Diving & Marine life

Discover Diving, Port St Mary

Do you want to see for yourself what lies beneath the Isle of Man's sparkling waters? Whether you are an experienced diver or just want to potter around a bay, there is plenty to see underwater and Discover Diving will help you make the most of your time in the sea.

Discover Diving is the Isle of Man's only diving centre and is run by Steve Cowley and Michelle Haywood, who are both experienced divers and instructors.

For visitors who are already qualified divers the centre offers full equipment hire and guided dives. Dives are subject to weather but guests who want to dive should book in advance of their stay or get in contact as soon as possible.

They also offer snorkel safaris for which all equipment is provided, and these can be undertaken without formal training.

Come and discover diving in the Isle of Man and get to see some of these wonderful sights in the island's waters:

Photo credits: Discover Diving

Other marine activities

Manx Whale and Dolphin Watch

If you're interested in the island's rich and diverse marine life but prefer to keep your feet on dry land, why not look into the work carried out the Manx Whale and Dolphin Watch? MWDW was set up in June 2006 by John Galpin and is currently run by Tom Felce and Jen Adams. Together with their team of marine scientists, they have been studying cetaceans around the Isle of Man for nine years. They carry out land-based surveys, boat-based surveys, photo-identification, as well as wildlife guiding and surveys aboard The Isle of Man Steam-Packet company.

There's also the MWDW visitor centre in Peel where you can view displays about the island's local species, recent sightings charts, cetacean biology and adaptation and a library of books.

The Isle of Man is one of the best places in the British Isles to observe whales, dolphins and porpoises from the coastline and there are excellent opportunities to watch these animals behaving naturally in their environment. Animals will often come in extremely close to shore and can be observed with the naked eye. MWDW have produced a map for the best places to see cetaceans from land so get your binoculars and start spotting!

Manx Basking Shark Watch

Every summer, from mid May to mid August, the Isle of Man is a basking shark hotspot, having particularly high densities of basking sharks compared to elsewhere in the British Isles. Most basking shark sightings are reported within 1km of land along a 40km stretch of easily accessible coastline on the south and south western shores of the Island. The Manx Basking Shark Watch website has a list and map of sightings including details such as number and size of shark, location and photos. You too can contribute to this by registering with the site and logging any sightings.

Basking sharks are very rare: there are less than 8,000 breeding females left worldwide. When MBSW was started in 2004, little was known about the basking sharks seen in Manx waters or how they mixed with other basking shark populations. Marine Conservation planners need to know as much about basking sharks as possible in order to make sensible, informed wildlife planning conservation decisions and Manx Basking Shark Watch is collaborating with scientists from top universities in order to produce the most valuable scientific information possible.