Strangford Lough · United Kingdom · Wall
Ballyhenry Drop-Off
Hydroid-covered boulders off the Ballyhenry navigation tower
Photo: Bernard Picton · CC BY-SA 4.0
A boulder slope and limestone wall in the Narrows of Strangford Lough, off the white navigation tower on Ballyhenry Island. Sheltered enough to dive in most weather but only at slack water, it lets divers pick their own depth, from a gentle upper slope to a steep face that drops past 60 m.
Also known as Ballyhenry.
Where it is and how deep
54.3927° N, 5.5769° WApproximate position — the dashed circle shows where the site lies; your operator's briefing has the mooring.
The dive
Divers drop in close to the white navigation tower on Ballyhenry Island and work down to the depth they have chosen. The slope is fairly gradual to 25 m, then turns very steep, with boulder slopes and patches of limestone wall continuing past 60 m, which makes the site a place to build depth experience step by step.
Boulders and bedrock outcrops carry a dense turf of dead men's fingers, antenna hydroids and squirrel's tail hydroid. Under the boulders and in crevices of the limestone walls, spiny squat lobsters, tompot blennies, lobsters and edible crabs are likely, cuckoo and goldsinny wrasse are normally abundant, and a curled octopus is a matter of luck.
The dive runs at high or low water slack; for a long decompression stop the low-water slack is the better choice. Once the ebb picks up, drifting divers are usually carried into Ballyhenry Bay, where the boat collects them under their SMBs.
Marine life and season
- Octopus & cuttlefish
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fair | Fair | Fair | Fair | Fair | Good | Good | Good | Good | Good | Good | Fair |
Season follows Strangford Lough: No month stands out as a peak; from December to May the sea feels very cold, and from June to November only cold or cool.
Know before you go
- Some divers caught by the turning tide have drifted into the path of the Portaferry–Strangford ferry.
- Below 25 m the slope turns very steep and continues past 60 m.
Photos from Ballyhenry Drop-Off
Bernard Picton · CC BY-SA 4.0
Eric Jones · CC BY-SA 2.0
Dive videos
Strangford Dropoff 18 3 23 · Lisburn Sub Aqua Club on YouTube
Questions divers ask
Can the Ballyhenry Drop-Off be dived at any state of the tide?+
No. It is dived only at high or low water slack. On neaps the slack can last as much as an hour, usually enough for two waves of divers, but on springs it is much shorter, so boats wait on site forty minutes before high or low water.
Sources
- Diving & Snorkeling - Strangford Lough — Strangford Lough & Lecale Partnership
- OpenStreetMap — OpenStreetMap
Photo credits
- A single pale yellow-green sea slug with brown spots and white-tipped bumps, a branched gill plume on its back, on a black background by Bernard Picton, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
- One orange-brown sea slug covered in knobbly projections with small dark blue spots, on a black background by Bernard Picton, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
- A small white navigation beacon on a low point of weed-covered rocks, with calm water and green fields beyond by Eric Jones, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
More dive sites in Strangford Lough
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A bow section that breaks the surface, so no transits are needed
The stern half of the Lees wreck, out in the tidal stream
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