This dive is open to all Ocean trainees and Ocean divers .The dive is designed to allow you to progress through your open water training.

The pier opens at 8am, though the gates are often open earlier, especially on summer weekends. Car parking is first come, first served, so on a busy day either be there early or hope to get a space as someone else leaves.

If you don't get a space, just drop divers and kit at the entrance and park in the pay-and-display on the hill.

There is a charge for parking on the pier and for diving. In some locations I begrudge such charges but not at Swanage, where I have seen the enormous amount of restoration work that divers have helped to fund.

Restoration of the pier is ongoing, with piles being surveyed and splinted or replaced. Chief enemy is the gribbleworm, which eats through the timbers. The 2000 survey found a number of piles that required replacing and reported that "the gribbleworm seem to be very hungry"

GETTING THERE From Dorchester or Weymouth take the A352 to Wareham. From Poole take the A351 to Wareham, then continue on the A351 past Corfe Castle to Swanage and follow the signs for the town centre and pier.

AIR:Divers Down on the pier, 01929 423565.

ACCOMODATION:Many B&Bs, small hotels and campsites. A number are listed on www.kyarra.com. Also contact Swanage Tourist Information, 01929 422885, www.swanage.com.

FURTHER INFORMATION:Admiralty Chart 2172, Swanage Bay. Ordnance Survey Map 195, Bournemouth, Purbeck and Surrounding Area. Diver Guide - Dive Dorset, by John & Vicki Hinchcliffe.

http://www.diversdownswanage.co.uk/

Report by Pete Hodkin

The wonderful Mediterranean – the warmth of the sun, the beautiful blue of the sea and the spectacular marine life – diving is great in Crete.

What started as a relaxing, sunbed lounging around the pool holiday rapidly began to descend into a full on Dive fest. It all happen so innocently.

‘Lets go to a nice 5 star hotel’ – she said, ‘just the two of us. Spend some quality time together, relaxing round the pool bar, sipping ice cold cocktails, reading, listening to some music and generally relaxing.’

It all started on the first day. We arrived at the very well appointed 5 star Iberostar Mirabello Beach Hotel just outside of the town of Agios Nikolaos in the lovely island of Crete. We had a delightful breakfast out on the hotel terrace overlooking the small marine that fronts the seashore of the hotels ‘private’ beach. The mill pond still sea stretching out for miles in front of us, the rolling hills in the distant and the cloudless sky… fantastic.

So back up to the room grab the beach towels and head down to the beach…that’s when it began.

See what we were both totally unaware of was the fact that the hotel housed a secret, beneath the large sun terrace lay a chamber of unimaginable beauty (well in my eyes). For lying in this chamber was the land of Pavlos, with his two trusty dive instructors Tracey and Andy.

So there we are part way to the beach when I spy the entrance to their wonderland……. 5mins later and I’m booked in for my first dive!!! All thoughts of lounging around the pool have now gone straight out the window. Will power! I’ve got none.

For the next few days I have the delight of diving 4 different dive sites all in the safe and expert hands of Tracey as she became my dive guide and buddy for the duration.

The dive centre is situated within a very short boat ride of some 23 dive site! The furthest being only 20mins away.

All of the kit is supplied and in first class quality – no leaky worn out wetsuits or bashed up regs – all of the kit is top notch and looks new! The company also has a number of ribs of various sizes dependant on the dive group. As there are just the two of us diving Tracey selects one of the smaller ribs and we ventured out on the first dive to the site called Kamini 1 – this is a short 10 min trip out of the marina to the far shoreline. Pavlos has been diving these sites for a considerable number of years and had shown Tracey where the best marine life could be found. We anchor and looked down to the sea bed below some 16m, crystal clear and wonderfully lit by the morning sun. Tracey gave me a full dive brief, pointed out all of the emergency kit etc, how we would enter and exit the water, and a run through of the depths and time we would be diving to, we then kitted up, did a buddy checked (and a full one at that, none of your usual casual holiday buddy checks ). We then rolled into the warm water, a quick weight check on the surface and we were ready to descend the anchor line. A slow decent down the shot and before you realised we were at 20m, the visibility was infinite.

The marine life along this reef is quite abundant, wrase of all colours, bream and then the mother of all fish, the grouper. Wow. Tracey had brought along some bread and before long we were surrounded by all means of colour, size and shape of fish. Diving in 21 degrees seas with only a 5mm wetsuit makes all of those days spent training and huddled around a warm coffee flask in the early hours in Stoney Cove car park suddenly seem worthwhile. We explored the reef gently rising to a safety stop at 6m and suddenly we are back on the rib having spent 55mins totally transfixed by the marine life. More more more, I was like a big kid.

We dived Manigo next which is defined as ‘Wreck’ on their website, this is the location of a small yacht that has been parked neatly on the sea bottom, with a maximum depth of 26m, As with all wreck the marine life love them and we were not disappointed because inside the broken hull was a good sized grouper, we continued to explore along the reef and Tracey and I encountered the tail of a lovely sized Moray Eel. Once more some broken bread and we were surrounded once more by all manner of fish. Another beautiful dive site. Tracey tells me that this is also a good night dive as the area is full of octopus. Its also acts as a fall back dive given its sheltered position so can be dived at any state of the sea, within reason.

The next dive was at Kavos this was home to a family of Groupers, one the size of a family dog!, truly amazing. This is also the site of an old WWII bomber engine and if you look carefully you can see discarded ordnance shells scattered around the sea bed – most definitely a case of look but don’t touch.

Saving the best till last Tracey promised that this would be a dive to remember and so my final dive was on Explosion I. It’s claimed that the film The Guns of Navarone was based on this site. In WWII a large gun emplacement sat atop of the ridge and at some stage it was destroyed and the guns and the machinery was left to roll down into the depths of the sea which lay below. This has become a marine playgound, all manner of fish have made this their home, large grouper are in abundance and you struggle to know where to look next.

The return dive along the shear wall is quite spectacular and before long time is up and we are once more back on the rib. The trip back to the marina was to be my last aboard the rib and could have been with a touch of sadness as I was to be returning home the next day, but as if spirited up by the Greek gods we are in for one last treat. Part way home across the bay we spy a turtle, swimming on the surface making its way slowly across in front of us.

What better end could you have to a dive, we’re both grinning from ear to ear and whist this was the last dive together it was certainly the most memorable.

The dive centre, and the team there are a credit to diving. Nothing is left to chance and safety is their first priority.

Not only are they very professional they are also very very nice company to spend time with. All of the kit and the equipment is very well looked after, thoroughly washed in fresh water and hung to dry in the centre, The kit is rotated and all serviced by Andy who is a qualified technician. The centre sports not one but two compressors and does blend Nitrox.

For those new to diving the back end of the centre is set up as a class room with chairs and tables, so full training on site is available. Everyday they have a Discover Scuba slot in the hotel pool so if family and friends want to enjoy some of your experiences training can easily be provided.

So if you and the wife or family are looking for a quite relaxing pool side holiday, you could do no better than to visit Crete and the wonderful hotel and village complex of the Iberostar Mirabello at Agios Nikolos. Take your mask,coz you never know you, like I, you may stumble upon the wonderful jewel in the crown that is the Crete Underwater Centre.

Once again a big thank you to Pavlos and Andy. And a special thank you goes to Tracey for being my buddy.

 Congratulations to Adrian Colegate who has passed his Practical Instructor Examination, which now qualifies him as a BSAC Open Water Instructor.

Very well done Adrian. Students beware!!!