Fort Bovisand

Bovisand has a series of three bays, and Bovisand Bay is the first. There is plenty of parking (paid), and the beach is easily accessible via a path and steps down. These bays are perfect for beginners and usually sheltered, yet there’s enough to keep even the most experienced diver occupied.

Jenny Cliff Bay is on the main road to Bovisand and is a good shore dive to get into the water, as there is a car park nearby and the beach is sandy and protected.

This site is the third of three beaches at Bovisand. Parking available and the beach is accessed by steps leading down. The conditions are perfect for beginner dives, yet there is still plenty to see for even the most experienced diver or keen photographer.

The Breakwater Fort is located just inside the Breakwater and is surrounded by a variety of both ancient and modern debris of all shapes and sizes to explore. A number of structures that form a circuit can be followed via an orange cable along the seabed.

This old steam trawler which had been converted into a minesweeper now sits at 13m on a sandy bottom, with her bow facing out to sea. The wreck is quite broken up but not widely scattered. With care, you can penetrate the boiler that stands about 5m high for about 1m but is quite confined. Fascinating marine life.

This reef can be reached by RIB from Fort Bovisand. The stony seabed is a mixture of green and purple pebbles with perfect seaweed gullies that could be straight from a fish tank. Marine life includes dogfish, rays, wrasse and crabs.

What makes this location interesting, apart from the marine life, is that Panther Shoal lies directly between the firing line and fall of shot from both Fort Picklecombe and Breakwater Fort. As such, the observant diver can find cannonballs and so on, which litter this area.

Heybrook Bay is a shore about 3 miles by road from Bovisand. There is a coastal path down a river to the water’s edge where there is a small rocky beach. At high tide, the depth is around 9m and at low tide, the depth is around 3m.

Drakes Island lies directly at the mouth of the River Tamar and before the Breakwater was built a number of ships that were blown into Plymouth Sound by southwesterly gales came to an untimely end on her rocky shores.

Found by Devil’s Point, Eastern Kings can be done as a shore dive although boat cover is advisable. There is a sloping cliff to 40m. Best to dive at high water (ideally neap tides).