Cawsand Bay

The visibility is usually fantastic as the site is 9 miles offshore and swept with clean water constantly. The diversity of sea life supported by this reef is staggering and combined with the sheer size of the drop-offs and walls makes this a favourite site to all who visit.

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.

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.

On 27th April 1970, the Glen Strathallen was towed out of Plymouth and sunk just off the Shag Stone in approximately 15m of water. Today you can still find the wreck on the sandy bottom.

HMS Scylla was sunk in 2004, after laying in disrepair for ten years. A lot of work was done to ensure the ship was safe and easy to explore inside, and as expected, she has become a very popular dive site, situated some 40 minutes by boat from Plymouth.

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).

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.

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.

Fort Bovisand is a shore dive that offers good all-round cover from the weather and is used primarily for beginners due to the protection the harbour walls provide.