After traveling around the world, to Australia, Egypt, Turkey I finally add another dive location to my list:
Zeeland, in the southwest of Holland.
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I am getting more fanatical about scuba diving, up to the point where I consider diving in Holland is fun. This location is just on my doorstep, 3 hours drive from home, if you compare that to Australia, Egypt or even Turkey it is close by. Mind you, this place is only for true divers, not for the fainthearted. You are diving in water with a temperature around 12 to 15 Celsius. You need to have the right equipment, wearing a 7 mm neoprene suit, at least one lamp and ALWAYS have your buddy within 2 meters or closer. Many of the Dutch divers even dive with a “buddyline”, a rope between the divers. Visibility can be good; up to 7 meters or it can be so bad, you would not be able to see your hands at 30 centimeters. There are strong currents to make diving even more difficult. This all contributes to the excitement of diving in Holland off course. But the danger is real. Just the weekend before we planned to dive one diver got stuck in a net, panicked and died. Another diver just survived with his life on a different dive having to do a emergency ascend. br So, why are all those divers diving here? Well the thrill is one thing.. but no-one should be diving just for the thrill. The reward is also in seeing things like Sepia cuttlefish mate and lay eggs, seeing lobsters and crabs, soles, jellyfish, anemones and lots more. The thing is: these all live in the Dutch waters, where you would not expect them to be. That is why every weekend in May and June the dikes are swarming with cars and divers all trying to time their lives to the tides of the sea.
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| Favourite spots: |
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More Sepia; lighted by a underwater lamp
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Many would say their favorite spot for diving in Zeeland is the Zeelandbrug, where you would find the Sepia. I do not agree entirely, the Grevelingen is one heck of a place to be diving too. The Grevelingen is not really salt water diving… it has been closed from the sea a while back, and now there is just a limited amount of saltwater entering the lake. Wildlife is quite adapted to this now. I think my favorite would be the combination of diving at the Grevelingen and on tide changes I would definitely go to the Zeelandbrug.
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| What's really great: |
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I enjoyed my stay at the Elemeet, the small village where we rented a house to accommodate our group of 8 people. In between diving eating and sleeping we did not see or do much else. We were here for diving... and I have to say to see so much underwaterlife.
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| Sights: |
For the Dutch there probably is only one thing to see and experience here: the underwaterlife. For foreigners I would imagine the polders, with their land below sealevel and the dikes are quite remarkable too.
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| Accommodations: |
Our accommodation was an old farmhouse turned into a rent able stay for up to 12 persons. A perfect stay for our group of 8 divers, compared to the alternatives of camping or renting a “cottage” in the familyholidayparks. This old farmhouse was strategically located between the Grevelingen and the Zeelandbrug.
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Published on Sunday June 13th, 2004
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Tue, Jun 15 2004 - 05:20 AM
 by marianne
Hi Maurice,
Dat was leuk om the lezen. Ik wist wel dat duiken in de noordzee mogelijk was maar ik dacht dat er nooit goed zicht was. dat valt dus mee.
Marianne |
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