Day 15 – Delph Watersports Centre, Chorley, Lancashire

16 November

Leaving Wales, and Storm Claudia, behind us, we headed north into Lancashire for our next dive. Today’s destination was the Delph Watersports Centre in Chorley, a well-known inland dive site that occupies the old Eccleston Delph stone quarry.

Here we met up with Luke and Dylan, two divers around our age who share our passion for the sport. It was great to spend time with them, swapping stories and experiences before getting into the water.

The Delph has an interesting, if somewhat grim, history. Back in 1979, long before the site was developed for recreation, a pair of divers discovered a butchered body in the water at the bottom of the quarry. The victim was later identified as Martin Johnstone, an international drug dealer known as “Mr Asia.” The site wasn’t redeveloped for diving until 2000, but the story still adds a certain edge to the place.

After getting our air fills and setting up our gear, we started our first dive at 10:20 a.m. None of us had dived here before, so it was exciting to explore it together. The water temperature was around 11°C, and the swimmers’ squeals as they entered gave us a good idea of what to expect.

There are three main entry points into the water: a sloping ramp, a set of steps, and a deep-water platform. We opted for a giant stride entry from the platform, then swam out to a buoy that dropped us down to 11 metres. There we found our first attraction: a submerged van. After swimming through it a couple of times, we followed a rope that led to an open-topped APC that we could look inside, then continued along the boundary line to a 40-foot motorboat that’s also open for exploration.

From there, we followed the final stretch of the rope back toward the shallower area above the van. As our dive had only been about 40 minutes, we dropped back down again and were met by an enormous, dragon-like sturgeon resting on the bottom, a real highlight.

Instead of following the guide ropes again, we explored a different direction, visiting some deeper areas of the quarry where we found boulders, old slot machines, and a few sleeping fish. The visibility was good, and any silt that we stirred up quickly settled. We eventually surfaced near the deep-water entry where we’d started.

For our surface interval, we swapped tanks, grabbed some food and hot drinks at the café, and warmed up before our second dive. There was a lively atmosphere around the café area, shared by cyclists, swimmers, and bikers alike. Between the lycra, dry robes, leathers, and dry suits, everyone seemed to be making the most of the sunshine, a welcome change after the stormy weather in Wales.

About an hour and a half later, we headed back in, this time swimming to a different buoy. After checking our bearings, we descended onto a submerged jet, an impressive sight. From there we set off for an AA gun but realised after a while that we’d missed it, so we adjusted course and soon found it.

Next, we navigated toward a submerged plane, then followed a 70° bearing to the shallow 6–9m shelf. Here, over boulders and reeds, we found a couple of sunken speedboats and another APC before turning northwest to hit the quarry wall and follow it back to our exit point.

Both dives were excellent. The site is well laid out, full of interesting features, and easy to navigate with the ropes and bearings. We had a great time exploring it and sharing the day with Luke and Dylan. It felt good to dive somewhere different and enjoy the social side of diving too.

After the chaos of Storm Claudia and a string of weather-affected days, today felt like a reset. Diving at Delph reminded us how much joy there is in simply being underwater with good company.

After leaving The Delph we caught up with David, our colleague and friend from Porthkerris Divers, and his lovely wife Heather. We were treated to a delicious home cooked meal, a real treat after 2 weeks of caravan cooking!