Baltimore

Photo: Jeremy Quinn

The first time I went to Ireland I dived the Skelligs, which was marvellous. The pinnacles are covered in life as far down as you can go, and we did them over and over again. In the area there are also great places to dive on the mainland. One of the most incredible places I've ever dived was Duchalla Head in St Finan's Bay, which has square-cut gullies that join up like crazy paving, with lobsters, seals, dogfish, wrasse and little openings with sandy bottoms that look like gardens.

On our next trip we were based in Baltimore, but we spent the week twiddling our thumbs, as the weather was so dreadful. It was June, but the wind was Force 8, gusting up to Force 9, which we measured on a wind-speed gauge one of our group had, and all you could see out at sea was the spray of breaking waves. We were only able to dive the wreck of the Kowloon Bridge on the last day, so we returned to Baltimore the following year for another try. This time the weather was perfect, and the diving was great: we did Fastnet Rock and the U-260, which was impressive. The submarine is at 45m and the visibility was so good - about 30-40m - that at that depth we didn't need torches, as it was like bright daylight.

The dive centre we used, Aquaventures, is run by a nice couple, Jerry, a TDI instructor, and Rhianne, a PADI instructor. They've got a very good set-up, with a lovely bed and breakfast, which is very popular at weekends. I am a bit of a wrekkie, but I also enjoy good scenic diving, and the area around Baltimore has both. The Kowloon Bridge is an astonishing wreck: I've only dived the forward section so far, but I'm planning to do the stern on trimix. The wreck's about 500m long, with the bottom of the bow, which is upright, in 40m, and the top in 6m. The bow is covered with anemones and there are loads of big old lobsters, as divers are not allowed to take shellfish, or to remove items from wrecks in Ireland. You see huge wrasse, and my buddy once saw a solitary dolphin on the wreck.

There is wreckage scattered around at 30-35m, which is fun to explore, and you can get inside the bow and explore it down to about 45m through the lift and ventilation shafts. The cargo holds are the size of football pitches. It's a great site for divers of mixed abilities, as there's so much to see even up at 6m. Fastnet Rock is a very scenic pinnacle 20 miles out to sea. On one trip we saw a group of dolphins who broke off from their hunt to play in the wake of the RIB, and we then realised that a pilot whale was hunting with them. It's a great area for whales and dolphins: someone who works at the dive centre went out on a whale-watching boat that has set up there fairly recently, and saw a pod of 40 sei whales and so many dolphins that they gave up counting them. There's also a lot of very nice scenic diving with beautiful little shallow areas where seals will approach you. As I've only really done a week's diving in Baltimore, there's still a lot to dive, and I hope to do the Lusitania and some of the really deep wrecks on trimix.