At West Wales Diving School, we are ideally situated just 2 miles from the sea and our nearest launching site at Abercastle. From here, we can get to a variety of dive sites.  The underwater scenery can be breathtaking, the marine life is fascinating and plentiful, and the wrecks are well worth exploring.  Click on the pictures to get large images.

Only 200 metres from shore, there is a 3,800 ton wreck called the Leysian lying in 12-15 metres of water, one of several wreck sites that we use.  We usually take people to visit this site on the last day of their beginners course.  There are always a lot of fish swimming round it, some very large, others small but colourful, and quite often our friendly resident seal will turn up and follow us throughout the dive.

On the other side of the bay, just as close to shore, we have a spectacular long, narrow gulley, the walls of which are covered with marine life - sponges, anemones, soft corals and much more.  Colourful species of starfish live there alongside crabs, prawns and the odd lobster.  But the highlight of this underwater site is the 'Blow Hole'.  Only 6 metres deep is a cave entrance, which you swim through towards a glimmer of light, and eventually you surface inside the blow hole (see picture on right).  This is everybody's favourite dive, an ideal way to 'finish off the air'.  

Further offshore we have current-swept reefs teeming with life of all description, ranging from depths of 8-30 metres.  There are also more wrecks to visit, both shallow and deep. The Vendome is a very good site, a small wreck but lots to see on it, in a depth of 32 metres.  We use this, amongst other sites, for our Deep Diver Speciality course.

Skomer Island Marine Reserve is not far from us.  Here you will find uncommon, warm water species that are at their Northernmost limit, due to the changing temperature of the sea.  Beautiful underwater scenery, abundant life - and several wrecks are to be found around the Island, which is also the home to seals and seabirds, including puffins.  The most famous wreck is The Lucy, still intact and upright on the seabed in 42 metres of water, although it is only 30 metres to the top of the wreck.  It is festooned with plumose anemones and soft corals, and is a lovely sight.  We quite often visit The Lucy, and it is another site for our Deep Diver Speciality course.

If the wind is blowing from the North, we go to the sheltered harbour of Solva, from where we can go to one of 3 "Rocks" - Green Scar, Black Scar and The Mare.  The diving around these is extremely scenic, with large numbers of sea urchins and starfish covering the area in places, and dog fish and wrasse can be found swimming amongst the kelp in the shallower parts.  

On the rare occasion that conditions are too bad for any open water sites, we have a lovely, sheltered site called 'The Blue Lagoon', at Abereiddy, pictured below.  It was once a slate quarry, and when quarrying ceased, it was opened to the sea on one side.  All the life normally found on dives is in this lagoon, as it is still sea water.

For any information about these dive sites, contact us.

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