Princess Pier Jetty
Torquay’s Harbour is both a busy leisure marina and working port for passenger ferries and trawlermen. So in theory us underwater-users should be staying well away from the picturesque piers that encompass the harbour itself because of the high levels of boat traffic that use the harbour and immediate waters.
And normally I’d be urging you to stay well away… but unfortunately there happens to be two very interesting dive sites smack-bang where the harbour is! All water users have to take extreme caution around all harbours, but kayaks or boats working as surface cover for divers or snorkellers have extra reason to be alert and more importantly very visible to other boat users.
In the summer the yellow 5 knot buoys mark out in-shore areas where boat traffic is restricted to doing 5 knots at most, but in the winter season the little ‘protection’ they offer is gone.
So if you are going to visit either of two sites you must bear in mind the dangers of boat traffic, fishermen angling from the piers and the harbour master who may not take kindly if you are making a nuisance of yourself!
Princess Pier Jetty
This has to be the most surprising site in Torbay. And honestly, who would have though that diving on an old jetty so far into the bay in 6m of water would reveal such an amazing wealth of life?
A number of years ago this wooden jetty was condemned by the local council and was subsequently fenced off from public access and the ferry re-routed to the inside of the harbour wall. It is easy to locate; Princess Pier is the longest pier of Torquay harbour and the jetty is located half-way along at the ‘elbow’ of the pier.
Accessing this spot is more problematic than most in the bay. It is possible to park along Torre Abbey Meadows but that gives you a ½ mile walk (or a 1/3 mile swim if you’re fit enough) or using the Pavilion shopping carpark will give a similar walk. Kayak launching is possible from Torre Abbey beach (though parking restrictions are in place), Livermead beach (very limited, but unrestricted parking) or Meadfoot which has plenty of free parking. They will give you a 1/3 mile, 2/3 mile and 1.3 mile paddles respectively.
If you are paddling from Meadfoot please be very careful crossing the mouth of the harbour and give all the fishermen on the pier a wide berth.
The site itself is simply stunning but you do have to be very careful to watch all the overhead obstructions and more importantly keep a very close eye out for snagged ropes and nets caught in the structures of the jetty.
Once you have entered the water or tied up your kayak you can make your own way around the legs of the jetty. It’s a small site, but I lost count at 30 wooden legs and 20 steel ones so there is plenty of real-estate for life to cling to. And boy is there plenty of life here! The inner, metal pilings are favoured by some very healthy Dead Men’s Fingers colonies with plenty of encrusting sponges growing in-between. The wall of the pier itself has some fabulous, large Common Boring Sponges and plenty of Beadlett Anemones too.
The metal legs further in-shore are home to some amazing aggregations of Jewel Anemones, which for photographers are very easily accessible, and the odd large Plumose Anemone can be found here too. Interestingly it looks like the Plumose Anemones haven’t been here long because you can see some tiny offspring anemones just starting the job of colonisation here. Dozens of Sea Lemon Nundibranchs mate here in the winter/spring and a host of small cousins of theirs can also be found by the eagle-eyed.
There are plenty of Velvet Swimmer Crabs on the pilings and sandy sea-bed, with a few small Eddible Crabs in some of the holes in the concrete pier itself. The usual array of highly entertaining Hermit Crabs scurry around the place, and Shore Crabs can be found buried in the sand next to some Burrowing Anemones (Cerianthus lloydi).
The most surprising find here is two or three very large Dahlia Anemones to be spotted on the vertical faces of the northern wooden jetty legs, and on the west facing legs quite a few Snakelocks Anemones too.
In the summer amounts of kelp grow on the upper reaches of the legs, and amongst them can be found 15 Spined Sticklebacks alongside the usual UK Wrasse species.
For some simply stunning sun-burst images here, you photographers will need to wait until the afternoon when the sun will be in the western half of the sky and shining through the submerged superstructure.
PLEASE be careful here, both to look after yourself but also after the marine wildlife here. This is not an often visited site and as such the life is prolific – please keep it that way!