A flooded limestone quarry near Over Kellett, run as a dive centre with a jetty, training platforms and a collection of scuttled boats and aircraft. Shore dives move from shallow platforms down past wrecks to the Sump at 20 m. Trainees and newly qualified divers come for controlled conditions, tame fish and wrecks within easy reach.
Also known as Capernwray, Capernwray Diving Centre, Jackdaw Quarry.
Where it is and how deep
54.1370° N, 2.7240° WApproximate position — the dashed circle shows where the site lies; your operator's briefing has the mooring.
The dive
Dives start at the jetty, with a giant stride off the pier or a walk down the slip on either side. Training platforms sit at 2 m and 6 m, part of a set of purpose-built platforms that runs down to 12 m, and large friendly sterlets and sturgeon gather around them. Huge shoals of roach and perch and great numbers of tame trout patrol the quarry, and two of the sturgeon are six feet long.
The wrecks spread across the quarry between 6 m and 20 m. The African Queen sits on a slope in 12 metres, a genuine Wessex helicopter in day-glo yellow stands on a container in about 15 metres, and the Gypsy Moth lies in 17 m. The minesweeper Podsnap rests on her side in 18 metres, and Candida II lies on the bottom at the same depth. A gnome garden is hidden somewhere in the quarry for divers to find.
The deepest point is the Sump, a depression in the quarry floor at 20 m used by divers who need to log a dive to that depth. It is not a novice area; silt collects there and careless finning clouds the bottom quickly.
The wreck
- Vessel
- Podsnap
- Type
- Minesweeper
- Sunk
- 1995
- Cause
- Scuttled in the quarry as a dive attraction
- Lies
- On her side on the quarry floor in 18 m
Marine life and season
- Freshwater fish
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fair | Fair | Good | Good | Good | Good | Good | Good | Good | Good | Good | Fair |
Season follows Capernwray & the Lake District: Training weekends run every month of the year; winter brings very cold water and fewer opening days.
Know before you go
- Silt builds up in the Sump, so poor buoyancy control stirs up the bottom and kills the visibility.
Photos from Capernwray (Jackdaw Quarry)
Dacmirc · CC BY 2.0
Dacmirc · CC BY 2.0
Dive videos
Diving Capernwray | UK Dive Site Guide & Underwater Tour | Jackdaw Quarry · Andy Clark | Stunt Performer | Professional Diver on YouTube
Sturgeon feeding | Diving Capernwray | Capernwray - Jackdaw Quarry Scuba Diving Centre · Andy Clark | Stunt Performer | Professional Diver on YouTube
Questions divers ask
Is Capernwray suitable for newly qualified divers?+
Yes. The training platforms at 2 m and 6 m and the wrecks from 6 m make it a regular base for beginner and intermediate training; only the Sump at 20 m is kept for more experienced divers.
Sources
- Carnforth – Wikivoyage — Wikivoyage
- Capernwray Dive site – PADI — PADI
- About | Capernwray Diving Centre — Capernwray Diving Centre
- Top 5 Dive Sites in Greater Manchester for Beginners — Van Overbeek Technical
- Training Weekends - Diveworld — Diveworld
- Capernwray – The Best Inland Diving Site In The UK? — DeeperBlue
Photo credits
- A rebreather diver with a yellow cylinder runs a white line from a red reel over a silty slope, past wreckage, with a second diver behind by Dacmirc, CC BY 2.0, via Openverse
- A rebreather diver in black faces the camera above a grey stony quarry floor, with a second diver in the green haze behind by Dacmirc, CC BY 2.0, via Openverse
- Looking up from the rocky shallows at the dark underside of a floating structure against bright surface light, with two fish above by Dacmirc, CC BY 2.0, via Openverse
More dive sites in Capernwray & the Lake District
Freshwater
England's deepest lake, kept for the last stages of technical training
Similar dives elsewhere
A submerged pile-dwelling model that becomes a nativity scene every Advent to Candlemas
Freshwater
Grönhögen stenbrott
Öland & the Kalmar Strait · Sweden
Limestone quarry full of crayfish, dived in any weather
A loop around a small island straight from a harbour ramp
Vertical walls, a steep southern slope and fallen boulders to the north