West Bay Dive Sites
West Bay is where we usually dive on a Friday evening, and fish and chips usually follow it. Parking is possible right by the slipway in the small car park.
High Ground
- Type: Reef
- Max depth: 12m
- Level: Sports diver
This is a shallow reef featuring a 3m cliff wall that drops down to a boulder field, with overhangs and small caves sheltering blennies, crabs and other life tucked into the rock. Beyond the boulders, the seabed gives way to rippled sand, adding variety to the dive. An excellent site for newer divers or as a relaxed second dive.
Baygitano
- Type: Wreck
- Max depth: 20m
- Level: Sports diver
A 3,073-ton British steam collier built in 1905, torpedoed without warning by UC-77 on 18 March 1918 while 1½ miles SW of Lyme Regis. The scattered wreck lies around 20m and is renowned for the sheer density of fish life, including huge shoals of bib and pollock, part like curtains as you descend, with conger eels lurking deep in the wreckage.
Read our reports of diving here:
Saw Tooth Ledges
- Type: Reef
- Max depth: 18m
- Level: Sports diver
A distinctive reef site named for its jagged, angular rock formations, with deep gullies dropping to a sandy seabed. Notably rich in sunset corals, the complex topography provides shelter for a wide variety of marine life. An excellent second dive option, regularly paired with the Baygitano.
Read our reports of diving here:
East Tennants Reef
- Type: Reef
- Max depth: 20m
- Level: Sports diver
A rocky reef system in the shallower reaches of Lyme Bay, featuring rugged gullies and ledges that harbour crabs, lobsters, nudibranchs and abundant wrasse. Popular as a second dive and well-suited to newer divers, the site offers rewarding exploration without the depth demands of the nearby wrecks.
West Tennants
- Type: Reef
- Max depth: 22m
- Level: Sports diver
A large reef covering an extensive area of rocky ground and gullies, with the highlight being a rock plateau carpeted in pink fan corals. Marine life is prolific here, with crabs, lobsters, starfish, wrasse, pollock, nudibranchs, bass, blennies and gobies all regularly encountered.
St Dunstan
- Type: Wreck
- Max depth: 29m
- Level: Sports diver with depth progression
Originally a bucket dredger built in 1894, St Dunstan was requisitioned as a minesweeper and lost on 23 September 1917, likely to a mine. Today, the bow lies upside down, the stern is twisted back to starboard, and the bucket line and chain gear are spread across the seabed. Attracts considerable fish life.
Landrail
- Type: Wreck
- Max depth: 31m
- Level: Advanced
HMS Landrail was towed into West Bay and used as a naval gunnery target by the Channel Fleet, struck by 12-inch shells from battleships, including HMS Exmouth and HMS Caesar. She sank while under tow back to Portland and now lies in two sections, orientated north–south in 31m.
Gibel Hamon
- Type: Wreck
- Max depth: 32m
- Level: Advanced
A coal-powered steamship was sunk by German submarine UB-104 while on a voyage from Swansea to France. The bow sits upright on a silty seabed while the stern lies over with a heavy list to starboard, slightly deeper. The two sections of hull standing clear of the seabed make for an atmospheric dive, with plenty of marine life colonising the structure.
Pomeranian
- Type: Wreck
- Max depth: 33m
- Level: Advanced
Sunk on 15 April 1918, the same date as the Ailsa Craig, the Pomeranian now rests on her starboard side on a mixed rock and sand seabed in 33m, roughly 16 miles from Weymouth. A well-preserved wreck profile offering good visibility and diverse marine life along the hull.
Ailsa Craig
- Type: Wreck
- Max depth: 35m
- Level: Advanced
A 705-tonne steam collier launched in 1906 and torpedoed by UB-80 at 7.10 am on 15 April 1918, the same morning as the Pomeranian, while carrying coal from Cardiff to Granville. The torpedo struck the starboard side and ripped out the keel, sinking the vessel within five minutes. The wreck sits in 35m and is typically covered in fish life.
HMS Sidon
- Type: Submarine
- Max depth: 36m
- Level: Advanced
An S-class Royal Navy submarine that sank in Portland Harbour on 16 June 1955 after an experimental HTP-fuelled torpedo exploded in her forward tubes, killing 13 men. Raised, declared beyond repair and deliberately scuttled west of Portland as a sonar target, she now lies upright and largely intact in 36m. The many holes in her casing attract abundant fish life, and the view up to the dive boat from the conning tower is unforgettable.
Moidart
- Type: Wreck
- Max depth: 35m
- Level: Advanced
A Victorian steamship was blown in two by UC-77’s torpedo, which detonated just aft of the engine room. The forward section lies upright, with a raised forecastle, cargo winches, mast and spare anchor visible on deck. The stern section lies to port, connected by a debris trail. Excellent structural interest with consistently good fish life around the boilers at 33–35m.
Salsette
- Type: Wreck
- Max depth: 45m
- Level: Techincal
Widely regarded as one of the finest wreck dives in the UK, the P&O express liner SS Salsette was torpedoed by UB-40 on 20 July 1917 and sank 10 miles west of Portland Bill in 45m. The 134m-long hull rests at 45 degrees to port, largely intact, with the starboard railings at 32m.
