8 Acres - Hull

Located at the end of the M62 on the way to Hull, it is situated down a cart track through the village of North Cave. it is not very well signposted at all, so when I returned there yesterday, it was all done on some sort of vague memory. The best bet is to follow small signs for Everthorpe prison..

So 8 Acres has changed hands since I was last there..and there have been a few changes on site too.

The people that run it now are a friendly bunch and are really helpful and welcoming. You can still park right next to the lakeside. It costs £10 entry fee and a £5 for your membership/registration. Everything you need to know about emergency procedures/site rules etc are clearly displayed in big letters.

The notable change is right by the cabin, a training area has been made. There is a nice gentle slope to walk down to the waters edge and the sides have been shored up with tyres. There are platforms for training at about 2m and then again at 6m ish. Only disadvantage I would say is that it is for thier school only rather than for any training school. Perhaps they should review this.

There are 3 other entry points, 2 giant strides and one walk in about half way down the car park. The giant stride entry next to the A63 is the same as before, really old and rickety..but there has been a few steps and some sahle added to the bank at the side of it for an exit point.

At the other entry point, there is also the emergency boat.

Changing facilities are pretty basic and the cabin does sell the usual dog burgers, bacon butties and tea/coffe etc. The prices are very reasonable and you do get mugs like at Blue lagoon rather than those awful plastic things at Stoney. They also use their cabin as a classroom of sorts and there are a few pieces of equipment available. As yet, there is no compressor there, so you need a couple of cylinders yourself or if you ring them in advance, it is possible to book a cylinder as they bring them from Hull.

So...the lake itself. I understand at its deepest point it is about 14m..but I got to 12.2. Oh my days, the viz is truly awful. It has a sandy type bottom and even if you go within about a metre of it, it is all churned up and these little clouds appear. Of course, the lake has been busy for the weekend and the viz was terrible. A good thing is that it settles quickly and in the places where it was clear, you can see quite a few metres.

I was pootling along trying to go over the top of these little sand clouds..and to be honest I was quite happy a couple of metres above the bottom. In the places where the attractions are though, viz is dreadful and in certain areas, the whole area from bottom to top is just one mass sand cloud where viz is down to nil. It is really disorientating and I think if i had been a less experienced diver I might have panicked a little. Navigation is difficult under those circumstances and you tend to lose bouyancy control..not knowing where you are in the water. It is important in these circumstances to stay very close to your buddy..hold hands if you have to..as it is very easy to get seperated from your buddy.

A map is provided for you to show you points of interest underwater and the bearings to them all from all entry points and to each other from underwater. This is quite good..but there seems to be more buoys than attractions shown on the map!

We visited The Pipes, the Platforms, Free Willy, Lady of leeds and a couple of other sunken boats. We missed the helicopter completely!

Although it is not a patch on places like Stoney or Cape, I would say it is ok for a bimble about to keep your skills up or even for a couple of qualifying dives on the OW course. I think Blue Lagoon has more attractions and is cheaper with better facilities...but 8 Acres has the depth..
My advice to get the best viz would be to either be in the lake first or to go mid week....I would probably return again as the new owners are making all sorts of improvements and it will be nice to see how they are getting on....but it would not be top of my list to visit on a regular basis.

Thanks Val for an excellent report - I'm sure people who wish to visit the dive site, will find it extremely useful