Sea Dives

Sea Training Locations

 

When the weather and sea conditions are right, there is nothing better than taking your training dives in the sea around the UK! Sea dives offer realistic conditions, and prepare you for future dives at different coastal locations. Sea dives also give you a great chance of spotting amazing wildlife, as well as other sunken attrations like wrecks. At certain locations we also have the chance of boat dives, to allow dives at sites you can't reach from the shore. 

When conditions allow, we will aim to dive in the sea for your training dives. Where weather or other factors make sea diving unsuitable, we have a variety of inland dive sites on offer which give us excellent options too.

 

Brixham Breakwater Beach

Address - TQ5 9AF

Parking - Pay & Display (coins or RingGo app)

Brixham Breakwater Beach is a great spot for divers of all levels. There are a variety of different dives, all from the gently sloping pebble beach, reaching maximum depths around 10m deep. Expect to spot pipefish, scallops, lobsters, blennies, wrasse & more! As a North facing beach, Brixham is protected from most wind states, except those with Easterly wind which can cause poor conditions. 

The Pay and Display car park has a good number of parking spots, but arriving early on Summer weekends can be important to get a parking spot close to the beach. The car park also has two (paid) public toilets, but there are no dedicated changing facilities on site. The Breakwater Bistro cafe offers great food and hot drinks, both for takeaway during the day and a nice place to sit down at the end of the dive day.

The water temperature varies throughout the year. In Summer water temperatures can reach 18oC or higher in the shallows, whilst in Winter water temperature can reduce to around 9oC. 

 

Babbacombe Bay

Address - TQ1 3LX

Parking - Pay & Display (coin only)

Babbacombe is another popular dive site in Devon, with easy access to the water and a cafe on site. The car park at Babbacombe is small, so arriving early on a weekend is important to make sure you get a space.

Underwater, a small band of kelp sits closest to the shore line, which turns to small rocks and eventually a sandy bottom as you move away from shore. There are some large boulders in the bay, which attract a lot of wildlife, and are covered in anemones and soft coral which is lovely to look around. The maximum depth here is 10m.

 

Chesil Cove

Address - DT5 1AW

Parking - Limited Free Parking, plus Pay & Display (coins or JustPark app)

There are various places you can shore dive from along Chesil Beach, but the most popular spot for divers is at the Southernmost end of the beach where you find Chesil Cove. The entry and exit is up and down the often steep pebble beach, but the effort to get to the dive site is often rewarded with an excellent dive. 

Underwater, the depth increases quickly to around 6m, and as you swim further from shore the depth gradually increases and can reach 12-15m. Visibility can be excellent, with 3-5m an average estimate. Whilst you explore the reef, keep an eye out for aquatic life such as cuttlefish, pipefish, john dory, dog fish and many more. 

Westerly winds can cause the swell at Chesil Cove to get too big for a safe entry and exit, so if the conditions aren't suitable for diving here, nearby Newton's Cove is an excellent back up plan.

 

Portland Harbour

Address - DT5 1BD

Parking - Limited Free Parking, plus Pay & Display (coins or JustPark app)


Again, there are many places to dive from in Portland Harbour. Our most common location for boat dives when operating training is from Dive Beyond dive centre based in Castletown. The Dive Beyond team run multiple boats, with trips to all of the popular dive sites in the area.

Boat dives include many local wrecks like the Countess of Erne, the Dredger and the Landing Craft to name a few, plus they offer trips to offshore favourites like the M2 submarine and the St Dunstan. Portland also has great scenic dive sites too, such as Pulpit Rocks, Baly Bay and the outer breakwater wall!