Swansea, Wales, United Kingdom

Pwll Du Bay

Pwll Du Bay is a quiet pebble-and-sand cove on the south coast of the Gower Peninsula, the United Kingdom's first designated Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. The bay is reached by a footpath from the cliffs above and offers protected shore-diving over a mixed bottom of rock, kelp, pebbles and sand in 4 to 12 metres of water. The headlands flanking the bay drop into rocky reefs cloaked in kelp forests, plumose anemones, dead man's fingers, snakelocks anemones, sponges and pink coralline algae. Resident species include ballan wrasse, corkwing wrasse, pollack, tompot blennies, sand gobies, dragonets, hermit crabs, edible crabs, spider crabs and the occasional cuttlefish or small-spotted catshark. Atlantic grey seals are sometimes seen near the headlands. Visibility ranges from 3 to 8 metres and water temperatures vary between 9 and 17 degrees Celsius. Tidal currents are moderate off the headlands but weak inside the bay. The site is well suited to entry-level shore divers and snorkellers willing to walk in to a quieter location.