Horsea (by David Cumber)

Horsea Lake is in Port Solent in the northern end of Portsmouth harbor, on the southeast coast of England. While there is sea diving around this area, I have just dived at Horsea Lake. This lake is located in a military base, so permission is required for entry. The lake is an old torpedo testing range, and Horsea dive center controls the entry and exit to the site. Normally dive clubs prebook, and the dive center knows the numbers coming. So it's convenient to dive with a dive club, as they will sort out all admin. involved (and also it's more expensive if you turn up without it being pre-arranged). The diving is salt water, as control gates on the range are opened on high tides. Therefore, the marine life is a bit strange for a Lake!

There is an attempt being made to introduce more marine life to lake, by marine biologists. Pipe fish and, different Crab species and Lobsters are being introduced. Resident to the lake are Jellyfish (See Video 229Kb .MPG), which are really cool. The water temperature gets to a high of 20C, during late August/September, in the winter...well it's cold!

The diving is split into three zones, and you are allocated a zone. The lake is over 100M long. The average depth is 7M, so it's a nice shallow dive, good for beginners. A lot of dive clubs use Horsea for there open water dives, and it can be really busy during the summer. You have the chance of seeing Jellyfish and Gobies on every dive, there are also Lobsters and Crabs there but I never saw any. You may also see Helicopters and Military vehicle's! These have been placed in the lake to give the divers some wrecks. In zone 1 amongst other things, there is an ambulance and armored vehicle. Zone 2 a land rover and deco chamber, while zone 3 has a helicopter and a boat.

As this is a lake, sediment that has settled can be stirred up. When I've been there visibility is about 3-4M before stirring, but when stirred up the vis can drop to the length of your arm. So if you can get in before the big groups arrive it makes for a much better dive, but you have to have good buoyancy. When the vis is okay the helicopter is particularly good. The dive center has also laid cables along the lake bed, so if you get lost you can make you way back (or you could just surface). You must have a surface maker buoy when you dive. The dive center runs a couple of boats to drop groups off, so they don't have long surface swims. The marker buoys let the boat spot you, they are quite safety conscious. Entry can be via the boats, platforms or boat slip-ways. You can park close to your entry point, so no hike's with heavy equipment required (I liked this a lot). There is a shop selling small items, food van, air filling station (£2 GBP per tank) and very best of all HOT SHOWERS and changing rooms. The facilities are good, and they should be as you are paying for these in the price of entry.

Very easy diving, good for beginners or for a refresher dive. The vis can get really bad, but if your into cold water diving then well worth a trip.

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