Dive Scotland

Scotland is mainly known for its wreck diving, particularly the world class Scapa Flow in the Orkneys. However, the underwater naturalist will also find much of interest, particularly in the seas around the west of Scotland. I hope the following will help people who intend SCUBA diving in and around the area. Please let me know if you are aware of other resources which should go in here, or if you spot any mistakes. It has been a few years since I lived in Scotland, so I am getting out of touch with the diving scene there. The usual disclaimer applies - these resources are as accurate as I can make them, but I am not responsible for any problems you encounter as a result of errors.

Charters & Commercial Guides
Emergencies
Marine Life
Places to Stay
Weather & Sea Conditions
WWW Sites
Other Resources

Books & Magazines for Divers

Dive Islay Wrecks
S Blackburn. Bucknall Publications.

Diver Guide to Scotland (out of print)
Gordon Ridley
Gordon Ridley has written many other valuable guides to diving in and around Scotland. If I can find a means of contact, I will include it here.

The National Tidal & Sea Level Facility
The tidal currents around Scotland can be wicked. You will need to know about the tides if you intend diving anywhere. and the NTSLF web site provieds tidal predictions for UK and Irish ports.

Wrecks of Scapa Flow, The
D Ferguson. The Orkney Press.
(Brief descriptions and no GPS references)

Wrecks of Shetland, The
D Ferguson.

You can order these books from

Charters & Commercial Guides

Puffin Dive Centre
Port Gallanach
Oban and West Scotland
Tel: +44 (0) 1631 566088
Fax: +44 (0) 1631 564142
E-mail: info@puffin.org.uk

Lochaline Dive Centre
Lochaline, Morvern
Argyll PA34 5XT
Tel./Fax: 01967 421627
E-mail: lochaline.divecentre@virgin.net

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Emergencies

Emergency Services, including Ambulance and Coast Guard, call 999 (free from any phone in the UK)
Scottish Diving Medicine provide information about diving accidents and illnesses. They recommend contacting them if you have a dive accident in Scotland because they are in touch with the four recompression chambers there. They recommend that you call 0845 408 6008 and ask for the on-call hyperbaric consultant.
Alternatively, call DAN Europe's hotline in Zurich +41.1.14 14

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Marine Life

Beneath British Seas. Alan James. Includes a section on Scotland's Atlantic Coast.
Sea Life of Britain and Ireland. E. Wood (Editor).
Seashores and Shallow Seas of Britain and Europe. Andrew Campbell. A Hamlyn Guide.
Under Northern Seas. Linda Pitkin.
Undersea Britain. R. Palmer.

You can order these books from

Places to Stay

Findhorn Bay Holiday Park, located in northeast Scotland on the Moray Firth. Friendly people, good location, a useful site shop and you don't have to interact with the barmy community if you don't want to!
Lochaline Dive Centre, located in the west of Scotland (see information in 'Charters and Commercial Guides' above).

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Weather & Sea Conditions

Water temperatures range from about 4 Celsius in January to March, to about 13 C in July to September. A dry suit with a warm undersuit is needed for most of the year. A thick semi-dry may be adequate from late spring to early autumn.

Tidal currents can be very fast indeed. It is essential to consult tide tables before diving.

Visibility can be very variable. The west coast of Scotland has a reputation for better visibility than the east. However, I have experienced visibility up to 15 metres and more in the Moray Firth (also 1m and less!).

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WWW

Dumfries & Galloway SAC
JackSAC - A club in the north east devoted to wreck diving
Scot Dive - A good resource for Scottish Diving
Scottish sub-aqua club - publishes a magazine called Scottish diver which has adverts from 10s if not a hundred charter boats in and around Scotland.
Whitehorses Diving - include nice descriptions of diving Scapa Flow

Other Resources

Diving

BurgSAC in Elgin.
Grampian Branch of the Scottish Sub-Aqua Club.
Scottish Sub Aqua Cluba a nonprofit making Organisation that offers training specifically orientated to the challenging waters of Scotland

DAN - The safety organisation for divers.

Medical advice for divers is available from Ernest S. Campbell, MD, FCAS, a former surgeon and diver, at Diving Medical Online

Environment - Information, articles and links

Training Organisations