Several members of the club recently travelled down to Jackdaw Quarry, Capernwray, near Carnforth, Lancashire, for the first dive of 2006.
An overcast grey sky and cool 2 centigrade outside temperature, drysuits were rapidly donned in the car park, before the eight intrepid divers headed down to the waters edge.Whilst the water temperature (6°c) had clearly cooled since club members had last ventured to this site in November last year, we were rewarded this time by excellent underwater visibility of 15 metres plus.
The flooded quarry whilst not exactly offering the most exciting dive in the UK, nevertheless has excellent training facilities including a number of platforms raised up from the silt bottom. There are also a number of small ‘wrecks’, including a small wooden WW 2 minesweeper, HMS Podsnap, 2 helicopters and other assorted artefacts all deliberately sunk in the depths of the quarry with the aim of providing added interest for the visiting diver.
In our own case, use was made of the raised training platforms to practise rusty dive drills, as well the opportunity taken to use a compass to navigate between various wreck sites.
Some forty five minutes later, we emerged from the water, cold but satisfied that we had now completed the first dive of the season.
Once changed and with the dive gear safely packed away, we headed up to the dive centre to the Porthole restaurant, for a hot bowl of soup and a hot chocolate, before the long journey home.
All in all, a successful and fairly enjoyable start to the 2006 dive season, despite the chilly temperature.
Between now and Easter we will continue to make use of the dive facilities at Capenwray and when conditions allow, dive out of St Abbs and the Farnes. From Easter onwards, more adventurous diving is planned.
For further details opening times and costs, check the Capenwray website: http://www.dive-site.co.uk
E-mail: info@dive-site.co.uk
Telephone: 01524 735132
Jackdaw Quarry, Capenwray Rd, Over Kellet, Nr Carnforth, Lancashire, LA6 1AD