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Dingle, Co. Kerry

Located approximately 40 minutes drive West of Tralee, it has some of the finest restaurants and drinking houses in the country. Divers will be impressed by the warmth and efficiency of the local people. The new Dingle Harbour Marina provides an excellent base with a massive slip way and ample car parking.

A snorkel with Fungie, the famous "tame" dolphin, can be enjoyable early in the morning or late in the evening. Because of the amount of spectator boats, extra caution needs to be exercised by coxswains and divers.

Diving in the area is much affected by the weather and careful attention must also be given to the local tide conditions which can be very treacherous. For best visibility around the Blaskets, the first hour of the flood tide seems to be the time to dive.

1. The Crow Rock
Located about 800m SW of the Dingle Harbour entrance the Crow Rock provides a comprehensive range of diving in calm South Westerlies or strong Northerlies. It is generally clearly visible, being awash through all but the highest tides. The North face of the Rock has a ledge at 15m sloping down to sand at 20m. A colourful 15-20m dive is available moving West from the Rock while the South face slopes down rapidly to boulders at 35m.

2. Brandon Creek
12km from Dingle on the North side of the peninsula, Brandon Creek provides excellent diving in strong Southerly winds. It is a beautiful cove with a reasonable slip and pier which is usable 2 hours after low water. Just at the head of the creek on the West side there is a sea arch which provides lovely snorkelling and leads down to an 18m dive towards the centre of the creek.

Moving either East or West out of the cove there is excellent wall diving with the bottom generally starting at 30m and dropping away deeper very quickly. Visibility in settled conditions is generally 20m+ and marine life is plentiful and varied.

3. Smerwick Harbour
As strong Westerly wind will make most dives around the Blaskets and the peninsula uncomfortable, your only escape may be Smerwick Harbour on the North coast. Launching from Wine Strand, interesting shallow dives may be made along the Western side of the Harbour. If you need to log deep dives you can generally get whatever depth you require in the middle of the bay, on sand. the further out you go, the deeper it gets.

Out side the Harbour to the South West, under the Three Sisters and Sybil Head, there is excellent wall diving.

The Blasket Island Dive Sites

Those looking for more adventurous diving should consider an expedition to the Blasket Islands. Diving here should not be taken lightly. The Blaskets, the most Westerly Islands in Europe, are a cluster of seven islands, inlets and rocks.

They are exposed to swells from South East right around to the North, the South Westerly and North Westerly swells being the most serious. Strong tides run in the sound, and Western passage. The 100m contour is located only 5km West of the Tearaght, with a result that Whales are a common sight from August to October.

4. Inistooskert
The most Northerly Island has excellent diving on the Easterly face and in the cove on the South West face 15-20m with nice gullies and lots of life including seals.

At the most Northerly tip of this rocky pinnacle there is a most spectacular dive. Starting at the tip and heading in a South Westerly direction with the reef to the right you will descend to 15m. Maintaining this direction you come, after a few metres, to the top of a wall that is covered in Jeweled Anenomes, Sponges, cracks and crevices full of Crabs and Crayfish.
The maximum depth here is approx. 40m. Following this wall the direction swings more NW and you enter a gully which eventually narrows to an undersea cave. With the aid of a torch one can follow this cave for a short distance to find it blocked by a boulder.

Keeping the reef wall to your right, the gully begins to open at about 20m. Here there is a series of outcrops and ledges with plenty of life. The general direction of the dive is SW and these ledges and small gullies fade away into flatter but craggier terrain.
This site is suitable for divers of all levels.

5. "The Three Brothers"
One of two good wrecks lying off the Great Blasket Island. This is a 30m steel fishing boat lying between 18-30m near the South West point of the island. The hull is sound and clean and so provides an excellent introduction to wreck diving "virgins". the exact position of the wreck is not known, so local knowledge is required to find it.

6. The Quebra
The second Great Blasket wreck is a WW1 munitions ship which sank on the North face. The "Quebra" lies in 15-27m starting in a gully just off a rock known as "Speir Cuas Faill Beag". This wreck is well broken up but as the dive site is relatively sheltered from most winds it offers a good, safe and interesting dive.

The cargo consisted of wire and artillery shells and these can be seen in the gullies to the West of the wreck. On the wreck the boilers are standing upright while the recoil spring of a ship's gun is still visible. Heading North out into deeper water the gully, containing the main bulk of the wreck, falls away.

7. The Island Harbour
Just off the slip and out of the small natural harbour of the Great Blasket, the area has a maximum depth of 12m and is suitable for trainees. Heading East out of the Harbour you can follow the reef which acts as a breakwater for the slipway. the bottom is on white sand with a wide variety of sea life and the reef is frequented by seals.

Returning along the original dive path instead of re-entering the harbour proper, head North West along the sands to another group of rocks and some shallow gullies. This is an excellent shore dive for the trainee or casual pottering diver.

During the day it is advisable to use an SMB as the ferry boats operating to and from the islands have to travel over this dive site in order to reach the slipway.

8. Tearaght Island
This island has excellent diving and large schools of fish especially beneath the lighthouse and along the ridges and gullies of the North face. There are two landing stages to serve the lighthouse on the North, and South of the spectacular sea arch and it is possible to travel ashore there from inflatables.

9. Inishvickillane
The most Southerly Island is privately owned but has excellent diving along it's south shore, most notably at Fohish Rocks.

There are three pinnacles joined by a reef with a ledge out 20m on the North East but dropping rapidly to 40m and on the South side. Fish life is abundant with plenty of drop off.