Broadsands

Here's a real easy kayak/snorkel trip for you. And one that you can do on a family day out to the beach! Broadsands is a large, safe shallow sandy bay to the south of Paignton. It has ample parking close to the beach, toilets, shops and no nasty currents in the water. Near by there is a great crazy golf course too.

This, as far as I'm aware, is completely overlooked as a potential dive site, mainly because of that lovely flat shallow sand I just mentioned. As ever I was keen to go and see for myself, and having visited this site many times over the past couple of years I have really gotten to enjoy being here. There are a couple things you can do here so I'll run you through both of them and you can take your pick.

Firstly, using this beach as a base for your kayak is great - apart from having to walk over the big expanse of sand left at low tide! Venturing out to the 5 knot buoys will give you about 9m of water on a high and 5m of water on a low tide. Being this far out there is more life in the sandy sea bed as it is more sheltered from wave action. In fact using the anchor chain of the buoy is a great place to start exploring the sand.

This isn't one of Torbay's highest energy marine eco-systems, but there is plenty of life hidden in the sand just waiting to be discovered. Dotted around the place there are many large specimens of the various sand dwelling Anemones we get in the UK, and battling it out for territory are plenty of Masked Crabs and Hermit Crabs. Occasionally you will encounter a small rock, around which will be a mini city of small macro-marine life and well worth settling down to have a look at. Get ready to focus on some really small critters though.

Never forget to look up because these warm shallow waters are home to many jellyfish in the summer months, and it is a real treat to be able to swim with them as they gently pass through doing what-ever it is jellyfish do!

If you're out by the anchor chain of the 5 knot buoys, take some time to see what's taken up residence here too. The older chains are covered in Mussels, Sea Squirts and seaweed. The odd Nudibranch may be lurking there too. Talking of the 5 knot buoys, they are there for a reason but sadly many boat owners are completely unaware of what they mean. On the shore-side of these bright yellow, very-hard-to-miss, markers you are not meant to go faster than 5 knots. However is isn't unusual for people to water-ski well inside the markers so an SMB is essential.

I have been forced to retreat to my anchor line before now and to surface right by my kayak by a jet-ski owner being inquisitive... and no, they didn't know what the diver's A-flag meant.

The alternative to using a kayak is simply to snorkel off the shore. This will take you over some of Torbay's sea-grass beds and the largest aggregation of Snakelocks Anemones I have ever seen. Walk along the footpath to the right (southern end) of the beach, past the beach huts and head straight out towards the bench at the end of the sea-wall. Don't go through the gate to the right.

Walk over the rocks into the water and swim directly out (North East) for about 100yards. If the vis is good you'll see the green sea grass beds appearing in the sand. A word of warning here: sea grass is very delicate and you should watch your buoyancy and fins while swimming over it! It is a very important habitat and easily damaged by careless divers and boat owners.

Once in the sea grass you can expect to see masses of Nudibranchs in early/mid summer, Hermit Crabs, Edible Crabs, Cuttlefish and perhaps the odd flatty too. Pipefish are a common sight here, and if you're really, really, really lucky you might just see a Seahorse. Though these are extremely rare and very hard to spot so your chances aren't great!

Aim round the headland to the south-east of where you are, and get in amongst the rocks for the chance to swim with bait fish such as sand-eel, and you may be treated to seeing Mackerel shoaling on the surface to feed. Bass are regulars amongst the bootlace weed and there are plenty of shallow-water species to be seen. In essence here you are in one big rock pool. Moving further along the coast towards Elbury Cove, past Churston Point you will come across a shallow (about 7m) rock area that is literally covered with Snakelocks Anemones. It really is a sight to be amazed at, and spend some time looking for Leech's Spider Crabs and Velvet Swimmer Crabs here too.

DO NOT get too close to Elbury Cove as this has been designated as a water-ski lane and is buoyed off as such. There isn't much there to tempt you anyway, just a sandy/rocky/weedy sea-bed.

At any point that you want to get out and walk back to Broadsands the rocks are quite friendly and don't offer too much of a challenge. Early morning snorkellers might have to watch out for fishermen if the tide is up and the weather calm. If you can see the surface of the sea 'boiling', you know you're in for a treat as this means the Mackerel or Bass have chased the bait-fish up to the surface. Have fun!

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