Activities in Dorset
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Bournemouth Surf School
Bournemouth Surf School operates from the beach just east of Bournemouth Pier and runs surf lessons and half-day bodyboarding sessions.
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Artificial Surf Reef
Bournemouth has been busy building itself an artificial surf reef - the first one in Europe. It involves 60m-long sausage-shaped bags being lowered into the sea just east of Boscombe Pier, then being pumped full of 1000 tonnes of sand. The aim is to produce heavy-breaking, barrelling 3m waves - a challenging ride.
The accompanying around £8 million redevelopment at Boscombe Spa Village is set to add a new wave of surf shops and restaurants to the mix.
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Dorset Belle Cruises
Between April and September Dorset Belle Cruises operates a range of trips from Bournemouth Pier. The pick is a 2½-hour cruise (two to three daily) to the sheer white chalk cliffs at Old Harry - the start of the Jurassic Coast. It also runs ferries to Swanage (one to three daily), Poole (one to two daily) and Brownsea Island (two to four daily).
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Bournemouth Eye
Tucked into the Pleasure Gardens is the Bournemouth Eye. Some say a trip in this hot air-balloon cures vertigo. As ascents to 150m last only about 15 minutes, at least you'll find out fast if they're right. The views from the top encompass 25 miles and are amazing.
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Brownsea Island Ferries
Brownsea Island Ferries runs boats to Sandbanks from Poole Quay and cruises along the coast; look out for the Old Harry Rocks trip. These limestone stacks have been separated from each other by sea erosion and signal the start of the Jurassic Coast.
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Timewalk
The red-brick Brewer's Quay has a shopping centre as well as Timewalk, a sensory journey through the sights, sound and smells of Weymouth's history from the Black Death and the Spanish Armada to a Georgian ballroom.
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Fossil Walks
Fossil fever is catching - even for those with no previous palaeontologic tendencies. Regular fossil walks are run by Dinosaurland Fossil Museum and the Town Museum in the summer.
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Deep Sea Adventure
Deep Sea Adventure uses models and computer games to detail the history of diving. To stop it getting too serious there's a kids' play area and laser shootout zone.
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White Motor Boats
This wind-blown, 40-minute jaunt crosses Portland Harbour's vast Olympic sailing waters, before dropping you off at Portland Castle. Boats leave from Cove Row on Weymouth Harbour.
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Kayaks
Around Bournemouth Pier you can be part of centuries of tradition and hire beach chalets, deck chairs, windbreaks and parasols, as well as sit-on-board kayaks .
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FC Watersports Academy
FC Watersports Academy hires kayaks and sailing dinghies. It also runs windsurfing tuition, kitesurfing classes and a two-day starter sailing course.
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Dr Colin Dawes Fossil Walks
Pitch up for a fossil walk led by Dr Colin Dawes, meet at the Old Forge Fossil Shop in Broad Street. They last about 2½ hours.
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Absolute Aqua
You can cling to a jet ski with Absolute Aqua from around £140 a day.
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H2O Sports
H2O Sports offers courses in windsurfing and power-kiting.
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Moonfleet
Sailing courses at Moonfleet include those for beginners.
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Surface2Air
Try to wakeboard with Surface2Air.
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Undercliff
This wildly undulating, 304-hectare nature reserve just west of Lyme, was formed by massive landslides. One, in 1839, saw an immense section of cliffs weighing 8 million tonnes slide part-way towards the sea, creating a deep chasm. Today the reserve's slipped cliffs, fissures and ridges are smothered in dense vegetation, exposed tree roots and tangles of brambles.
The 8-mile hike between Lyme Regis and Axmouth takes an arduous four hours, alternatively walk the first mile of the reserve from the Lyme Regis end; the chalk-white bulk of Pinhay Cliffs makes a handy point to double back.
The Undercliff starts a mile west of central Lyme Regis; follow footpath signs from…
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Rib Experience
Dorset's extraordinary World Heritage Jurassic Coast starts some 5 miles west of Bournemouth at the Old Harry Rocks. These spray-dashed, 40-minute trips aboard 8m rigid inflatable boats blast past Sandbanks and across the mouth of Poole Harbour, providing up-close views of the chalky columns. The stacks used to be massive arches before erosion brought the tops tumbling down – huge scooped-out sections of cliff clearly show how the sea begins the erosion process.
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Beach Pods
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Watersports Academy
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Sorted Surf School
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Pool Harbour Watersports
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Lyme Regis Museum Walks
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FC Watersports
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East Cliff Lift Railway
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