Just across the English Channel, or La Manche, as we are talking about diving (plongée) in French waters, the Normandy and Brittany coastlines of France offer diving and life ashore that are both refreshingly different and yet reassuringly familiar.Just across the English Channel, or La Manche, as we are talking about diving (plongée) in French waters, the Normandy and Brittany coastlines of France offer diving and life ashore that are both refreshingly different and yet reassuringly familiar.
Normandy, like the corresponding English coastlines of Sussex, Hampshire and Dorset, has its fair share of wrecks from shipping losses over hundreds of years and casualties from two World wars. British divers are drawn to the area by the historical significance of the D-Day campaign.
Although it is the D-Day wrecks that draws divers to Normandy, there are many more wrecks to explore, from both World wars and from general shipping accidents on the French side of the Channel.
Ashore there are a wealth of battlefield sites and museums of the campaign to explore. Every small town and village seems to have its own war memorial and story to tell.
But you don’t have to be a military enthusiast to enjoy the shore-side part of a diving trip. It is impossible to miss all the distinctly French ambience from countryside to clasically French towns with markets and cafes with pavement areas spreading outside.
Then there is the food. Not the creamy rich food; I am not a fan of cordon bleau French cooking. What I look forward to are the odd glass of wine, French bread, paté and cheese.
Normandy represents the French side of the channel and wreck diving. Further west Brittany marks the French side of the western approaches; the equivalent of Devon or Cornwall.
Here there are more wrecks in typically better visibility. Like the southwest of England, the scenic side of diving becomes more attractive - there are plenty of offshore islands, rocks and reefs to explore.
Brittany also has sites for shore diving, though I confess I can’t speak from my own experience here. Friends have informed me that armed with charts and road maps it was easy enough to track down some nice shore dives. You wouldn’t want to go shore diving across miles of flat sandy beach in Normandy though.
Ashore the Brittany culture is still distinctly French, but a different distinctly French to that of Normandy. The locals are Bretons first and French second. Bretons are anglophiles and the economy is geared towards tourism. Road signs are often posted in both French and Breton. For example, the town of Concarneau is Conkernow in Breton. A remarkable similarity to the way Cornish names are spelt.
For the dedicated diver, by far the easiest way to dive Normandy or Brittany is from one of the liveaboard boats that cross the channel from ports along our south coast. At the risk of gross generalisation, a liveaboard trip will range over a larger area visiting the best dive sites, enable more adventurous diving and give two slack water dives per day. You will still get in to port in the evenings, but won’t get as big a helping of shore side French culture as a land based trip.
Yet for some the shore side culture is one of the main reasons for visiting another country. Taking the car, travelling across by ferry and using the facilities of a local dive centre could be all part of the attraction.
Brittany is well served with dive centres in many coastal towns, set up to provide everything a visiting diver could want. In Normandy they are harder to locate, though there are one or two in Cherbourg.
Another option is to take club boats across for a fully fledged club expedition, which being in France presents some unique organisational difficulties above that of just finding unfamiliar dive sites.
The French make no distinction between privately owned boats and commercial charter boats. All need to display name and registration number, be driven by a qualified cox of minimum RYA level 2, and fitted out with safety equipment appropriate to the distance they will be operating from shore.
You also need a permit to dive, available from the Affairs Maritime office in major towns and cities such as Cherbourg or Brest. Strictly speaking such a permit is also needed just to take yourself shore diving, though I haven’t heard of an unlicensed shore divers getting into trouble.
Finally, don’t take anything from the sea, be it wreckage or food. Just because you see locals getting away with a somewhat liberal interpretation of the regulations, don’t be tempted to think that you can. As in other areas, French bureaucracy comes with a partisan flavour that could hit you with a vengeance should any local official be upset. In the past both charter skippers and clubs have had boats and diving equipment impounded.