Donegal Coast · Ireland · Cave & cavern · Wall
Tory's Cavern and Swim Throughs
A huge boulder at the cavern mouth opens into a room of swim-throughs
A wall and cavern dive off Tory Island, the remote island off the north-west coast of Donegal. A vertical wall leads into a cavern, where a huge boulder opens into a large room with several swim-throughs. Divers go for the cavern itself and for the clear water and rocky bottom that make Tory the best diving on this coast.
Also known as Torys Cavern and Swim Throughs, Tory's Cavern, Torys Cavern.
Where it is and how deep
55.2644° N, 8.2372° WApproximate position — the dashed circle shows where the site lies; your operator's briefing has the mooring.
The dive
The dive starts at 25 m and works shallower to the finish. The route runs along a vertical wall that leads into the cavern. At the entrance a huge boulder has to be crossed, and beyond it the cavern opens into a large room with several swim-throughs.
Marine life and season
The sources we used don't single out particular species here.
| 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 Donegal Coast: Diving runs all year with no marked peak; winter seas can stop the Tory Island ferry on some days.
Know before you go
- Tory Island is remote and its weather can turn extreme, which makes the diving here challenging.
Sources
- Dive Sites - Mevagh Diving, Donegal — Mevagh Diving
- Ireland's luckiest dive sites — PADI Blog
- Tory Island — Wikipedia
- OpenStreetMap geocoding — OpenStreetMap
Photo credits
- Small harbour with a grey RIB, a red and a white fishing boat and a blue trawler moored against a concrete pier by Michal Osmenda from Brussels, Belgium, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
More dive sites in Donegal Coast
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Pinnacle
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A chimney cave at the tip of the headland makes a swim-through
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Similar dives elsewhere
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