Coasteering is movement along the intertidal zone of a rocky coastline on foot or by swimming, without the aid of boats, surf boards or other craft. Coasteering allows a person to move in the “impact zone” between a body of water and the coast where waves, tides, wind, rocks, cliffs, gullies, and caves come together. The term was used by John Cleare as the combination of the words "mountaineering" and "coast" and was stolen by Andy Middleton in Wales in 1985, who then made it a business idea. History Although all aspects of coasteering have been informally practised by people for a very long time, if only as a means of access to a cut-off cove beyond a headland, the term appears first to have been used in 1973. In the book Sea Cliff Climbing, John Cleare and Robin Collomb said "A few enthusiasts believe that coasteering will become popular and has a big future". In 1985, it emerged as a commercially guided recreational activity initially along the cliff coastline of St.Davids in Pembrokeshire in Wales. By the mid 1990s write-ups started appearing in the travel/recreational pages of the newspapers showing that several commercial companies were offering such activity. The activity then spread to all regions of the UK where there are suitable rocky coasts, including Cornwall, Pembrokeshire, Anglesey and the Highlands and Isles of Scotland. The advisory organisation for coasteering in the UK is the National Coasteering Charter (NCC). In the UK the activity is recognized by the Adventure Activities Licensing Authority which is a department of the Health and Safety Executive. Activities Coasteering may include all or some of the following activities: Swimming or Adventure Swimming: These activities can occur in calm, rough or white water; and/or tidal currents. Dressing for swimming in the sea (wetsuits, buoyancy aids etc.) is often an integral part of Coasteering; even on routes where it is possible to stay dry. A route, or activity, where the group start out with the intention of staying dry - whether through route choice or the use of ropes and harnesses - would not usually be considered as coasteering but sea level traversing, which is usually a dry pursuit. Climbing, scrambling: The very nature of the coastline that is needed for coasteering demands aspects of these activities. Ropes, as security on rock, are not used. Any climbing activity usually takes place above deep water, with safety