The following review was kindly provided by Paul Turner.

 

We decided to have a club dive day to celebrate the clubs 2nd Anniversary.

 

I met a few of the guys and gals in the car park of the Wrightington Hotel just off the M6 at 9am and proceeded in convoy to Eccleston Delph. On arrival we met up with rest of the gang and had a quick chat. After 20 minutes or so I went to get my site membership sorted out. As I entered the site office I was met by cautious if not welcoming gentlemen, the sort of type that says “you’re not from round here are you”…. before eating your brains with a spoon!

 

Having completed my membership form without being killed by the locals I proceeded to the hire shop which was about 8 feet from the desk I had been stood at. As I entered the room I looked at the bloke (white hair, wild eyes and a big jumper) and said I needed weights and a cylinder. Without speaking he looked down at the floor grunted, and pointed out that I had, in fact, crossed a piece of wood which lay across the door frame. With that I jumped back over it (all of 3 inches) and apologised.

 

Anyway, with kit in hand (and a story to tell) I walked back and kitted up. We had a quick dive brief and got ready.

 

I went in with Big Paul, Neil and Dave. There is a new tarmac path which winds its way around the site and good access point round the left hand side of the quarry. There are both steps and shingle easy access points to the water, oh and a beach area at the far end. We were disappointed that the Brazilian beach volleyball team weren’t practicing on the day, but never mind.

 

In all it was a pretty good dive. Paul did a great job getting us round and we landed pretty much on the stuff time after time, so if you want any tips on Navigation Paul’s your man! However I later discovered that there are ropes linking all the bits and bobs underwater, so you make you mind up about Paul’s navigation skills. As he is huge, I personally think he’s a great exponent of the art of navigation, honest!!! We saw a good few fish including Trout, Koi, Roach, Rudd, and Perch.

 

We got out and went to the Café which was great, no long queues, big mugs of tea/hot chocolate and the famous steak burgers which all went down a treat.

 

I cautiously approached the air fills shed and kept back from the door frame. He must have a twin brother as I was surprised at the welcome I got. I went into the shop and had a chat with him about the price of lead, (apparently its all down to the Chinese!)

 

We went in again and Paul took us round once more, there is enough to see underwater and is not overly cluttered as Capernway is becoming.

 

Well we haven’t exactly had a Mediterranean summer have we, and true to form by the time we came up after the second dive it started to rain.

 

The Tomlinson’s provided a great shelter (from the scorching sun) and ensured the BBQ food didn’t end up in a soggy mess! Many thanks to Paula and Trevor for organising the fantastic food.

 

As we ate we took the micky out of Geoff Woodward for a change, Sorry Geoff! We all had a great day.

 

In all The Delph it’s a very well equipped site, a good shop for the odd nik nak, clean changing facilities, great Café, ample parking, good access points, what looks to be a very good training facility and only 30-40mins away from home.

 

The Delph has some issues with the viz but they are trying to sort it out, and being so close to home it’s a very convenient to visit. I will certainly be going again.

 

 

 

We decided to celebrate the clubs 2nd Anniversary by having a dive and BBQ at Eccleston Delph.

 

For the majority of us it was the first time at Eccy but it won’t be the last. We had a good turnout 13 divers and 3 none.

 

We met up at the Wrightington Hotel then made our way to Eccy. Some of the guys went direct to Eccy.

 

Eccy is quite an impressive site well equipped and even with the less than perfect viz you still get a good dive especially with the guys we went with. We paid our membership and entrance fee, although the picture on my ID card left a lot to be desired.

 

The guys who have previously dived at Eccy kindly agreed to each take a group of us in, to show us around, which definitely led to us having some very good dives.

 

We’ve got a few cracking pictures shame the viz was a bit green, but what the hell it’s a dive even the rain couldn’t ruin the day.

 

We still had our BBQ we set it up under the trees and had a gazebo kindly lent by Kevin to keep everyone dry.

 

Glynn’s wife Kat, kindly braved the weather to lend a hand on the BBQ along with Fiona even though they didn’t dive. They, along with Gerri and Paula did a good job at feeding the hungry and Gerri’s kindly supplied wine went down a treat for the non drives.

 

Oh I couldn’t resist putting this picture on the review but please check out the other picture on the gallery pages.