A list of the best rated scuba dive sites in United Kingdom.

Steps, Pendennis Point, U-Boats

At the end of WWI the captured German navy was all scuttled at Scapa Flow, Orkney. A lot of the fleet was re-floated and fleet was dispersed between the Allied Forces. The Royal Navy had a surplus of ships and had no need for the war battered remnants of the German fleet. A lot were to be used as target practice but 5 of the German U-Boats escaped being shot at one last time. As they were moored up in Falmouth Bay awaiting their time, a storm brewed up. They broke their moorings and blew up onto...

Drina Wreck

The Drina lies south of Skokholm in 42 metres of water to the decks and 60 metres to the bottom. She is a hugh wreck and can be picked up on the depth sounder. She is completley intact, lies upside down and . Slack water and calm seas are advised before setting out. She was carrying 4000 tons of cargo when torpedoed by German subs in March 1917....

Lough Gary

The Lochgarry (Loch Garry, former Lairdsrock and Vulture) was a McBraynes Hebrides Passenger Ferry, now on Wartime service as a Government Transport ship. When she struck rocks off Torr Point, she drifted, crippled, finally going down off the east coast of the Rathlin Island. The Lochgarry now lies upright and mostly intact at 34m. She sank on the 21st January 1942, weighed 1670 tons and was 265 feet long....

Blockship Tabarka

One of the most popular shipwrecks in Scapa Flow is the 20m long WWII Blockship Tabarka located at Skapa Flow, Orkney Islands at a maximum depth of 16 meters. This upside down steamship was originally built in Rotterdam, Netherlands as the Pollux in 1909 and captured by the Royal English Navy at Falmouth in 1940. She was one of the last blockships to be intentionally sunk, initially in Kirk Sound but re-floated in 1944 to be sunk again near Burra Sound about 200m away from the Inverlane. Nowaday...

Dead Eye Wreck

The Dead Eye Wreck lies along the rocks the other side from the Lucy at a place called The Neck, east of South Haven. She is spread over a large area and tides are slack near the cliffs. The Dead Eye makes for a good second dive after the Lucy. In the bay to the left as you face the Island you will usually see seals. They can be quite playful, especially the young pups. The area is well protected from any northern winds. Launch out of Dale and drive around the heads towards Skomer Island. As the...

Empire Tana (Lees Wreck)

The Empire Tana aka the Lees Wreck was a Liberty ship but also acted as part of the World War II Mulberry harbour. It has broken into two large pieces, known as Inner and Outer Lees, off Ballyhenry point at the sheltered end of the Strangford Narrows. It breaks the surface at low water and sits in l0 meter of water. Once famous for its tame conger eels, it is teeming with life resembling "a garden full of colour". It is carpeted from stem to stern inside and out with a huge variety of marine lif...

Aparima

The Aparima was a luxury cargo and passenger liner and now lies on the seabed at a depth of 42m with its bow at 31m below the surface. The vessel is broken with the centre section upright and the forward section listing to starboard. She measured 430ft long and 54ft wide, with a height of nearly 40ft and a gross weight of 5,704 tons. She was torpedoed by a German submarine while sailing from London to Barry on 19th November 1917....

Orkney Islands

The Orkney Islands, for scuba divers better known as Skapa Flow after the body of water in between, are a set of islands in the north of Scotland, United Kingdom. With the upcoming Kaiserliche Marine's High Seas Fleet of Germany in the beginning of the 19th century, the English decided to create a permanent base here to control the entrance to the North Sea. Scapa Flow, bordered by the islands Mainland, Hoy, South Ronaldsay, Burray and Graemsay offers a perfect natural harbor; large, protected a...

HMS Drake

The HMS Drake was a four funnelled armoured cruiser of 14.100 tons. Built at Pembroke dockyard in 1902, she had spent the war years on the Atlantic Ocean protecting convoys. She was torpedoed while protecting a west bound convoy by u-boat U79. She rolled over and sank close to Church Bay in waters of 16m deep....

Castle Beach U-Boat

This is actually one of the 5 U-Boats that broke their moorings in a storm, crashing onto the rocks. Two are on Pendennis, two were on Gyllyngvase but later removed and this one makes the five. More intact than the two on Pendennis but still heavily salvaged many years ago. It is usually covered in kelp and can be hard to find but there is usually a lot of life around it. It is so shallow at low water that you can stand on it with your head & shoulders out of the water. It is still well wort...