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Dorset Underwater

Disabled Ocean Advocate Snorkelling Along Our Dorset Coast Raising Awareness and Litter Picking. Seen on the BBC/Echo/Dorset Life.

Author of "Snorkel Dorset" I give talks to schools/clubs/events.

06/09/2026

It's Share Sunday!

Did you know that Coldplay have a record made out of recycled plastic?

Today (after another evening spent rescuing crab nets, plastic and rehomed Smoke on the Water's glass here in SwanageI thought I'd share an insight to the work of the incredible organisation called The Ocean Cleanup 💙

Who else loves what they achieve worldwide?

05/09/2026

"Small, Spectacular and Wonderfully Weird"

Meet a Warty Doris Nudibranch! This incredible little slug was first sighted in the Solent in November 23 by a volunteer with the Hampshire and Isle of Wight Wildlife Trust and then seen in Studland a year later. I bumped into it last summer near to Old Harry's Rock thinking that it was a Sea Lemon, but the bumps told me that it was something different.

Both Seasearch and Dorset Wildlife Trust were amazing, helping me to confirm that it was the newly arrived Warty Doris which is usually sighted in the Mediterranean 😳

They are a soft-bodied marine mollusk, growing to between 30-70 mms. They breathe through the feathery gills which you can see here at their rear and they use their tentacles to sense food. Their tentacles at the front are called rhinopores and are used to detect food and friends as well as trails. They retract these when they sense danger.

They love a good munch on a sponge. Did you know that they're hermaphrodites meaning that after they mate, each individual will lay it's own Eggcase which looks like a lace doily and will be the colour of the sponge they've been eating. Each Eggcase can have thousands of microscopic capsules which can hatch anywhere between a few days to a few weeks depending on the water temperature. These larvae float along before settling and starting their own cycle.

Last week the National Trust Brownsea Island spotted them and they've also now been spotted in Devon. And they can now regularly be spotted under Swanage Pier often holding hands 🥰

Have you seen one?

04/09/2026

The Great Nurdle Hunt starts today 🙌

Ok so every day can be a nurdle hunt for us nurdle lovers, but what is a nurdle and how does it get into our seas?

A Nurdle is a tiny plastic pellet which is used to create plastic products. They are tiny, measuring up to 5 mms, and billions escape into the ocean during production and transport after production making them a huge pollution problem. Even worse is that animals will mistake them for food, putting them in danger too.

From today until 4th October, everyone is encouraged to join a hunt. You can create your own or join one next Saturday 12th with Weymouth & Portland Marine Litter Project at Weymouth's Waterfest event, or one at Kimmeridge Bay on 26th September. I'll be hunting these little pests down daily at either Swanage and Sandbanks so if you'd like to join me, just let me know.

Have you found any? I'd love to hear your stories.

Have a lovely day - Maria x

02/09/2026

"Wild World Beneath the Waves"

Have you ever wondered what's beyond the famous shingle of Chesil Beach?

I'm just a tiny bit in love with it's swaying kelp forests, shimmering fish and sunlight dancing in the midst.

Every snorkel here gives the gift of something new 💙

31/08/2026

"Meet An Underwater Sea Serpent"

Conger Eels may look scary but they are an important part to everyday reef life. Often hiding in rocks and crevices, they're the masters of hide and seek.

Larger ones are females with males being much smaller, about 15 kgs.

They can live for up to 40 years and at the end of their lives, will return to the Atlantic to spawn before going to the Eel Rainbow Bridge. Their larvae will then drift back to European Waters to start the next generation.

How amazing is that?

Ps. They love an octopus for a snack too 🐙

30/08/2026

Happy Whale Shark Day!

Don't worry, even though our seas are warming, hopefully you won't see one here on our coast just yet unless it's a cardboard one from my studio 😃

But it has been such a fab weekend welcoming guests, both local and from the US, chatting oceans, showing what marine life we can find on our beach, help a young boy with snorkelling tips for his Red Sea Holiday, another with a dream to be a Marine Biologist showing him a hunting cuttlefish.

Plus today the youngsters made their own ocean fridge magnets, dolphins, sea stars and the most colourful seahorse whilst chatting all things marine and watching Ocean TV 💙

And of course we learnt about whale sharks too 🙌

The hughest thank you to everyone who's popped by 🙏. What a dream ☺️.

Don't forget I can come to your school, club, event or even care home if you'd like me to bring the ocean to you 🌊🐳🦈 - Maria x

28/08/2026

"Did you know Weymouth Harbour has Seahorses?" 😳

I definitely didn't! And never ever did I think that I'd be using the fishing net I found in the sea in Swanage to help clean Weymouth Harbour today but here I was, plus I found a pink one!

Yesterday saw me take a ghost net and crabbing nets/reels from Swanage over to the brilliant team of Weymouth & Portland Marine Litter Project and whilst I was there I checked another area. Today was another mission back to sort it out , giving the small beach a needed spring clean and scooped up more fishing and crabbing plastic and Californian Squid cardboard, 2 dummies, single use soy sauce bottles, plastic sachets and bottles, bottle tops, a super cute hippo, Kermit the frog, tweezers and much more plus even a lip firmer 😳 before popping lost beach finds from Bowleaze into the new collection box on Weymouth Beach.

The hughest thank you goes to the lovely team of "Treasured Finds" on the beach for a bag and the best ice-cream ever and to the brilliant Weymouth Ferry team for their help in getting me across the harbour 🙌. They even told me that they'd seen 2 seahorses recently with a third sighted by a yacht also in the harbour ☺️

I'm not funded and do all my ocean work for passion so for them to help me was super appreciated ☺️

See you soon Weymouth 🙌

26/08/2026

"Nature's Underwater Tornado"

Today was one of those unforgettable moments where everything moves at once. From birds feeding from above to thousands of fish twirling, twisting and turning with pollack darting through it all to snack.

Pure chaos, pure magic ☺️

21/08/2026

"Anyone Lost their Jack Daniel's"

Yesterday saw me head back to check my local bay for underwater litter. Yes, it looked spotless from above, but within minutes a pepper sachet came flying past me under Swanage Pier 😳

A quick check at Stone Quay saw me find some fishing line caught up in the seaweed, rehome a Peppa Pig Dummy 🤣 and just a few random bits of plastic, paper and just one crabbing bait bag 🙌. The hughest thank you to the young girl who said some lovely kind words to make me smile 🙌

It may only be a small, but just one of these could potentially injure our marine life 🐟🐠🦈🐋

Have a good day all of you x

Address

The Ocean Studio, 5 Daisy Mays Arcade, 2 Kings Road East

BH19

Opening Hours

Monday	11:00 - 16:00
Saturday	11:00 - 16:00
Sunday	11:00 - 16:00

Telephone

07901395807

Website

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m002pb00?partner=uk.co.bbc&origin=share-mobile, http://www.oceanvisionsphotography.co.

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