By boat from Portmuck or Ballylumford Harbour. The site is beneath West Maiden Old Lighthouse.
Portmuck Harbour provides free car parking, a slipway and public toilets. The pier is 25 metres long, 6.5 metres wide and in good condition.
Free parking, a slipway, public toilets and outdoor changing facilities are available at Ballylumford Harbour as well (access to slipway restricted to Islandmagee Boat Club members; email: info@islandmageeboatclub.co.uk).
Nearest tank filling is DV Diving, Mount Stewart, Newtownards.
- Loose boulders
Large boulders form a 40 degree slope down to a depth of 26 metres. With increasing depth, the boulders become increasingly smaller and interspersed across a mixed sediment bottom.
The boulders support an abundance of dead men’s fingers Alcyonium digitatum and anemones. There are a variety of hydroid species present, including Lytocarpia myriophyllum, Nemertesia antennina and Aglaophenia tubulifera. Several interesting sponge species occur here, including Lissodendoryx jenjonesae and Clathria barleei, both of which are listed as a Northern Ireland Priority Species and have only been recorded previously from the Maidens and Rathlin Island.
View all species records from this site
A link to the dive site location on the NBN Atlas Northern Ireland website, showing all species records from within a 1km boundary of the site centroid. Any new species records from the site submitted to Seasearch, iRecord, CEDaR Online Recording or iNaturalist will appear hereSeasearch – Isle of Muck and Maidens survey
Irish Lights – Maidens Lighthouses
Northern Ireland Marine MapViewer
- In an emergency call 999 or 112 and ask for the coastguard.
- Follow VHF radio Channel 16 (156.8 MHz), the international distress frequency. Send a distress alert followed by ‘MAYDAY, MAYDAY, MAYDAY’ and ‘This is [boat name]’.
- Find nearest defibrillator (AED) here.
- Portmuck/Ballylumford Harbour: 028 9336 6666
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