GILDENBURGH dive site

Gildenburg Dive-site

Gildenburg

Steve and I gave Gildenburgh (near Peterborough) a try in December '98 to try it out as an alternative to Stoney Cove. We were the only two divers that Friday morning so we had the site all to ourselves. Apparently it does get quite busy at the weekends as the site is used by a lot of the nearby clubs and is used as the local onsite dive-shop (Dive-In) training site.
The site is roughly the same size as Stoney-Cove, about the size of a football pitch. Max depth in centre of the disused brick quarry is 22m. There is a segregated training area with platforms at 1/3/5/8m's. Plenty of 'wrecks' have been put in the water, a double-decker bus at 12/15m, a few 'boats' and a Short 360 plane (what's left of it anyway!) Each of the main wrecks have buoys attached so very handy for an ascent if you want to come up. All the wrecks are connected underwater by ropes...and you need them as the viz is so bad. The ropes allow full site navigation even if your compass skills are a bit shaky!
Viz. was 2-3 metres and gets worse if you mis-fin and kickup the silt. This is the worst aspect of the site. I hate to think what the viz is like at a weekend with lots of trainees bimbling around! There is little fish-life either to liven the place up. Water temperature was 5C...Yes, FIVE degrees. Drysuit, hood and gloves much needed!! My second stage started a very mild freeflow on our second dive so I pulled the plug on the dive.
There is car-parking and changing rooms with showers which are a bit yukkie but functional. There is an on-site dive shop and pub. The Bar/Restaurant offers reasonable food at reasonable prices. The Dive-In shop appears quite well stocked and always handy for those 'forgotten spares'. Diving is £4 during the week. £2.50 for 12/15l air-fill. A large, free 100+ capacity car-park is about 50m's from the water so no trek with your kit. And the site manger did check are certs/logbooks and even quizzed me about my UK diving experience as I qualified in warmer waters overseas.
Verdict: If they could "fix" the viz (and cleaned up the changing rooms) it would have the makings of a very good site - but don't tell anyone or it'll end up over-dived like Stoney!

For more information on Gildenburgh, See the UK diving pages