Horsea Island closed

The closure of Horsea Island Dive Centre to members of the public has been called 'a serious blow for safety in diving', by the managing director of one of Britain's biggest scuba schools.

The comments were made by Andark's Andy Goddard shortly after the Ministry of Defence (MoD) finally excluded the diving public from the Navy training site near Portsmouth. Although Horsea Island is an operational military diver-training base, the 1.2km-long lake has been open to recreational divers and managed by Andark Diving for the past ten years.

The last dives took place in late June, despite a long campaign to persuade the MoD that recreational diving still has a place at Horsea. Hundreds of divers signed an online petition, but the MoD has remained implacable in the face of criticism....[DiveMagazine.com.uk]