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Isle of Man Scuba Diving
Reader Reviews:
Dive Site: Calf Sound Drift
Location: Calf Sound, Isle of Man
Description: Drift dive
Depth: 5 - 25 metres (15 - 80 feet)
Visibility: 10 - 30 metres (30 - 100 feet)
Rating: *****
Fast drift drive, a wreck and usually with excellent visibility. It's an exhilarating drift dive, with plenty to see and encounter, with a mixture of wreck and reef, not as dived as many other sites around (like Sugar Loaf Caves). If you are into a roaring drift now and again and want one that almost tears your mask off, then this is for you. Several boats run charter to the Isle of Man, as well as resident boat charters.
This is the best drift dive I've done and started at one end of the sound, the isthmus between the Calf of Man and the main Isle of Man. It was initially quite sedate and relaxing in lee, some even found seals to play with. The broken wreck of the Clan McMaster is a nice diversion for 30 minutes in 15m of water. Much marine life adorns the wreckage, eventually petering out just before a long rock wall ends in a very distinct corner. Lookout for colourful wrasse, they just amble in the water column.
The visibility was a good 10m or more and we decided to "jump" into the flow. This was great as each boulder came up and went by completely covered in brightly coloured small plumose anemones. The sunshine was bright and the water clear and not 5 minutes into the dive it was a "red arrows" as one buddy pair was ripped apart in differing directions! We, in the meantime stuck together like glue and had our bag already launched. This proved to be detrimental as we were sucked down from 15 to 23m and 2 minutes later swept up to 5m in less than 3 minutes! Computers were going crazy, kelp was flapping wildly around us as we hit this forest full on and I was winding the reel madly. We were in danger of breaking the surface but managed to get back down again.
At 17m we stopped dead in clear (and I mean gin clear) water, facing us a couple of congers and a terraced reef of orange and white sponges in superb 30m+ visibility. Great, brilliant, wow, but hang on we couldn't get out of the place a circular current kept us locked in, no matter which way we went. Eventually we figured going down under it would do it and then we were swept away once more across fields of anemones & sponges to around 9m. No sooner had this turbulent snake thrashed us around it spat us out into calm serene water. My buddy was having some ear trouble by then and we surfaced in bright sunshine with laughing smiling faces to a waiting experienced skipper.
Tony Gilbert
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