PENSTONE

Protected Area

Liverpool Bay / Bae Lerpwl

Why dive here

With 118+ marine species recorded in the area - including dolphins, dwarf minke whales, humpback whales, ocean sunfish (mola mola) and orcas - PENSTONE offers some of Northumberland & Northeast's richest wreck diving.

Marine lifeDolphins, Dwarf Minke Whales, Humpback Whales, Ocean Sunfish (Mola Mola) and Orcas · 118+ species recorded

CharacterWreck dive · max 29m

StandoutRich in charismatic marine life

The Penstone is one of those wrecks we keep coming back to. Sitting upright at 29 metres, she’s a cracking dive for experienced wreck heads looking for a bit of history in the North Sea. We usually drop onto the bow, which is still largely intact, and you can see the mast lying across the deck, often with a cheeky ling peering out from underneath. She went down in 1948 after a tangle with the MV Villanger, and you can still get a real sense of her as a working steamship. We love exploring the holds, which are often full of cod, and the engine room is always a highlight, though it’s a silty old place, so keep your trim dialled in. Visibility can be a bit of a lottery out here, but on a good day, when the sun penetrates that far, the light playing on the corroded metal and the sheer number of anenomes makes it a genuinely atmospheric dive. The current can pick up, so it's not one for the inexperienced, but if you’re comfortable in deeper water and love a proper wreck, the Penstone delivers.