Last updated June 2008
Swanage has the pier which is run and maintained by the
Swanage Pier Trust. You can dive under
the pier as well as taking one the various shuttle boats that run from the pier to nearby dive sites
such as the Kyarra which sits at 30m.
Diving under the pier is shallow (<5m) but there is stuff to see - crabs, dragonets, wrasse, tompot blennies to name but a few - and it is sheltered. It provides a good introduction to sea diving for trainees and newly qualified divers. It's also a good night dive. The pier has a dive shop & filling station on it so air fills are no problem.
Details on the shuttle boats, where they go and how much they cost can be found on their various web sites:
There is also other diving nearby at Kimmeridge and Weymouth.
The 215 mile journey to Swanage from Ipswich takes about 5 1/2 hours (with some delays). The route is basically A12/M25/M3/M27/A31 and then a variety of options in getting from the A31 down to Swanage. The journey time is obviously influenced by traffic conditions on the M25/M3/A31 which can be bad on popular weekends.
In the past we've stayed in static Caravans near Lulworth Cove. This is kind of mid-way between Swanage and Weymouth. For just diving at Swanage we stayed at the Woodhyde camp site just past Corfe Castle on the A351 Swanage Road. This was fine and costs were £5 per person per night. It takes under 15 minutes to get from the camp site to Swanage Pier. You pay for your stay at the on-site shop, but this is only open from 9am-10am and 5pm-6pm. If you arrive outside of those times you just pitch your tent and pay when you can. We were good citizens and pitched our tents close to the shop (and exit from the field) to minimise the distturbance to other campers when we left early in the morning.
The pier car park shuts at 6pm so on Saturday you can plan to get back to the camp site before the shop shuts and pay for your stay - leave the pier by 5.30pm. Supposedly you have to be gone by midday on your last day, but Sunday is the day when most people are headed home and the camp site had no problem with our packing up our tents ~2.30pm after we'd finished our day's diving.
A word of warning: On the track to the campsite, just before you reach it, you pass under the Swanage railway line. The minibus easily fits under the bridge but you only have a few inches clearance either side of the wing mirrors!
If you are thirsty and have no designated driver it's just over a mile to walk from the campsite to the pub in Corfe Castle.
There is long term parking on the pier. You really really want to park on the pier. The alternative is a car park on the hill above the pier. You do not want to be moving diving gear between that car park and the pier. Parking on the pier is limited and popular so you need to get there early. The pier opens at 7am on weekends during the summer. In June 2008 we arrived at the pier around 7.15am (thinking it opened at 8am). On the Saturday the car park was ~1/3 full at this time so we decided to turn up at the same time on Sunday. On the Sunday it was over 3/4 full at that time and we ended up tucked in by the Ladies loos at the entry gate.
Parking costs £6 for the day and there is a charge of £2 for each diver. (Walkers are charged £1 for entry to the pier). In the past we've joined the queue at 6:30am. It is well worth getting up early to ensure the Minibus (or the vehicle with all the dive gear) is parked on the pier.
Where ever you end up parked on the pier there are trolleys available that you can use to get your dive gear between your vehicle and your entry/exit point. Just grab hold of an empty one when you need it. There appeared to be sufficient numbers of them as we always found an empty one when we needed one. Macho divers will of course scorn the use of such an accessory!
The pier is close to the town centre so, having got up early to get your parking space on the pier, a couple of minutes walk will take you to a breakfast bar (opens at 7am) for your cooked breakfast and teas/coffees.
There is a small shop on the pier that opens between 9am and 5pm that can provide teas, coffees, sausage rolls, pasties etc.
Other restaurants/cafes/fish & chip shops can be found close by in the town.
The pier is generally divable at any time, but low tide gives you even less depth and makes entry and exit more of a rock scramble. In June 2008 (low water 6.30am/7.20am) we did our first dive of the day about two-and-a-half hours after low water.
In view of the above the usual dive plan is to stick under the pier. A gentle pootle down the length of the pier and back can occupy 40 minutes.
An alternative dive is the old pier, but we didn't try that this year. The "Divers Down" boat runs from a pontoon close to it so you should either reach the old pier with a surface swim or use an SMB. It is essential to use an SMB if you dive outside of either pier.
Entry/ExitThere are two main entry/exit points:
You would think it would be easy, but it is possible to become disoriented, especially at the seaward end of the pier where the structure is much wider. It gets dark under there and you lose sight of the sun (if it's out!). There are three things that can help you:
