Portroe Quarry

Hi lads,

I dived in Portroe quarry yesterday, just over from Nenagh. Got there about 12 ish and there was 2 other guys diving inspirations, they said they did about 48m. Myself and Frank went in, did 32m, total runtime 80 mins practicing using 2 deco bottles with 50% and 100% O2 etc. There's a nice opening at 32m that looks like some kind of man made cave entrance but you're buoyancy would have to be 100% not to kick up the silt and definitely use a line so you can find your way back out. Will have to investigate further. The vis there is really good, I believe it was better on Saturday but we still had between 5 - 10m. The water was 6 degrees so it's feckin cold. I had dry gloves on but parts of my hands were still cold. Feet were freezing !!!

As for access, it's tricky. It wasn't raining when we went in but still a bit slippy. You have to walk over a small ditch, then slate slabs that are loose then down through the thorns but not majorly overgrown. You get down in a minute or 2. Frank slipped on the way in and I fell twice on the way out and with twinsets that's not much fun. It was raining when we came out so things were a bit more dodgy. You do need to be very careful.

It's certainly worth a look. It's a nice quiet spot, no tide, no wind, no surface swell, no angry boat owners, almost too relaxed

The most interesting things we saw on the dive was a sink, an old car and a tv and video. No dead animals thankfully ! Apparently it goes down to about 100m meters but who knows.

It's a really good spot for training dives. However, you're buoyancy needs to be good. If you're one of those people that only stops when you hit the bottom then dive somewhere else

Richie.

Hi, Do you know if anyone has dived Portroe in the last month or so and if it is accessible e.g. gate unlocked??
Thanks
Denise

Don't know if anyone has been up there in the last month. The last I heard was from a couple of guys I know that came down from Dublin. They were 'intercepted' by the land owner and after a bit of a chat he let them dive there. When you drive up to the quarry, it's the one on the left. There's also one on the right but I think that might be closed.

It's a bit of a dose walking in from the road and is very slippy if it's wet. You have to walk across the bottom of a pile of slate and plently of loose stuff to trip you up.

I would say that if you have NO other alternative then it's worth a look. I personally wouldn't be driving back there 2 hours for a look at feck all. There's nothing in there but having said that the water can be really clear. Good for training / practice though.

ATB.

Richie.

Just been for a visit to the new dive center setup at Portroe Quarry. The owners have done a great job at setting up a safe easy to access dive site.
Theres an easy path down to the water, a dock with safety boat cover and even a stairs down into the water. They even hang up a bucket for dipping the goggles in, so no stopping over and falling in!

Hoping to get back there again soon...great resource for our local club, http://www.limericksubaqua.com