Zeeland's Far Sighted Dive Planning
We've made a trip over to The
Netherlands for the last 3 years, initially we went just for the
annual cuttlefish breeding but now we enjoy it as a relaxed low
stress break as well. When we arrived at the De Kabellaar dive hotel
this year and thought a gentle stroll would be a good way to ward off
DVT after our drive we were in for a surprise! The simple rock wall
of the dyke which had been a bit of a hazard – but fun for all of
that :-) - had been supplemented with an amazingly impressive
walkway. All the way from the dyke to the end of the basalt mole
there was a wide, non-slip covered, timber walkway... no mean feat.
Nearly 200m long this installation was clearly expressly for divers
as at the end there were some of the best looking fishbone ladders
I've ever seen. These embodied the serious intent of the whole
installation, made of welded aluminium wide enough for any fin,
continuing high enough out of the water for any diver with a large
square platform to stand on at the bottom. No dive boat ladder I've
seen has been constructed to such a standard.
For a second we wondered if the dive
centre had made these changes, but it seemed way too grand for the
level of business it could do - and mid week it was as sleepy as
usual. In fact the local tourist development agency had made the
investment, not just in Scharendijk but at other sites and they still
weren't finished. Indeed there were improvements to the steps up the
dykes going on while we were there. For an English diver where
parking always costs money, local businesses often bar them in favour
of 'normal' customers and even the best – perhaps Swanage pier –
is a dive site only as an afterthought.
Civilised diving in Zeeland In Zeeland the general tourist maps
include the dive sites, clearly numbered, even though those sites are
primarily for divers. To top it all the car parking is free! At each
there's an information board describing the site, the wildlife you
might see, along with a cheerful request to dive considerately and
wait for it... toilets! Last year the bigger sites had simple
'festival' portaloos which were serviced regularly but his year they
were being upgraded to proper (green of course) flushing toilets in
even the most remote of the 30+ sites. If that weren't enough the new
buildings include showers!
Another surprise for UK visitors are
the self-service air stations. There are two of these and they both
work! One is outside a dive centre but the other is completely
isolated and containerised by the Zeelandbrug. Can you imagine that
in the UK? Would they even survive our hostile youth or Health and
Safety culture? In Holland they are another stress reliever, open 24
hours and dispensing 400 litres for half a Euro so you only pay for
what you need. This is great for a top up and most of our 'fills'
cost less than a pound. You simply connect your tank to the hose,
open the valves and feed in coins until you're done. The fills don't
go much over 200 bar, after cooling, but few of the dives are deep so
its not a problem. It's so simple, I wish we could be trusted to have
some here.
Rip off Britain? We dive a lot on the Norfolk coast's
shore wrecks. These aren't really remote and those beaches attract
hoards of normal visitors but neither the Vera at Cley or the Rosalie
at Weybourne are known to them. Although they break the surface at
low tide there is no indication of what they are and no hints as to
the wildlife they harbour. Neither has any 'facilities' - making
wetsuit diving markedly more convenient :-) but the busy car parks
harvest cash from the visitors on the basis that it is their chance
to contribute to the upkeep of the area.
This seems to be the underlying
problem. There is no recognition that the people throwing themselves
into the sea and watching the birds already bring considerable
quantities of money into the local community. Zeeland has tourism but
nothing near the scale of the North Norfolk coast where thousands of
caravans and chalets supplement the less plebeian hotels, hostels,
camping and homestays. This is an area where tourism is genuinely on
an industrial scale but still insists that its guests pay around £1
an hour to park before enjoying the sights they have come to see.
The Dutch have taken a step back and
are already considered the long game. For example, some time ago some
sites were supplemented with the addition of concrete reefballs. This
provided extra artificial habitat for wildlife in an already man-made
environment and has conspicuously worked. The underlying properties
of the Oosterschelde and Grevellingenmere are not those of a diving
Mecca. The body of water is constricted, inclined to be murky and
little warmer than the North sea but the cuttlefish, macro wildlife
and benign diving conditions make it popular with Europeans.
If you've got it, dive it The jewel in Zeelands diving crown, and
it must have been a very lonely gem for a while, is the annual
aggregation of breeding cuttlefish. This has drawn crowds to the
carpark under the Zeelandbrug on scale which would rival the heaving
worst of Stoney Cove on a summers weekend. These divers needed other
options and these have been provided and supported. Although a small
industry by comparison with the English South and particularly South
West coast we have seen it expand even in the last 3 years we have
been visiting. The 4 major dive shops on the Island have been growing
and although we normally frequent De Kabelaar (since we are stay
there) dropping into the largest was a humbling experience for a
British diver – a vast range of every dive item. Not stopping at
the simple stuff either but including displays of the most obscure
pipework and more exotic torches than we'd see at on a diveshow
stand. Clearly the visiting divers are a great market to support this
bounty. The superstores like Divers Warehouse approach this kind of
range for national business but these Dutch shops are 'local' shops
for 'local' trade. Clearly there's something in the water!
In truth Zeeland has a number of simple
to understand attractions and has made the most of them. It has
recognised that its inherent attractions might pale for regular
visitors and taken steps to bolster them. Hence the major works which
greeted us this May. The walkways and pontoons were installed on
three of the sites we visited this year and a further site had been
created for disabled divers providing a wheelchair path from car park
to waters edge. The upgraded toilet facilities were spreading while
we were there too. A conservative estimate of the cost of works
completed would be more than £250,000 which will double if the rest
of the popular sites are treated in the same way. The proprietor of
the dive shop was upbeat and pleased that 'there would be fewer
broken ankles'... which got us thinking that if there was a similar
'hazard' in the UK we would have been banned from it on health and
safely grounds and left to stared mournfully at an expensive barrier
erected to keep us away rather than a safe access produced at similar
cost.
Think it through There's a depth of vision needed, an
acceptance that tourists and divers can coexist and that they are
already contributing so that it would be more polite to invite them
in than fleece them at every turn. What should it matter if the money
is spent on a car park or a meal? The money spent on enjoying an area
rather than simply being allowed into it produces much warmer
memories of a trip than the battle to feed change into an unattended
ticket machine in a lumpy gravel car park. I know that when I think
of Zeeland I think of the ease of diving but when dive in the UK my
plans often include ways to minimise the costs of getting to the
water.
As a final thought, I endorse the Dutch
take on cuttlefish too. Their emphasis has been to foster both the
creatures and 'tourist' access to them. Zeeland is now part of a
national park with protection and controlled fishing – each
cuttlefish endures some voyeurism but is a valuable asset in its own
right rather than a crop to be shamelessly harvested as they are in
Babbacombe Bay. Why can't we look past short term gratification and
accept that past abuse of fishing grounds is no justification for it
to continue. If something is wrong it should be addressed and the
potting of Babbacombe is just an ugly illustration of self interest.
If we want our position at the top of the food chain then we should
only do so sustainably. |