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Swanage, United Kingdom (by David Cumber)
The depth around the pier is not that great. Even on high tide the max depth is 5-6M. With such a shallow dive there is a lot of light penetration, and visibility can be over 5M. Over the sandy bottom, things didn't get stirred up that much, but directly under the pier there is some silt, which when stirred cut visibility to around 2M. This site is extremely busy at the weekend with lots of dive schools running courses. It is so popular due to the shallow depth and the fact there is no current (and only a little bit of surge). With so many divers, the bottom often gets stirred up near the entry/exit points, so getting the right time for the dive is quite important (I always try to wait till the big groups are well into their dives so I miss them on the way out and the way back). The support legs of the pier are heavily covered with seaweed and algae. You also have a few sea squirts on them. On these legs, blennies have also made their homes. If you take your time you can see them poking their heads out for a look. There were several varieties of blennies that I spotted, including one with a golden sprig on its head, which I was told was a mop top blenny. (Check out the accompanying photo).
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Swanage
is based on the south coast of England, approximately 15 miles from Poole
in Dorset. Getting there is quite easy, as there are extensive road connections
to the area. Swanage is a pretty seaside town, with a sandy-beached bay,
with a surrounding sea wall. Lots of pubs in town for food and an after
dive drink. The site I dived was the Pier in Swanage. You can actually
park on the pier, if you get there early enough, which makes it easy for
transporting your dive gear (there is a daily parking charge and even
if you don't park on the pier there is still a small charge for diving
of the pier). There is a café on the pier for a between dive hot drink
and food (at very reasonable prices), and also a dive shop for tank refills
and any equipment you would need. The dive staff was friendly and allowed
anyone to use a fresh water dunk tank to wash your gear after diving.
The Pier is 250-300M is length. There are the remnants of an older pier
running parallel to it with about 100-150M between them. 
The
best way I found to dive the site was to run along the right hand side
of the new pier, when you reach the end, hang a 90-degree right turn.
You can then swim across a sandy bottom to reach the old pier. You can
then cruise back along this to shallow water and the sea wall, and then
back to the base of the new pier. Be cautious of the other side of the
pier, there is boat traffic here. Dive boats leave from the pier for offshore
dives, and dock on the pier platforms. The other side of the pier has
also has a lot of moorings points, so fishing and pleasure boats are also
coming in and out. With such a shallow depth it's not a good idea to be
out there (if you do get out there make sure you take a surface buoy).
You can dive the whole the site in one go, but I dived the site a few
times and have always had enough to see. There are various entry points
for the dive. There are steps that lead down the pier to shallow water,
of only 1M, close to the start of the pier. The alternative is a giant
stride off a couple of platforms further along the pier into deeper water.
Several
types of wrasses are always milling around under the pier. A lot
of marine life shelters under the pier. On one dive there, the area was
covered with really large spider crabs, but returning fours weeks
later I didn't see one! Not sure if the had just be fished out or moved
on, shame because they really added to the dive. As you cross to the sandy
bottom to reach the old pier, you should look out for flounders hiding
in the sand. The old pier is really overgrown now. There is lots of seaweed
and grass. Found a lot of wrasse hiding out in it. Now it would
be easy to think when you have reached the new pier again that the dive
is over, but some of the best marine I saw on my dives, were hiding in
the sea wall. Banded shrimps, red anemones, hidden blennies and small
crabs can be seen on here all the time. I would take a torch with
you as the pier obviously blocks the light. I spent minutes covering just
a few meters of this wall, makes an excellent end to the dive.