We have tried to give a few examples of the varied diving the South West has to offer. Scuba Scene runs most of its training courses at Vobster Quay - we offer Advanced and Speciality students the opportunity to gain further experience at some of the other dive sites in the South West in particular diving with Keith Ferris down at West Bay..

For qualified club divers we regularly run dive trips throughout the South West of England, plus other trips to locations in UK, Ireland and the rest of the world.

1. West Bay Diving – We run regular trips with Keith Ferris down at West Bay these are some of the popular dive sites - Baygitano 21m - This is a wreck of a well-flattened steamer, lying approx 1.5 miles due South of the Cobb at Lyme Regis. The only parts of the wreck which stand up are the boilers, engine and the bow section. - M2 35m - built by Vickers in 1918, was 296ft long and sank on the 26th January 1932, with the loss of her full crew of 60. She originally had a 12-inch gun on her forward deck, but this was removed in 1927 when she was adapted to carry a small folding-wing sea-plane manufactured by Parnell Peto. It is thought that the hangar doors were open when she submerged and this caused her to founder. Still plainly visible is the jib of the winch over the hangar door which was used to lift the aircraft back on to the launching ramp after launching on the sea. - Ailsa Craig 35m - This wreck is fairly intact and sat upright, more or less. The bow is twisted though, over to the starboard side. The boiler and engine are clearly distinguishable on her stern. She was a British steamer (built 1906 - 601 gross tons) carrying coal from Cardiff to Granville. On 15 April, 1918, the German submarine UB-80 was in the area and sent a torpedoe into her. - High Ground 6-15m - About 3/4 mile out from Eype the sea bed becomes rocky with depths of around 6m. You can find crab and lobsters in these rocks along with skate and plaice off the edges on the sandy patches. Scallops can also be picked up on the southern edges. The highest part of the reef, to the SW, has a particularly good drop off making a fantastic dive. This site is excellent for experienced and novice alike, tidal currants being weak. Wreck divers have been shown the light as regards reefs here! West Tennants 22-28m - The site is situated 4 miles SW of Lyme Regis. It covers a large area of reef, rocky ground and gullies, one of the highest reef areas in the bay as the charts clearly show. The fantastic scenery is dramatic in parts with deep gullies, high rock-faces and lots of marine life. Tidal currants are fairly weak here which makes for a lovely gentle drift dive.

1. Vobster Quay, Nr Frome - the UK's friendliest inland diving centre! Whether you're a certified diver wanting to experience the thrills and excitement of inland diving or you're completely new to sub aqua, Vobster Quay has something to offer. For certified divers, there's no better place to hone your diving skills and have fun than at Vobster Quay. With 36-acres of fresh water diving in depths ranging from 6m to 36m, divers of all levels will find the heady mix of exciting underwater attractions and a full range of diving support services hard to resist. Submerged beneath the lake waters you'll find a fascinating array of attractions just waiting to be discovered! Divers can explore the wreck of an large commercialaircraft, a 42ft motorcruiser, the large metal wheelhouse of a former coaster plus a number of former quarry buildings including the massive crushing works - a towering structure the size of a 2-storey house - and even a spooky concrete-lined subterranean tunnel that's not for the faint hearted!
   

1. Fathom and Blues, Portland - Landing Craft 17m -This small landing craft lies beside the Breakwater wall and close to the Bombardon unit. It is an interesting, but silty, dive and offers an underwater platform for training activities. - Dredger 12m - The Dredger lies right outside of Portland Harbour within the sheltered bay of Balaclava (in front of the large winch). This is believed to be a sand dredger and it makes an excellent shallow dive and training site in almost all weather and sea conditions. The wreckage is pretty much broken up. - Countess of Erne 14m - This passenger liner Paddle steamer was later converted to a coal hulk but in 1935 broke loose from her moorings and sank against the breakwater. She was built in the early 1880s and the conversion took place 1889. She is approximately 240' long and with a 29' beam she lies upright on the bottom. - Bombardon Unit 17m - This is a WWII experimental wave breaking unit apparently made for the D-Day landings sitting off the Landing Craft and can be done as part of a Landing Craft dive. The Bombardon Unit is a star shaped barges with lots of hatches.

1. Babbacombe Beach – Submerge as soon as you get out of your depth and head straight out to sea. When you reach the drop-off, the rocks steadily slope down to a sandy seabed at around 8m. Turn to the left and very slowly follow the edge of the rocky slope around for about 20 minutes (ie the slope is on your left). Take your time and poke around in the holes, nooks and crannies – the site is normally teaming with life. After about 20 minutes turn around and head back again with the slope on your right shoulder. Proceed at the same rate as before and again explore the nooks and crannies. (If you start to find more and more fishing tackle you have gone too far and are getting dangerously close to the pier and you are likely to get hooked so back track, or surface). The slipway or the beach should be to the North (Your right) but if you want to stretch out the dive you can potter around on the plateau for a while looking at the sea life. Even if you have misjudged the distance or got lost you should not have too far to swim back to the shore or the slipway.

   A number of dives are possible now that you know the site layout. There are some very large rocks rising from the sandy bed at the left of the beach. You can check out the shallows before you reach the drop off, or you can explore the caves on the other side of the pier.

2. Budleigh Salterton - The reef runs parallel to the shore and can be missed if you are unlucky - The best way to dive this site is to do a surface swim for about 25m straight out from the shore. Drop down to the sea bed (about 3m) and carry on out to sea until you find the reef. The reef is teaming with life. There are numerous fish crabs and lobsters on the reef and it is a fantastic dive. The Lobster pots are an indication of the reefs location

   Care must be taken as there can be quite strong currents running along the beach

3. Hope Cove, Hope – The site is well sheltered and there is usually lots of sea life. Sandy gullies separate numerous vibrant reefs. There are occasional finds of coins from long lost wrecks. The visibility here is usually exceptional for a site with a sandy bottom. Enter the water near the rocks on your left as you look out to sea. Slowly swim straight out along the headland (Known as the Shippen Rock) . and continue heading out to sea for about 10 - 15 minutes. Turn 90 degrees to the right and swim slowly for 2-3 minutes. Another 90 degree turn and you are heading back to the shore. Zig zag your way back to the beach exploring the numerous gullies and crevices as you go.

   Having got an overall impression of the terrain you can explore the parts that you find most interesting on subsequent dives.

4. Fairy Cove, Paignton – Fairy Cove is a good dive site because after a few days of calm weather visibility can be great. Swim out from the sandy beach over the small kelpy reefs and drop down over the rock shelf  to the sandy bed (at about 8m). Swim along with the shelf on your right hand side and explore the numerous inlets and caverns. Look out for the remains of the 3 wrecks that came to grief  here. The only wreckage you are likely to find is metal plates from the German Torpedo boat destroyer - between 1 & 200 yards from the beach.

5. Lundy Island - The diving season on Lundy is short but spectacular. The visiblity is good enough for diving from the end of April to the end of September. The tides of the Bristol Channel are fierce but the island lies N-S in a tidal stream that is mostly E-W, so there is always some part of the island with slack water. There are many types of fish including basking sharks in the summer months and the unique population of red banded fish (a metre long, shaped like an eel with a red band and a single dorsal fin the whole length of their body - they live in burrows in the mud). Crabs, lobsters and crayfish are still common but their populations have been affected by commercial fishing.There are huge numbers of sea urchins and starfish and the population of jewel anemones rarely fails to amaze the visiting diver. Common and lesser octopus are also regularly seen.

1. Swanage - With just a maximum depth of 5 metres under the pier, it is no wonder that so many novices begin their underwater careers here before venturing further off shore to experience more challenging dives. Whenever you are ready, the dive boats that operate from the pier are ready and waiting to take you to some of them. Drift across Peveril Ledges looking for lobsters, or maybe take a trip to the wreck of the Fleur de, off Old Harry and when you are ready for it the one they all want to dive, the Kyarra! The dive boats can have you on the shot line in less than half an hour from the pier. Torpedoed in 1918, she just failed to survive the First World War. She went to her final resting place just 30 metres below the sea, 2 miles off Anvil Point. Just like the pier, she makes for a fascinating dive and in a DIVER magazine survey she was voted one of the best wreck dives in Britain.

1. Plymouth - Scylla Reef is the wreck of F71 HMS Scylla, a Leander-class frigate that served in the Royal Navy between 1970 and December 2003. During her commission she performed a variety of roles, from patrols in Icelandic waters during the second and third 'Cod Wars' to royal escort duties for the Queen's Silver Jubilee. She also provided humanitarian relief in the Cayman Islands during 1980 when hurricanes threatened the lives of many of the inhabitants, before being modified to have Exocet and SeaWolf missile launchers fitted. After being decommissioned, she was bought by the National Marine Aquarium and sunk on the 27th of March 2004 in Whitsand bay near Plymouth, where she now lies creating an artificial reef for divers, the first of its kind in Europe. - James Egan Lane - lies shotted in Whitsand Bay, Plymouth, and is an extremely popular British wreck because of its depth. It sank in March 1945 after ferrying men and materials across the world for the war effort. At the height of World War II, it was clear that cargo vessels were being sunk at a rate faster than which they could be built. In an effort to maintain the supply of food, vehicles and other equipment to the troops, the Americans found a way of welding aptly called 'Liberty' ships together that were 400 feet long weighing in at around 7000 tons in just 24 hours by an almost entirely female workforce. After being hit by a torpedo from a German U-boat near the Eddystone reef, the James Egan Layne was towed towards Plymouth in order to save as much of her cargo as possible. However on the way back, her stern collapsed causing her to sink in Whitsand bay, where she still sits upright, pointing north towards the shore.