In a thrilling encounter that left a team of marine researchers in awe, a majestic minke whale was sighted during a line transect survey on June 15, 2023. The remarkable event took place approximately 10 nautical miles off the coast of Cardigan Bay, amidst an area teeming with shearwaters. The whale’s behavior, as observed by Katrin Lohrengel, Sea Watch’s Monitoring Officer, indicated potential foraging activities, as it gracefully engaged in deep dives. This exceptional sighting is the first documented instance of a minke whale in the Cardigan Bay Special Area of Conservation (SAC) since 2013 ..read more

Duttons Divers, who have recently announced a new hard boat to join their growing fleet over on the Llyn Peninsula based at Hafan Marina Dive Centre and a second dive centre that opened in January this year, have another big announcement to end the year on! It seems that there’s just no stopping the Duttons Divers team as they announce their third dive centre opening – this time on Anglesey! The dive centre will be open from January 2023, and is based just off the A55 at Llangefni Services, offering ease of access from all over the island and to those visiting for the day who will be passing b ..read more

Duttons Divers, the North Wales based Scuba diving company, have been going from strength to strength with the expansion of a new dive centre last year, and now the addition of a second dive boat. Duttons already offer guided shore and boat dives around the North Wales area, with their current dive boat, Little Viv, taking divers around the Llyn Peninsula. The area offers an array of marine life and variety of dive sites, including wrecks, caverns, scenic wall dives and of course their colony of curious seals at the Tudwals Islands. The new hard boat has a diver capacity of 10, which can ..read more

Hugely popular scuba dive centre in the North West, Palaemon Divers have expanded and are opening their second dive centre, this time in Warrington! Spreading across two floors, the new dive centre will become the only scuba centre in Warrington, with an in house compressor to provide air fills to both members and the public, classroom, workshop and fully stocked retail scuba floor. With the new site opening, also comes a second pool night for those new to the sport and experienced divers to jump in and try it out or practice skills. With a pool night already on a Wednesday in Speke, and ..read more

I’m not sure why, maybe it’s just me, but I think sometimes we overlook what we have right on our doorsteps. For some of us we can become indifferent, and in some cases outright loathsome, to things we see and experience regularly, not always fully appreciating what we have close by. When it comes to diving on the west coast of Scotland I think is particularly relevant in regards to Loch Long.  If you’re a diver from Scotland (who dives here obviously) it’s pretty much guaranteed you’ll have dived in Loch Long, whether it be for training/courses or “fun” dives. In fact, I think it’s safe ..read more

The first in a series of blogs about Scotland Underwater from Ross Mclaren… Here in Scotland our driech and dreary weather is world famous. But actually, the copious amount of rain that we often moan about, is responsible for a cacophony of colours across our beautiful country.  The one place that might not always be as renowned for being vibrant and colourful is our seas and lochs.  As always there’s exceptions. Our beaches on the north west coast are covered in golden white sand and with turquoise water that might be mistaken for the Maldives… albeit a wee bit nippier… and we’ve ev ..read more

Wales Best of the West (Cymru Gorau’r Gorllewin) is a bilingual online series that takes viewers on a journey from North to South Wales to discover four favourite shore dives. In this episode, we explore Stackpole Quay. Stackpole Quay brings the series to an end. A small cove situated a few miles south from Pembroke. The stony cove hidden amongst the cliffs of the Pembrokeshire coast is a site full of life and the finger like reefs protruding from the coastline provides unique topography. The reefs provide shelter and protection to many species. The adjacent sand creates suitable habitat for m ..read more

Wales Best of the West (Cymru Gorau’r Gorllewin) is a bilingual online series that takes viewers on a journey from North to South Wales to discover four favourite shore dives. In this episode, we explore Martin’s Haven. Heading down to Pembrokeshire, Martin’s Haven was the next to explore. This is a dive site that fellow team member Lloyd (Kraken Production) knows like the back of his hand and he reveals some of its many secrets. The site is situated within the Skomer Marine Nature Reserve and one thing you notice soon into the dive is what the protection means to the site. There’s an abundanc ..read more

People of all ages can dive into marine conservation and learn about the extraordinary sharks, skates and rays living in Welsh coastal waters, in a new project which gives diverse local communities the chance to be part of a ‘green recovery’ in Wales. Launched on 23 February 2022 by the Zoological Society London (ZSL) and Natural Resources Wales (NRW), Project SIARC is enlisting the help of fishers, schoolchildren, researchers and citizen scientists from across Wales to better understand some of the more unusual coastal species, such as the angelshark (Squatina squatina) and common stingray (D ..read more

Wales Best of the West (Cymru Gorau’r Gorllewin) is a bilingual online series that takes viewers on a journey from North to South Wales to discover four favourite shore dives. In this episode, we explore Porthdinllaen. Heading East from Porth Ysgaden along Pen Llŷn we discover what’s found amongst the seagrass (Zostera marina) meadow in-front of the beach within the small historical fishing town of Porthdinllaen. Amongst the meadow , we share the many benefits that seagrass provide known as ecosystem services. Services include their ability to capture and store carbon dioxide, production of ox ..read more