Kinsale & Old Head · Ireland · Sand slope
Sandycove
Sheltered sandy training bay with sand eels, shelving away from the slip
Sandycove is a shallow shore site with a sandy bottom, sheltered from most wind directions and used for training. The bottom shelves from about 1 m at the slip to 10 m, and apart from big spring tides the bay sees little tidal flow.
Where it is and how deep
51.6771° N, 8.5243° WApproximate position — the dashed circle shows where the site lies; your operator's briefing has the mooring.
The dive
The dive starts at the slip, where the shallowest water is, and the sandy bottom shelves away from it to around 10 m. Sand eels are plentiful over the sand, with small life such as crabs, hermit crabs and small fish, and up closer to the pier the weed holds more micro life. The site is not very tidal except on big spring tides.
Marine life and season
- Macro critters
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fair | Fair | Prime | Prime | Prime | Prime | Prime | Prime | Fair | Fair | Fair | Fair |
Season follows Kinsale & Old Head: Spring and summer bring the migrants, the egg-guarding lumpsuckers and the hydroid bloom; the sea is coldest in January.
Know before you go
- Big spring tides bring tidal flow to a site that is otherwise slack.
Sources
- Sandycove dive site — ScubaGo
- OpenStreetMap geocoding — OpenStreetMap
More dive sites in Kinsale & Old Head
Reef
Anglerfish and egg-guarding lumpsuckers on reef inside the Old Head
Broken-up 1892 liner with swim-throughs under the Old Head cliffs
Pinnacle
Offshore rocks topping out at 22 m, named for their plentiful ling
Calm sheltered bay used for first scuba dives
Sheltered cove that deepens to about 12 m at high tide
Wreck
Dutch trawler wreck to potter around under the Big Sovereign
Reef
Two big rocks near shore with a swim-through grotto lined in jewel anemones
Similar dives elsewhere
Gravel slopes with turbot and hermit crabs in the Little Belt
Sand flats east of Herrvik crowded with flounder and turbot
Rippled sand where Ocean Divers are introduced to the sea
Sand slope
Krugglö
Koster Islands & Kosterhavet · Sweden
A sound between two islets that works well in hard wind