Oyster beds, crabs and bitter balls – Zeeland (13/14 June 2026)

By Giovanni Corriga

Diving in Zeeland is a civilised affair. You wake up in the morning, drive a short distance to park right next to the dive site, drag your kit up and down the dyke and off you go.

Once you’re done, you can take your cylinder to the nearest public station for a safe DIY filling. Kinda like diving in Wraysbury, but a lot more scenic both above and below water, a much shorter and more pleasant drive than the M25 and you can use something other than cash to pay for your fills.

A group of Clidivers spent a weekend there, shepherded by Thomas and Cathy. Some of us drove from London, while a few reached Rotterdam by train then rented a van.

We were based in two small houses in a Center Parcs resort. The place was mostly harmless (I’m looking at you, cash machine, and at your €6 fee!) and our houses where close to the water, so on our arrival on Friday we could immediately check out the large number of crabs that were coming out of the resort’s little slipway.

The first dive on Saturday was at Dreischor Gemaal (Dreischor Pumping Station). We arrived early enough to park, set up our kit, go up the dyke, let the cows cross our path then get in the water. That’s how we found two things that appear to be quite common in all Zeeland dive sites: oyster beds and crabs. The former need special attention to avoid the shells’ sharp edges – they can easily damage your drysuit or, in my case, shave off a slither of fin.

Saturday’s second dive was under a bridge. The Zeelandbrug (Zeeland bridge) is the longest bridge in the Netherlands and you’re allowed to dive under it as long as you remain within its first two spans on the northern side. That’s something so common that the A flag is painted on the bridge piles around the diveable area.

Strong winds and some waves meant the two sidemounters in the group (Thomas and I) had a bit of a faff to kit up in the water, to then be welcomed by kelp, low viz and lack of light at depth that turned most of the dive into a night dive and a navigation exercise. Cathy and Nick S managed to spot a cuttlefish – lucky b******s.

After the dives we went back to base for a quick shower then headed off again for a cultural immersion in the practice of borrel, the Dutch term for having drinks and snacks with your friends. And that brings us to the third headliner of the report – the bitterballen, deep fried snacks filled with meat, cheese or veg. After enjoying these in a lovely beer garden we moved inside for dinner, all the while waiting for Dave to find a charging station for the electric rental van before it ran out of juice.

On Sunday, we left our base early to dive Plompe Toren (Plump Tower). This tower is the only remaining landmark of a Dutch village that was swallowed by the sea in the 16th century. For Sasha and me this was a very shallow dive that we spent cataloguing how many different varieties of crab we could spot.

Our last dive was at Sharendijke West. Once again we had to schlep our kit up and down the dyke, kit up then wade into the water for our dive. While the site offered a bit more depth than others, most dive pairs remained quite shallow to enjoy watching the crabs, lobsters, and other crustaceans populating the area.

Once out of the water and with the gear packed, it was time to drive back home, which we managed to do in less time than it would have taken me to come back from Plymouth on a Sunday evening. Very civilised indeed.