Cornwall - May 2002

Diving in Cornwall and May Bank Holiday go well together. The weather is usually quite good, the sea cliffs are shrouded in colour and this year we had good neap tides. So hopeful for good diving we booked our places at the St Buryan camping site and travelled down on Friday 3rd May. The plan was to do some adventurous diving and some training dives for our newer members. We weren't disappointed. 

Saturday's overcast conditions allowed some of us to sharpen our diving skills on Gull Rock near Porthcurno. Visibility was good and although a few people were hoping for an early view of a basking shark we had to make do with a seal or two. 

Sunday was sunny and this gave us good diving from Lamorna Cove. The morning's dive was on the Runnelstone - always a favourite. The photo above shows the dive boats jostling for position over the shots as they wait for slack water. Visibility was over 15 metres and this meant that most of us had grandstand views in the water of the City of Westminster as well as being entertained by shoals of pollack. The afternoon dives were around Porthcurno and were arranged to suit a variety of tastes. 

Monday was overcast again with some stronger easterlies. So off to Sennen Cove we went. We had to try the Longships but weather and waves weren't ideal so we dived from the north side of Sennen Cove. This is an excellent site - often forgotten about - with a varied and interesting set of offshore reefs. 

Richard Knights - June 2002