Although The Netherlands might not be the first destination that springs to mind when you plan a dive, you might want to consider trying to dive here if you don’t mind a bit of cold murky water and you enjoy the more technical aspects of scuba diving.

Nowadays scuba diving is getting more and more popular in The Netherlands and there are a multitude of dive schools and clubs you can choose from all over the country. You can dive in rivers, lakes and seas.

Diving in cold water

Diving in The Netherlands is very different from diving in tropical waters. Scuba diving here is much more focussed on technical diving than on marine life But even though there are no colourful little reef fish around, there are loads of less spectacular but still very interesting marine species to be found under water.

Technical aspects of diving in NL

The Netherlands is perfect for technical dives, since there are serious currents which make most of the waters where you dive a little treacherous. You should also take the tides into account, which can strengthen or change the existing currents.

It is therefore advisable to do an orientation dive first. You should then dive with an experienced dive master or instructor to guide you. If you want to continue to dive in these types of waters, you should think about doing a navigation specialty and a drift dive specialty.