Safety at Charmouth Beach

Charmouth is a dynamic beach with shifting sands, stones and strong side tides and an undercurrent.

All beach users: Always know if the tide is coming in and going out and how high it will be as this changes. 

Hazards for kayaking and paddleboarding: beware of sharp rocks in the water, especially during low tide – there are lots either side of the river mouth and scattered along the coastline. Check wind speed and directions, if the water is very flat, it can often mean strong offshore winds which can carry you out on inflatables

All water users: There are also many pockets of deep water, some close to very shallow water. It can be very hard to paddle or swim against an outgoing tide even for experienced water users. Avoid entering the sea at the river mouth as it can cause RIP currents. Swimming is safest off the sandy beach in front of the promenade - avoid swimming in the river due to poor water quality 

Rough diagram of the rocky areas on the West side. This is similar on both sides of the river.

The buoys are there to help protect water users from boats going to close to shore. There will be some boats coming and going that have permission to moor at Charmouth.

Water quality at the river can be poor –for latest data on bacterial levels go to riverchar.org/isitsafe