DIVE SITES OUT OF PLYMOUTH WITH PLYMOUTH SOUND BSAC
Eddystone (50º10.818’N, 004º16.006’W)
The iconic Eddystone lighthouse and adjacent reefs.
Image: Keith Hiscock
The Eddystone lighthouse is about 19km south of Plymouth
Sound and offers diving from the shallow kelp-covered
gullies on the north side to the rocky reefs on the south (the
position given), where drop-offs reach depths of around
40m. The Eddystone is great for both novice and
experienced divers with its fantastic life and rock formations
and is a frequent excursion for Plymouth Sound Dive Club.
There are schools of bass and pollack, friendly cuckoo
wrasse and plenty of crustaceans whilst the pink sea fans
seem in far better condition than those on the more-often
dived sites. The white shell gravel that is characteristic of
the Eddystone reefs reflects the light to make the location
superb for photography and its distance offshore means
that visibility is often excellent. The Eddystone can be dived
at any time during neap tides, but diving at slack water is
advised during springs: it falls two and a half hours after
high and low at Devonport.
Debbie Bauckham
Visibility can be excellent at the Eddystone: a
‘classic’ Eddystone view.
‘Elegant’ anemones cover the rocks as you ascend to the
kelp at the top of one of the pinnacles.
Eddystone shell sand, sea fans and black sea
cucumbers at about 25 m depth.
Diver (Lynne Bracegirdle) with male and female cuckoo
wrasse at the Eddystone.
From the Plymouth Sound BSAC Web site: www.plymouthdivers.org.uk
Plymouth Sound Divers are based at the Mount Batten Watersports Centre
All underwater images ©Keith Hiscock