Jersey is home to the oldest dive shop in Europe. Bouley Bay Dive Centre has been operating for over 70 years and is the main diving hub on the island. They are a PADI 5* IDC Centre and offer a whole range of courses and dives. They do kit servicing and have a shop with a wide variety of stock. The centre also offers paddleboarding courses and rental, as well as boat trips and yoga.
Here's some things you should know about diving in Jersey...
Jersey has one of the largest tidal ranges in the world, the largest spring tides can reach 13 metres! You can dive all year round with Summer (May-October) water temperatures of 15-20C and Winter (November-April) water temperatures of 6-15C. Visibility varies greatly from 0-20 metres (usually averages around 5-10 metres).
As a PADI 5* IDC Centre, Bouley Bay Dive Centre offers training from entry-level to instructor as well as various specialities and technical diver training. The centre’s awesome instructors provide a relaxed and fun environment for training. You can start training with them from the age of 8 (bubblemakers) and they will guide you all the way to becoming proficient and safe scuba divers.
Bouley Bay Dive Centre offer diving at a variety of dive sites. The dive centre has their own dive boat which is used to get to certain dive sites around the island. There are dive sites for everyone and all experience levels. The dive sites around Jersey have an huge abundance of marine life.
Shore Dives
Shore dives are great for beginners and advanced divers. Depths for shore dives reach up to 15 metres depending on the tide. You can see a huge variety of marine life on shore dives such as rays, lobster, crabs, scallops, pipefish, catsharks and so much more! I love shore dives! No two dives are the same, even if you dive multiple times in a day.
My personal favourites:
Archirondel – Located on the east of the island, this is a lovely, relaxing dive site. I saw sea hares, pipefish, bass and a catfish. Its sandy seabed makes way for a seagrass meadow which is great to see. Did you know seagrass captures carbon 35 times faster than rainforests (source: www.wildlifetrusts.org/habitats/marine/seagrass)?
Bouley Bay – The home bay of the dive centre. Located on the north of the island, this is where a lot of training and shore dives take place. The bay is so diverse, you can be swimming along the sandy seabed one minute and within a few kicks you’re amongst kelp and seaweeds. You can also dive at L’islet which awesome for kelp and larger fish. There’s always a lot to see – wrasse, pipefish, blennies, rays, crabs, flatfish, the odd bass.
Ouaisne – This dive site is best dived at high tide as its quite shallow. A range of rocky and sandy seabed provide an interesting dive as there are lots of little cracks for creatures to hide in. Here, I saw wrasse, flatfish, spider crabs, sea hares and so many anemones. Ouaisne is located on the south coast of Jersey.
Wreck Dives
Jersey has a number of wrecks around the island, many of which date back to World War 2. Wreck dives are only accessible by boat. Depths for these dives vary from around 15 metres to as deep as 40 metres (or deeper) depending on the tide. I’ve only ever done one wreck dive in Jersey and that was to The Heron for my PADI Advanced Diver certificate.
Reef and Drift Dives
Our large tidal range allows for great opportunities for drift and reef dives. Dives are accessible by boat and depths vary from 10-40 metres depending on the tide. You can see so much life on these dives (such as sponges, rays, catsharks, starfish and more). If you have a license, you can join a scallop dive and catch your own dinner.
My personal favourite:
Grand Noir – Located at Les Ecrehous (a small group of reef islands approx. 6 miles off the east coast of Jersey), this dive site was an exciting dive. I went with a group of other divers on Halloween and we were all given Halloween masks by our dive leader (great fun trying to keep them in place for the underwater group photo). Rock formations, seaweed beds and kelp forests made for fun diving. At this dive site, I saw catshark (and mermaid’s purses), sea hares, sponges, scallops, nudibranchs, and pipefish.
Check out Bouley Bay Dive Centre’s website and see all they have to offer, maybe even book a dive or two with them | www.scubadivingjersey.com
Thanks for reading!
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