Diving in England vs Holland

Some of you might have noticed that there was a foreigner in the Totnes dive club in September 1991. Since I have been diving for over two and a half years, and would be in Plymouth for over a month, I decided to bring my SCUBA equipment, hoping to make some dives there. I was lucky, someone at work introduced me to Jon Parlour, who is a member of your club. Because he has his own boat he took me diving twice in Plymouth sound. The visibility there was much better than we have in Holland, about 8 metres compared to the 3-5 metres we have at home. The week later Jon took me to your (very nice) clubhouse, where I added my name to the list with divers going to Land's End the next weekend (hearing Allan say: "who the hell is Michel Wets"). They told me that Lands End is one of the best diving sites in England, with visibility between 10 and 15 meters. I was surprised to hear that the Totnes club actually owned 3 boats, including echo-sounders. This compared to Holland, where there are very few clubs who own boats, let alone echo-sounders. The reason for this is that 95% of the dives made in Holland are shore dives. The bottom is mostly flat and sandy, so there is no need for echo-sounders.

This shore diving has reasons. First of all, most dives are made in Zeeland, the south-west part of Holland, and the dive sites are well accessible from the shore. Since we have no reefs and no big tides or waves, the best sites are close by the shore. Second of all, I used to live about 20 miles east of Amsterdam, and had to drive between 70 and 90 miles to get to those sites. The dives we make in Holland are normally not over 15 meters, since the marine live there is better and you've still got some light left at those depths. If we don't dive in Zeeland, most dives are in lakes with fresh water. Because these are rather small (as Holland is compared to England) it is not worth bringing a boat there.

There are only a few divers brave (or stupid) enough to go diving in the North Sea. This because the visibility there is very unpredictable, it varies between 20 cm and 2 meters (if you're lucky). This doesn't mean that diving in Holland is not lousy. If you know where to go, you can find a wide variety of marine life in fresh and salt water.

Diving from Land's End was quite an experience, not at least because of the large waves we had that day. It is really a place for computers and echo-sounders. They'll guarantee a great dive, starting deep - but not too deep) and gradually going back to the surface. Diving with a SMB was very relaxing - you didn't have to keep a constant eye on your compass and you could surface wherever you wanted, as long as you didn't end up to close to the lighthouse. We even spotted a sunfish, who was probably lost, as was a big crayfish, who accidentally ended up in Allan's kitchen. The diving signs used by the BSAC are almost the same as we use with PADI, so there were (almost) no misunderstandings. The visibility that day was about 9 meters, which I found extremely good, although they kept telling was that it should have been better. The barbecue afterwards was the finishing touch of a perfect diving day. After this I made 4 more dives, in Hallsands, Torbay and Plymouth Sound. You are very lucky to have these beautiful dive sites so close by. I would like to thank everybody who didn't mind diving with a foreigner, and made my stay in Plymouth an unforgettable experience. I hope that if any of you ever go diving in Holland, you'll experience as much hospitality as I've received with your club.

Michel Wets - October 1991