Diving Bouley Bay in Jersey
Text by Jeremy Cuff/www.ja-universe.com
Photography by Jeremy & Amanda Cuff/www.ja-universe.com
Type of dive: Shore.
Experience: Great for inexperienced divers, but very interesting for experienced divers.
Depth: Up to 12 – 15 metres depending on tides and where you go.
Marine life: The bay is home to a multitude of marine life.
Visibility: Expect between 2-10 metres.
Seabed: A sloping seabed with varied topography including rocky areas, sandy expanses, ledges, crevices and a stone jetty wall.
Hazards: The occasional boat, steep steps leading down to beach, discarded fishing line, uphill walks back to the dive centre.
Bouley Bay is a lovely scenic bay located on Jersey’s North East coast. Its sheltered position allows for year round diving. On a clear day, you can sit and eat crab sandwiches, a bowl of chips or an omelette from Mad Mary’s Café and see over to the coast of Normandy in mainland France.
The gentle arc of the bay is “interrupted” by a rocky outcrop to the East known as L’Islet, and bounded to the North West by a stone jetty.
Arrival At The Site
Bouley Bay accessed by a steep winding road, characterised by switchbacks and sea views. There’s limited parking for those bringing their own vehicle or hire car, so it’s a good idea to get there early. The “A Roads” on Jersey are more like “B Roads” or even country lanes, so don’t expect to get anywhere quickly!
Pre-Dive Briefing
It’s best to dive Bouley Bay with a guide, so that you can get the most out of a visit. That said, the sheltered and safe conditions mean that most competent buddy pairs could “go it alone” and still find plenty to see.
The main decisions to be made are when to go in (which might be determined by the tide times, as there’s quite a big tidal range here), where to get in, which is normally from either the slipway or from the beach (accessed by some steep steps), and where in the bay you want to go.
It’s a very good idea to take an SMB to indicate your location at all times, as there’s some sporadic boat activity, especially on weekends. It pays to be vigilant, especially if surfacing, where it’s essential to look around and listen for any oblivious boat craft.
The Diving
As the bay is fairly shallow and largely current free, it’s possible to enjoy long dives in Bouley Bay, with the only enemy being the cold after you’ve been in the water for well over an hour. During my visit, I enjoyed a “wow factor” 10m visibility – almost as good as it gets in UK waters.
The Bouley Bay Dive Centre kindly paired me up Kirk Truscott, a massively enthusiastic locally based underwater photographer and veteran of more than 500 dives in the bay alone! His knowledge proved invaluable in making the most out of my two diving days.
Our main plan was to cover the different areas of the bay, ranging from rocky ledges and walls, luxuriant weed and kelp beds, the rock and pebble strewn shallows and the flat sandy expanses (the UK’s best “muck diving” perhaps?). You could thus divide the bay into three main areas for the purposes of description, although in reality, you could easily cover more than a single area on each dive if you so desired, or if time is short.
To the east, L’Islet offers rocky ledges and walls, and is surrounded by kelp and weed beds in season. Towards the middle of the bay are the rock and pebble strewn shallows, the weed beds and the vast sandy expanses further out. To the North West is a rocky and weed covered slope, weed beds and the sheer wall of the stone jetty. If diving in this area, look out for the large discarded anchor.
What To Look Out For
Bouley Bay offers a variety of underwater topography and fascinating marine life encounters for the underwater naturalist. The timing of a visit is key to the types of flora and fauna that will most likely be encountered – for example the winter sees more flatfish, whereas the spring can yield lumpsuckers, cuttlefish and pipefish, with late summer offering the chance of John Dory.
My visit in mid-June was very productive, and would be as good a time as any. Around the ledges of L’Islet, look out for impressive tube worms, and in amongst the weed and kelp beds there’s plenty of wrasse, including some quite hefty specimens. I also noticed the parasitic crustacean Anilocra hitching a ride on some of the wrasse, like something out of Alien.
There’s several species of anemone to check out around the bay, including the tube anemone and the common snakelock anemones, which could sometimes be found growing on kelp. Other invertebrates included numerous spider crabs, hermit crabs, whelks and abundant seahares, a large kind of sea slug. Though not possible to see, lugworms are common judging by the number of casts on the sandy expanses.
Fish fans can expect some interesting and unusual finds in Bouley Bay. As well as the wrasse already mentioned, I observed pollack, bass, dragonets, black gobies, tiny juvenile flatfish (unsure of the species) and the highlights for me, a small thornback ray and a scorpionfish. We even spent time looking for Jersey’s elusive seahorses on a ledge around L’Islet.
Other surprises are also possible. Out of the corner of my eye, I suddenly perceived some unfamiliar form in mid-water close to the slipway. It was a diving Cormorant but it was too fast to photograph!
Although time didn’t allow, night dives are also possible by arrangement, and are reputed to be very good, with the local marine night shift including hunting conger eels, gurnards, cuttlefish and even squid.
Useful PADI Courses
Bouley Bay is an excellent place for inexperienced divers to hone their skills in a largely current free environment, with the Bouley Bay Dive Centre always busy with Open Water certifications, especially on weekends during the summer months. It’s also a good location for practicing the use of a compass and an SMB.
For courses, try;
Open Water
Advanced Open Water (which includes underwater navigation)
Underwater Photographer
Underwater Naturalist
Underwater Navigator
Dive Centre
There’s only one dive centre at Bouley Bay, the friendly and helpful Bouley Bay Dive Centre. It’s located on a walkway just below the Water’s Edge Hotel.
Wider Interest
A visit to Jersey seems more like a foreign trip than a weekend excursion to some part of the coast on the “mainland”. If you’ve got the time, it’s definitely worth spending several days.
We visited Jersey Zoo (now known as simply “Durrell”). It was founded by the pioneering conservationist and author Gerald Durrell whose main objective was to be able to close it! Durrell’s idea of a zoo was not to show animals as “exhibits” but to captive breed rare and threatened species with a view to maintaining viable breeding populations and to facilitate re-introductions to the wild. Sadly, continued environmental decline around the world has ensured that the work of the zoo is never finished, and is perhaps more important now than it ever was.
Fans of laid back living will notice a more continental lifestyle and “café culture” alive and well on Jersey. We liked Gorey for a great selection of bars, cafes and restaurants, and also enjoyed the panoramic views over St. Brelade’s Bay from the popular Crab Shack restaurant.
There’s also some lovely secluded bays such as Greve le Lecq, Plemont Bay and Rozel Bay for days of “getting away from it all”. On a different tack, fans of military history can go back in time at the excellent Mount Orgueil Castle at Gorey, or visit the interesting Jersey War Tunnels which chronicles the tumultuous events on the island during World War II.
BOULEY BAY – WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW
How To Get There
To reach Jersey, we travelled with Condor Ferries on the fast “sea cat” from Weymouth, which takes about 3.5 hours including a stop in Guernsey en route. You can travel with a vehicle or as a foot passenger.
Bouley Bay is located on Jersey’s North East coast. It’s accessed by a steep winding road, with limited parking for those bringing their own vehicle or hire car. For those without their own transport, there’s a bus service from St. Helier, or you can arrange a taxi.
There are also regular ferry services from Poole and Portsmouth, also run by Condor Ferries. For the full timetable and prices, visit www.condorferries.co.uk
Alternatively, it’s possible to fly in from regional UK airports, though most frequently from the south. Divers bringing their own gear may find the baggage allowances insufficient, so check this before making a booking.
Airlines serving Jersey include the following;
BMI Baby – www.bmibaby.com
Easy Jet – www.easyjet.com
Flybe – www.flybe.com
British Airways – www.britishairways.com
Jet2.com – www.jet2.com
Aurigny – www.aurigny.com
There’s a big choice of accommodation in Jersey including bed & breakfast, hotels and self catering apartments.
We chose the Merton Hotel in St. Helier, which is great if you’ve got children, as there’s good swimming pool and an evening kids club (in the summer months) to give the grown ups a break. Go to www.seymourhotels.com/MertonHotel for further information.
If you want to stay at Bouley Bay itself, there’s the Water’s Edge Hotel which offers both hotel and self catering packages – for more information visit www.channelhotels.com/waters-edge-hotel/welcome.html
For more general news, information and travel ideas relating to Jersey, try the following;
www.jersey.com
www.thisisjersey.com
www.jerseytravel.com
When To Go
It’s possible to dive Bouley Bay all year round, though the marine life varies depending on the time of year. If you want a chance of seeing something specific, make sure you do your research and go at the right time of year.
I visited in mid-June, which seemed like as good a time as any.
The winding road to Bouley Bay also hosts a long standing annual “hill climb” event, so make sure your visit doesn’t coincide with this event.
Check out www.jerseymotorsport.com to make sure.
Dive Centre
There’s only one dive centre at Bouley Bay, the friendly and helpful Bouley Bay Dive Centre. It’s located on a walkway just below the Water’s Edge Hotel.
Bouley Bay Dive Centre
The Water’s Edge Hotel
Bouley Bay
Trinity
Jersey JE3 5AS
Channel Islands
Tel: 01534 866990
www.scubadivingjersey.com
For photographers, ask the dive centre if local underwater photographer Kirk Truscott is about, he knows the place inside out.
Expect To Pay
The biggest costs associated with diving Bouley Bay are getting to Jersey by ferry or plane, and the accommodation.
The diving is reasonably priced at £15-20 per dive assuming you bring your own gear, and factor in some cash for fills and snacks.
Quote
“Make no mistake, Bouley Bay is a really good shore dive. In fact, it’s a really good dive. Period.”
Where To Eat & Drink
Most divers warm up with some snacks and beverages from Mad Mary’s café just down from the dive centre, overlooking the bay.
The only other alternative would be to eat in the Water’s Edge Hotel, but you’d probably have to get out of your dive gear before you go in.
Sport Diver Verdict
“Bouley Bay is an excellent shore dive. It’s got a variety of underwater topography to explore, and abundant marine life to discover. Great for divers of all abilities and experience.”