MEADFOOT

Ahhhh, Meadfoot - many's the student I have taken out for their first open water dive from this favourite training beach! And with good reason too; access is easy, parking is free and the dive itself is a goodun.

Meadfoot is actually my favourite beach in Torbay (for when I'm not getting wet) because it doesn't get too crowded, parking along the road is free (though getting there early helps!) and there is a great beach Café and toilets - all you could want for a family day at the coast. The Cafe opens for breakfast and there's nothing like sitting there watching the sea and eating some fabulous grub.

So, onto the diving; The North side of Torbay has much more in the way of sandy sea-beds, and as such can have some great visibility at times. Meadfoot is a pebble beach but underwater this changes into coarse, then fine sand as you progress further out. On a good day this can give you up to 10m water clarity, though 6-7m is still considered 'good' for here.

Access to the Western (where the beach-huts are) end of the beach is easy, down a gently sloping slipway. You can't use this slip for launching so you will only be sharing space with sunbathers, and anyway the sea only gets to the bottom of it on a big high tide! Many folks use the hard-standing to get kitted up before venturing out over the pebbles, straight out form the slipway. You can enter the water from anywhere along the length of the beach, and the diving experience will be pretty similar but I will talk you through a dive starting here.

Navigation on this site is exceptionally easy. Out is South and back is North - done! From that you can make up any navigational pattern you like. If you are training you may want to leave the surface straight away and gently descend into about 8m of water. Personally I like to swim towards Shag Rock (you can't miss it!) and descend having got about half way out, 150m or so. This will put you into about 8m of water on high tide and amongst some very large rocky outcrops standing in coarse/fine sand.

From here head South towards Shag Rock, but take your time to have a good look around the large outcrops for Crabs and Lobsters. Many of the gullies have overhangs that play host to lots of soft Sponges, Fan Worms, and further out, plenty of Anemones. While you are over the sand watch out for Starfish, Scallops and flat-fish such as Plaice. In the early spring the rocks will be covered in Nudibrancs - on one dive alone I stopped counting at 100! If you want to practice your macro photography this is a great spot.

When I do this dive I allow 1/3rd of my bottom time to take me into deeper water (at most about 12m), and 2/3rds to get me home - it is easy to swim right up onto the beach. On your way back you will cover a lot of ground so keep looking out for Red Mullet, Wrasse and Pollack. Even in the shallow, kelpy rocks look out for those flatties.

If you stay in-shore you will not encounter any currents, but the further towards Shag Rock you get the more movement of the water you will experience. It never really gets so strong as to be a danger, but you may want to amend your navigation to take it into account. On an ebbing tide it will head to the East.

If you are here as a snorkeller, and have reasonable fitness, I would recommend swimming out to Shag Rock itself as there is an abundance of life on the rock's faces and huge beds of muscles amongst some great reef. Watch out for boat traffic out there as you will be outside the 5-knot buoys. An SMB is really recommended unless you are just staying in the shallows.

There may be a possibility of a dip at the Eastern end of Meadfoot where there is another slipway by a small carpark. There is no actual beach here so access is over some very slippery rocks, and to be honest this is a boring site that is shallower and much more kelpy that the other end of the beach. I've snorkelled here on two occasions and have been disappointed on both occasions! If you know different please let me know!

Update: I have spotted a day-fisher boat laying monofilament nets along the whole length of Meadfoot, so if you are down there please keep your eyes peeled. If you are spearing or snorkelling, always have your gun/hand stretched out in front of you so that hits the net first, it could save your life!

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