Familiar dive site… or try somewhere new?

Yo-Han Cha is filling his 2025 diary with dive trips, but he’s concerned about revisiting too many familiar sites.

It’s difficult to go diving in the sea off southern England during winter [see every column this issue – Editor] . By the time I’ve arranged to see as many friends and family as possible around Christmas and Hogmanay, there aren’t many weekends left in the calendar. Any notion of going diving in the one weekend that I did have free in December was quashed by Storm Darragh. 

At the time of writing, the weather still looks awful, but I’ve at least managed to go for a couple of dives in Vobster with Reading BSAC – mainly to check that I could still fit into my drysuit after all the eating and drinking around Christmas, and also to check my kit after it had been serviced. 

I’m impatient to go diving in the sea again, though looking ahead to this year’s diving is a great comfort, anticipation being part of the pleasure of diving. Meanwhile, it’s come to my attention that I might be falling into the ‘experienced’ UK diver category, as all of my UK trips (so far) are ones I’ve visited previously. I’ve still got a few weekends free in the diary, so who knows, I may get to experience some new UK locations this year.

Don’t get me wrong, revisiting to places that I’ve dived before isn’t a negative, it just brings home that I’ve done a lot of fun diving around the UK! Looking at my diary now, I have trips booked for some of the old faithfuls like the Sound of Mull, Porthkerris and Plymouth. There’s also trip to the Scillies, where I’ve not been for years.  

all of my UK trips (so far) are ones I’ve visited previously. I’ve still got a few weekends free in the diary, so who knows, I may get to experience some new UK locations this year

I’ll hopefully get my seals fix on Lundy, but I’ve yet to book myself onto a Farnes trip this year – something that will hopefully get remedied soon! And after missing last year’s Scottish Nudibranch Festival due to a scheduling conflict, I’ll hopefully be spending a happy weekend looking for nudibranchs in the Berwickshire Marine Reserve this year. I also have a trip abroad pencilled in to visit Korea as well. It’s not explicitly a diving holiday, but hopefully I’ll be able to arrange some diving, which means that it won’t just be drysuit diving this year.  

Despite my dislike of online training, I’ve booked onto a couple of ‘virtual’ courses created by the Nautical Archaeology Society (NAS) in preparation for their Archaeological Skill Days in Vobster this year. For a man who would much rather take photos of squidge, I do seem to be sliding slowly but surely into the shipwreck world! In truth, I’m looking forward to learning and being able to contribute a bit more than “it was round and about this big” or “I have a photo but I forgot to include anything that would help provide scale” on future NAS trips. I’m not sure that they realise how little I know about wrecks, but who knows, they may make a rust lover out of me yet. 

While I wait for winter to blow itself out, I’ll keep nipping down to nearby quarries such as Cromhall and Vobster to feed my diving addiction, and to ensure I continue to fit into my drysuit.

Article ‘Been there, done that, do it again!’ by Yo-Han Cha first published in SCUBA magazine, Issue 154 April 2025.