Weymouth & Portland · United Kingdom · Kelp forest · Sand slope
Chesil Cove
Shore entry over shingle into boulders and kelp to 15 m
Photo: BennH · CC BY-SA 4.0
Chesil Cove is the shore dive at the south end of Chesil Beach, and the entry is the hard part: a steep, shifting shingle bank you walk down and swim off. Underwater the ground slopes quickly from pebbles into large boulder fields, kelp beds and sand down to 15 m. It is a training and critter dive rather than a wreck dive, and it only works in calm or easterly winds.
Where it is and how deep
50.5582° N, 2.4604° WApproximate position — the dashed circle shows where the site lies; your operator's briefing has the mooring.
The dive
You walk in over the shingle, which shifts under your feet and drops away steeply, and swim out through the shallows. The ground changes quickly: pebbles first, then large boulder fields with kelp on them, then sand at the bottom of the slope at 15 m. There is no single feature to aim for, so the dive is run as an out-and-back along the boulders or on a compass and turned on air and time.
The interest is in the crevices between the rocks and boulders and in the kelp itself: cuttlefish, octopus, pipefish, John Dory, wrasse, crabs and lobsters, with jellies in the water in summer. Many ships have been wrecked in the cove, but its exposure to strong waves has left few significant divable remains close to the beach, so it is not a dive to plan around finding them. Come back up the slope and time the exit with the surf.
Marine life and season
- Octopus & cuttlefish
- Macro critters
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fair | Fair | Fair | Good | Good | Prime | Prime | Prime | Prime | Good | Fair | Fair |
Season follows Weymouth & Portland: Sea temperature runs from about 7 °C in February to 17 °C in August; winter gales off the Atlantic rather than the cold are what stop the boats.
Know before you go
- The cove faces the weather: dive at high water in calm or easterly winds, or the entry and exit are through heavy, crashing surf.
- The shingle slope gives way underfoot on the way out, so the exit is a short, hard climb best timed between sets.
Photos from Chesil Cove
Peter S · CC BY-SA 2.0
Stefan Czapski · CC BY-SA 2.0
BennH · CC BY-SA 4.0
Questions divers ask
Can beginners dive Chesil Cove?+
It is a reasonably shallow shore dive, most of it inside 15 m, and it is long used for training. The limit is the weather rather than the depth: in anything but calm or easterly winds the shingle entry breaks into heavy surf.
Sources
- Chesil Cove - Scubago — Scubago
- Chesil Cove — Wikipedia
- Above 18m: Diving Chesil Bank — Divernet
Photo credits
- Chesil Cove's shingle beach curving beneath limestone cliffs beside turquoise water by BennH, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
- A pink café building above the sea wall and shingle beach at Chesil Cove by Peter S, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
- The sea wall at Chesil Cove looking north-west along Chesil Beach by Stefan Czapski, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
- Layered timber and stone flood-defence steps on the beach at Chesil Cove by BennH, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
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