South Coast Boat Dives Brighton, Sussex

All equipment will be taken to the Yacht Club for your arrival.

Sussex Dives Sites Include:

Indiana Wreck Worthing – (Easy Dive)

This wreck site is directly south off Worthing Pier approx.1 mile out. Depending on the tide she sits in a depth of 8 to 12 metres to the seabed. The Indiana was a British steamship on a return journey from Sicily, carrying a cargo of oranges and lemons. She sunk following a collision with a German steamer (approx. 7 miles out of Selsey) called the Washington. She was on her way to New York at the time and survived the collision.

The wreck is very broken up and the ships plates have now been flattened by the tides and waves. The site is home to a large shoals of Bib and Whiting and is known to house a number of Congor eels as well as a few lobster, although to find them you need to look under the various plates. The wreck is a good, safe and fun dive.

Pentrych – Intermediate to Advanced

This 3.382 ton British Steamer with a cargo of coal was sunk on 18 April 1918 by a torpedoed from the German submarine UB 40, she sunk to a depth of 22mtrs. She is a good dive for novices with parts of the wreck standing some stands 7m high from the sea bed, Although she is a well dived wreck, keep an eye out for the odd souvenir and the big gun on the stern. The stern lies on its starboard side with the gun laying level with the seabed and pointing backwards towards the prop.

Lou Gate and South West Rocks 12-16mtrs – Easy

This site stretches in a northeast / southwest direction from Brighton’s Palace Pier outwards and continues adjacent to the shore for about three miles to College Rocks. The best patches to dive is South West Rocks. The rocks themselves rise up to form a ledge about 2 metres high in places and provide large crevices for fish to hide and swim. This makes an ideal drift dive as you can shelter from the current quite well and stay next to the ledge.

Fish seen include flatfish, bib, wrasse, triggerfish in the summer, bass and crabs. Fan Worms are very prevalent along the entire wall and cuttlefish spawn here in early summer. The sea life can be very colourful and it is not unusual to come across Cod sleeping in the holes on the chalk face.

Silo Reef (also known as the inner/outer Jenny Grounds). – Easy

This site is a patch of reef where the sea bottom consists of large rocky areas and even some small cave-like gaps.

Steam Trawler Wreck – Easy

Situated about 5 miles off Shoreham, this wreck has no known history except that it was a trawler. Still in quite ship-shape condition until recently, the starboard side is now falling in to itself and the bow has sunk into the sand and turned with the nose pointing upwards. It was possible to penetrate this wreck but now it is in too much of a dangerous condition. The bottom composition around the trawler is easily disturbed so good buoyancy is essential. However there are times when the visibility is exceptional, and this makes an excellent dive in these conditions. Life seen include the usual large shoals of bib, lobsters, crabs & flatfish. This wreck is rarely fished due to its small size so life is usually prolific.lucky to see a few hiding under the various crevices. Edible crabs are often present also hiding under crevices, and there are usually some velvet-swimming crabs around. The name Jenny Grounds originates from all the mussel beds in the area which are everywhere. Further along towards Brighton way, there is a very old wreck of a dredger, though there is not much left now.