Shore Diving Babbacombe Bay
by Charles Stirling

An early season dive, it's early April, time to get back in the not yet warm UK waters with a warm-up dive for a mixed group of 14 of us from Severnside SAC. This was a Sunday chosen not on tides or times but on the start to the cuttlefish breeding season and between other weekends already booked. So off to Babbacombe Harbour for shore diving.

Babbacombe Bay shore diving, as is most shore diving, is best done near high water. We had very high spring tides and high water was too early or late in the day to contemplate getting up for or returning home from - so diving was started a bit after half ebb tide. The beach is sandy at the top but rapidly becomes one of nice round slippery rocks within that couple of hours either side of high water. These rocks, euphemistically called shingle, are a mix of sizes 10 to 30 cm diameter, just right to make it very difficult to walk over. But we did manage to make our way over this field of small boulders and through the small breaking surf into the water. At slightly higher water levels in the afternoon some of us used the steps on the small breakwater for a much easier entry / exit point, but there are notices that bathers are not to use the breakwater as boats may be tying up and fishing lines may be present.

Babbacombe is justly well known for cuttlefish arriving to mate and lay eggs in the very shallow weed just off the shore from early April to mid May. This was one of the selling points for this day's diving for our group. We had a mixed group; some with cameras, others newly qualified, others just wanting to get wet but all interested in something to see. In past years the numbers of cuttlefish seen could be reasonably high with almost a guarantee of seeing at least a few. This has been slowing changing, thought due to cuttlefish fishing. The netting has been banned, but at least one commercial fisherman seems to be setting cuttlefish pots in a densely spaced 3 deep row for nearly 6 miles along this section of coast. Cuttlefish are caught on their way in to breed, a once in a lifetime activity for them. The long nets caught nearly all the animals, the idea with allowing pots was that some animals could make it to shore but the density and number of the pots being set nearly negates this.

Cuttlefish can only be economically fished in the UK at breeding times when their concentrations are high. They are frozen and shipped off to the Spanish markets. They are not seen as an endangered species so regulations are not in place and fisherman need to make a living. Tourism by divers might bring in more money to a local area in the UK, just as in other parts of the world, than over-fishing but it's a different pot of money so often doesn't have much influence.

Entry was without fins on, wade to waist depth and don fins, submerge for the fun. Exiting the morning dives it was nearly low water and those rocks made less than elegant efforts. I found with my large camera, it was a struggle on hands and knees trying to remove my fins. Others just found it difficult getting out, but we did go in for a second dive in the afternoon taking a long enough surface break for the water to be a little higher. Most still went in over the rocks as the breakwater steps were still high and dry but two buddy pairs waited even longer for an easy entry down the steps. On this second exit and my inelegant first one I followed the seabed contours at 6m over to the harbour wall for an essay second exit. Once in the water most of our groups went left from the entry point or straight out for a short distance than left.

One pair of our group did see one cuttlefish on the morning dive, more of us saw one in the afternoon, not high numbers but something. Dogfish, snakelock anemones, masked crabs, sea hares, soft corals, hermit crabs, peacock worms, dead mans fingers, arrow crabs, edible crabs, wrasse, blennies and more were all reported so things to see. It was universally thought worthwhile and enjoyable diving was done. Our welcome hot drinks and lunches from the cafe were taken sitting at tables overlooking the beach on this fine sunny day, it almost felt like summer.

Babbacombe Bay shore diving is also popular for training as the maximum depth is about 10m and much can be done even shallower. The bay is protected from most winds except east and north east. Currents near shore are minimal though stronger further out. Normally the snack bar on the beach can pump cylinders, but this compressor was out of action on our visit. A small car park is available, which latter in the season fills to capacity for much of the day, but was only full for short periods on our visit. A good pub is just yards up from the beach. The steep road down to Babbacombe Harbour is accessed by a road alongside Babbacombe Theatre off the A379. At the top of the hill on Babbacombe Rd are Divers Down, an alternative air filling location and dive centre. The Café site has a live webcam looking out over the beach and sea so conditions might be judged.

Local information:
Divers Down, Tel: 01803-327111, Website
Babbacombe Beach Cafe, Tel: 01803 324523, Website

Photographs by Charles Stirling

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