Norfolk coast.
Diving off Norfolk is shallow, tidal North Sea diving on chalk and on wrecks. Off the north coast, submerged chalk cut into gullies, tunnels and arches runs for more than 20 miles and is thought to be the longest chalk reef in Europe; wrecks lie close inshore and on the offshore sandbanks. Conditions depend heavily on the weather, and dives are timed for slack water.
What's down there.
- Chalk gullies, tunnels and arches up to about 2 m high, running for more than 20 miles off the north coast
- Shore dives on the chalk from the beaches between Cley and East Runton, mostly in 4–8 m
- RIB drift dives over deeper sections of the reef in about 10–15 m
- First World War wrecks in about 10 m or less, within a surface swim of the beach near Weybourne and Cley
- Wrecks on the offshore sandbanks, notably Haisborough Sands, in roughly 6–17 m
- Exposed peat and clay beds, including remains of a prehistoric forest reported off Cley in 2015
- Edible crabs and lobsters
- Velvet swimming crabs and squat lobsters
- Tompot blennies, leopard-spotted gobies and pipefish
- Small-spotted catsharks
- Sponges, including the Norfolk purple sponge, first recorded on the reef in 2011
- Plumose and dahlia anemones
- Nudibranchs and sea squirts
- Cuttlefish and weever fish
Chalk shore dives mostly 4–8 m; reef boat dives and wrecks about 10–20 m; the MCZ reaches about 20 m.
Tidal streams are strong, so most dives are made at slack water. Local guides put the middle of slack at roughly two hours after high or low water at Cromer, with about an hour of slack on spring tides and up to two hours on good neaps. Visibility depends on the wind: northerly or north-easterly winds in the days before a dive can reduce it to nil, while settled weather with south or west winds can give 6–8 m or more, and occasionally over 10 m, from about July to October. Sea temperatures average about 16–17°C in August and September and 13–15°C in October. Club diving runs from about May to September or October, from the shore or by RIB launched from beaches, slipways and harbours such as East Runton, Sea Palling and Wells-next-the-Sea. Hazards include lobster pots, small boats and jet skis, and steep, flinty beaches. The Cromer Shoal Chalk Beds MCZ (321 km², from just west of Weybourne to Happisburgh) was designated in January 2016 to protect the chalk, rock, sediment, and peat and clay habitats; its management measures so far have been aimed at crab and lobster potting. No wreck off Norfolk is designated under the Protection of Wrecks Act 1973, but some military wrecks, such as the submarine HMS Umpire off Blakeney, are protected places under the Protection of Military Remains Act 1986: divers may look but must not touch or enter.
How it got there.
Local divers were exploring the north Norfolk chalk for years before Seasearch volunteers mapped it in detail around 2010, and it was designated the Cromer Shoal Chalk Beds Marine Conservation Zone in January 2016. The coast's shallows and sandbanks, notably Haisborough Sands, have wrecked many ships, from 19th-century sailing vessels to losses in both World Wars.
32 dives.
From the log — the dates follow the pattern I dived, so read them as representative rather than exact.