Hidden treasures

Pulau Sipadan, the Red Sea, the Great Barrier Reef and, erm, Scotland. It might not sound quite right, but Scotland is actually one of the most unique places to dive in the world. Alex Mead found out more…

Admittedly, it doesn't offer the luxury of luke-warm water temperatures, palm-tree lined beaches or ‘Nemo-fish' (also known as clown fish), but Scotland is a hotbed of dive sites and, if you want to consider yourself a proper diver, it really is the place to go for an underwater adventure.

Whether it's reefs or wrecks you're after, the coasts of Scotland can provide. But, what with it being a bit nippy on occasions and the water being often on the choppier side of choppy, you do have to be careful.

“I would say diving in Scotland is as good as any diving in the world,” says Drew Anderson, a PADI master scuba trainer, with more than 3,000 dives under his belt.

“The likes of Scapa Flow are just tremendous to dive but people have to be aware that it's quite challenging.

“You can have big problems with the currents and the weather. You've got to have the ability and the fitness to dive here.

“First of all, you have to be able to dive in a dry suit. So if you haven't already done it, you've got to do at the very least a dry suit orientation course – that's something you can do here in Scotland. It costs about £150 and you've got to do four dives in a dry suit.

“Scotland's a good place to learn to dive, the quality of instruction here is very good.” And, even if you are fully qualified, Drew warns, you can still get in trouble.

“The visibility can vary so much that it can just go from 20 metres to zero and sometimes you can't even see your hand in front ...

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• By : Dominic Roskrow
• In : Destinations
• Issue : 21
• Page : 24
• Words : 1,422