Dive Sites in Northern Ireland
The MV Slemish is a small wreck resting in the sheltered waters of Strangford Lough at around 20 m, providing an accessible and charming dive for intermediate divers within the protected marine environment. The wreck is heavily colonised by anemones and hydroids, and the surrounding lough sediments support a fascinating community of burrowing invertebrates and flatfish.
The SS Justicia is one of the most impressive wreck dives in British waters — a 32,000-tonne Holland America Line troop ship torpedoed by a German U-boat in 1918 and now lying at 68 m off Malin Head. The enormous size of this wreck — stretching over 200 m — means multiple dives are needed to explore it, and the depth demands advanced technical diving skills and equipment.
Strangford Lough is the largest inlet in the United Kingdom and a nationally protected Marine Nature Reserve, renowned among divers for exceptional biodiversity including extensive horse mussel beds, carpets of jewel anemones, and a remarkable variety of echinoderms and tunicates. The sheltered lough is ideal for beginner divers and offers wonderful wildlife diving throughout the year.
Dive Schools in Northern Ireland
Aquaholics Dive Centre is Northern Ireland's leading PADI training centre based in Belfast, offering courses from Discover Scuba through to Instructor level alongside regular dive charters to Strangford Lough, the MV Slemish, and specialist expeditions to the SS Justicia off Malin Head. Their passionate team has extensive knowledge of Northern Ireland's extraordinary and underrated dive sites.
Strangford Lough Dive Centre specialises in guided dives throughout the UK's largest inlet and Marine Nature Reserve, offering BSAC training and expert-led dives to the horse mussel beds, jewel anemone fields, and the sheltered wreck of the MV Slemish. They also organise annual technical diving expeditions to the massive SS Justicia off the Donegal coast.