Plymouth, England, United Kingdom

Mewstone Ledges

The Mewstone Ledges are a series of rocky reefs and gullies running south from the distinctive Mewstone islet at the mouth of the River Yealm, just east of Plymouth Sound. The site is a popular intermediate dive offering varied topography from boulder fields and kelp forests in the shallows to clean rock walls and sand-bottomed gullies down to 18 metres. The ledges are densely encrusted with jewel anemones, plumose anemones, dead man's fingers, sponges, hydroids and pink encrusting coralline algae, while kelp forests of Laminaria hyperborea blanket the upper reef. Resident fish include ballan wrasse, cuckoo wrasse, corkwing wrasse, pollack, bib, conger eels and tompot blennies. Lobsters, edible crabs, spider crabs and the occasional cuttlefish are common. Visibility ranges from 4 to 10 metres in summer and water temperatures vary from 9 to 17 degrees Celsius. Currents are moderate, and the site is dived from Plymouth charter boats around slack water. The Mewstone is well suited to AOWD divers building experience in the English Channel.