Plymouth, England, United Kingdom

Eddystone Reef

Eddystone Reef is a notorious offshore rock outcrop about 9 nautical miles south south west of Plymouth, marked since 1698 by a succession of lighthouses. The reef has claimed countless ships and offers some of the best offshore diving in the English Channel. Pinnacles, walls and gullies rise from depths of 45 metres or more to within 10 metres of the surface around the active and disused lighthouse stumps. The vertical rock faces are densely covered in jewel anemones, plumose anemones, dead man's fingers, sponges and hydroids, and the area is a known feeding ground for basking sharks and ocean sunfish in late summer. Resident species include ballan wrasse, cuckoo wrasse, pollack, bib, bass, conger eels, lobsters and edible crabs. Visibility frequently reaches 12 to 20 metres in summer because of the offshore location, and water temperatures range from 10 to 17 degrees Celsius. Currents are strong and dives must be timed around slack water. Charter boats run from Plymouth and the site is restricted to advanced divers comfortable with offshore tidal conditions.