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UK Inland Diving
Dive Site: Swithland Quarry
Location: Swithland Wood, Leicestershire
Description: Bell-shaped granite quarry
Length: 100 metres (300 feet)
Depth: 50 metres max (165 feet)
Visibility: 5 - 20 metres (15 - 65 feet)
Rating: ****
Not one for the feint hearted. You have to arrange access with Bradgate Park Trust and parking next to the gated quarry is limited to 5 cars (no restriction on the number of divers). Access to the water is through a gate and down a very short steep bank to a "beach" area. There is an area of water about 18" deep to walk through then you step off the edge, straight into 50m vertically down.
Due to the overhanging trees it gets very dark very quickly - the first 10m has detritus and leaf litter so below this, treat it as a night dive.
The quarry itself is shaped like a round bottomed, narrow necked flask so you can find yourself in an overhead environment with a roof of tree roots - so not a novice dive at all. There is a large 8m deep shelf on the opposite side to the entry point but you have to swim over the 50m bit to get to it.
We dive it with O2 on site and a decom station set up in the water with the shot tied in to one of the waterside trees. I believe there is a Jaguar car down there at the bottom but most people are that narked they are not sure. Water temperature is cold at any time of the year as there are no currents to mix up the water. Expect 4 degrees below 10m.
Woz, BSAC Dive Leader
A nice quarry to dive in but the viz is a bit poor and this quarry is also mainly for advanced divers only. There is also not very much to look at in the quarry but there is an old jaguar about 45 metres down which is a nice surpise when you get to it.
Jay
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