WELCOME TO OCEANLIFE KILKEE
Your #1 Scuba Diving Centre on Ireland's Wild Atlantic Way
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Oceanlife is a full SSI dive centre on the East Pier in Kilkee, County Clare, on the Wild Atlantic Way.
We run Discover Scuba sessions for people who have never breathed underwater, SSI Open Water Diver courses for anyone who wants a certification that works worldwide, and guided dives along the Clare coast for divers who are already qualified. Dive centre, shop and cafe are in the one building, right at the water.
Kilkee bay is one of the most sheltered and reliable places to dive in Ireland. It faces away from the worst of the Atlantic swell, which means we can often run here on days when sites further up and down the coast are unworkable — a real advantage if you are only in Clare for a few days.
Where we dive
We dive the whole coast around Kilkee, not just the Pollock Holes. Regular sites include Middle Rock, Donegal Point, Diamond Rocks, Tony's Crack, Chimney Bay, the Blue Pool and Newfee, which is shallow and the one we most often use for first-timers. Which site you get depends on the day — wind direction, swell and tide decide, and we pick to suit the divers and the conditions rather than the other way round.
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What you see is genuinely good. Pollock hold along the reef edges in numbers. Conger eels live in the cracks at Middle Rock, and spider crabs cover the ground at Donegal Point in season. Cuckoo wrasse — electric blue and orange, and the most colourful fish in Irish water — work the broken ground. Mackerel shoals pass through the bay in summer, and with them come dolphins. In late August and September the water is at its warmest and you can meet trigger fish, a Mediterranean species that drifts here on the Gulf Stream.
When we are open
We are open seven days a week from May to September, 10am to 5pm, at East Pier, Kilkee, Co. Clare, V15 X031. Ring 085 255 2064 or email hello@oceanlife.ie. If the sea is wrong on your day we will tell you straight and move you rather than take you out in something unpleasant — a bad first dive puts people off for good.