The Skellig Islands are two of the underwater jewels in Ireland's dive-crown. Every dive-boat from every creek between Dingle and Derrynane will ultimately make the journey there! Little wonder that they do; this magical place still amazes and excites like a new-found discovery, time after time.
It is here that the warm Gulf Stream first touches the Irish coast, bringing its frequent, international visitors to the Skelligs: trigger fish, basking sharks, minke whales, dolphins, and the occasional leatherback turtle. A wreck-fish that may have followed a piece of flotsam halfway across the Atlantic could suddenly decide that the shadow of your boat offered a better habitat for the day!
But apart from the exotic visitors, Nature has run riot in local sea life - the colours, the anemone-clad walls, the grey seals who always arrive wide eyed and curious to inspect the latest human intruders, the guillemots, razorbills and puffins who 'fly' more adroitly underwater than they do in air. And gannets - 27,000 pairs of them, the ultimate 'free divers' of the ocean's skies!
At the Skelligs, what you see is what you get, and the landscape overhead is a good indication of what lies below. Steep cliffs continue as sheer underwater walls; bird filled ledges continue as jagged steps, reaching down to 40m on the south side of the islands, and 55m on the exposed western faces before any trace of level bottom appears. It is a place for experienced divers only, and for suitably qualified groups with all their own equipment, including air, Des Lavelle, a dive skipper with many years experience, can offer day-trip-boat services - and the opportunity of landing on Skellig Michael and visiting all that this special island has to offer.