Our favourite dive sites

Port-na-blagh

Directions:
To get to Port na Blagh, head for Letterkenny. At Letterkenny, take the N56 signposted Creeslough/Dunfanaghy. As you go along the N56, you will be signposted as entering Port na Blagh. After a little while, the road bends to the left and here you need to take a right hand turn (from memory it is just marked 'Pier'). On this road you should clearly see the pier about half a mile away. As you approach the pier there is a large car park to the right.

Distance from Strabane: about 39 miles (one-way)

Parking:
Parking is on the car park beside the pier. Beware if you park close to the waters edge - on high tides, the water rises over this area. This is a popular dive spot so other clubs may be there along with people enjoying a day out.

Facilities:
None whatsoever! Bring your own food/drinks. Ladies, in particular, may need to find a discrete place if nature calls.

Tides and weather:

Tide table - closest datum point is Downies Bay (Downings)

Weather - closest datum point is Letterkenny

Shipping Forecast - Sea Area Malin

Previous 24 hours weather data - Buoy M4  This Marine Institute buoy is approx 80 miles NE from Killybegs (Location:55.0000°N 10.0000°W) and reports current conditions on an hourly basis

Why we like Port na Blagh:
In a relatively small area, there are a large number of great dive sites - in particular around Horn Head. Skate Bay - the bay between Traglisk Point and Flaggy Faugher has excellent wall dives along the cliffs - up to 20m

This is the main Letterkenny to Dunfanaghy road - for Port na Blagh, take a right turn just after the grey building

As soon as you turn off the main road, this is what you see - head for the pier

The entrance to the car park is just to the left of the red boat

This is the car park - park close to the top as you can, as a high tide will cover the bottom part of the car park (honestly)!

Photograph taken on Wednesday 22nd July 2009 showing how high a High Tide can come!

....and photo taken on 12th August 2010 showing how low a low tide can be (none of us had seen it this low before)

Our boats at Port na Blagh. Car park is to the left, stone wall in background is the back of the main pier

This is the rail which is on the left hand side of the image above - taken on Wednesday 22nd July 2009 during an extreme high tide

....and photo taken on 12th August 2010 showing how low a low tide can be (none of us had seen it this low before)

....and photo taken on 12th August 2010 showing how low a low tide can be (none of us had seen it this low before)

Two of our intrepid members (Noel and Lee) just out of the water at Port na Blagh