached after 1km. It is possible to launch medium sized boats across the rocky beach about 100m before the pier.
Heading out of the harbour and turning left, after 300m, brings you to the dark imposing cliffs of Black Ball Head. Here the cliffs rise 60m above the sea and plunge 45m underwater with hardly a pause. Finding a bottom to anchor is quite a problem! The underwater scenery is marvelous with massive walls of rock carpeted with life running down to a sea floor of massive boulders. Enter the water very close to the cliffs in order to find "shallow" water. This is obviously only suitable in calm conditions and slack water.

8. Garnish Pier
Continuing along the B61 Westward, the scenery gets wilder, but after driving through a narrow pass a valley opens up on the right with a road heading down at a junction signposted "Garnish Pier". Continue straight on here and after 2km you will reach the end of the road and the unique cable car connecting with Dursey Island.

Arriving at the pier there is a lot of space with a good pier and slipway usable except at low water. there is even a nice sandy beach for relaxing on! The bay is quite sheltered and if it is too rough to dive "outside" then interesting diving can be had in the vicinity of the rocks, with a bollard on them, out to the right.

There are the remains of an old coal boat here. When the conditions are right, the long journey to this remote spot is rewarded with superb diving around to the left beyond Garnish Point. If the tide is high it is possible to pass directly from the pier to the open sea, otherwise you must motor 1km around the islands. The whole area between the point and the entrance to Dursey Sound offers excellent diving with rock faces tumbling down to 40m and beyond. It is a very high energy site and thus rarely calm, however this also means the rocks are ablaze with life to 35m. This whole area offers a multitude of other top class dive sites suitable for the advanced diver when conditions are very calm.

9. Crow Head
6km from Garnish pier by boat, after passing through Dursey Sound, you reach the long headland of Crow Head sticking out into Bantry Bay. There is a rock just awash just off-shore and the whole area is an amazing jumble of massive rocks and boulders, some over 30m high in an area that is generally 40-45m deep. Great care is needed to avoid too much ascending and descending, but when the visibility is very good this is the closest you'll get to flying! Obviously slack water is essential.

10. Bull Rock
For a major expedition off-shore for a group with the right boats and personnel, look no further than Bull Rock, 5km beyond the end of Dursey Island and 15km from Garnish Pier. This very impressive rock rises almost vertically from the sea on all sides to a height of 80m and is topped by a lighthouse. There is a large archway right through the middle of the rock, through which it is possible to take a dive boat, but watch out for the thousands of sea birds that nest on the cliffs! Although it is probably possible to dive in a tidal shadow, it makes sense to plan a dive here for slack water to reduce risks.

Excellent deep diving is assured here wherever you enter the water with the life running on well beyond safe diving depths. The helicopter landing pad, 60m above sea-level, was washed away by a wave during a storm some years ago. Needless to say it needs to be exceptionally calm to dive here. There are two other offshore rocks nearby, the Crow and the Calf, equally impressive.