The Iron Pier and the Dolphin, Ramsey.
A shore or boat dive under Ramsey's long Victorian iron pier and round 'the Dolphin', a detached concrete structure at its end, which has partly collapsed into many nooks. The ironwork and rubble shelter a lot of crustaceans and fish, including resident conger eels and tompot blennies. From the beach the swim out and back takes 90 minutes or more.
I logged it as the Iron Pier.
What's down there.
- Iron pier legs and ironwork
- The Dolphin, a detached and partly collapsed concrete structure
- Crevices and nooks in the collapsed structure
- Resident conger eels
- Conger eels
- Lobsters
- Crabs
- Scallops and queen scallops
- Tompot blennies
Averages about 7 m, with about 14 m at high tide.
Depth depends on the tide. The shore approach from Ramsey Beach at low tide is long and physically demanding, so divers need to be fit and to watch their gas and plan to snorkel back if needed. A RIB avoids the long swim. Use a surface marker because of boat traffic.
How it got there.
The Queen's Pier was designed by Sir John Coode. Work began in 1882, and it opened officially on 22 July 1886. It is 2,241 ft (683 m) long, built of iron and later strengthened with steel. It closed to the public in June 1990 on safety grounds, which was still the case in 2004 to 2006. Restoration began in 2016, and the first restored sections reopened in July 2021.
8 dives.
From the reconstructed log — the dates follow the pattern I dived, so read them as representative rather than exact.