Around 8am at Penzance harbour. Still, flat calm and sunny. Two full RIBs pulling away and heading toward the Runnel Stone. Deja vu? But, this time we made it there, the journey punctuated by an encounter with a young basking shark and ending with a pod of common dolphins swimming and leaping around the boats. We dropped a shot and paused to wait for slack. There was enough swell to give the bell of the marker buoy an enthusiatic ringing but nothing like that of recent days. We had time to take in the scene – the Longships lighthouse, sport fishing boats, the theme park on Lands End, and shearwaters, fulmars and gannets skimming by.
The dive didn’t disappoint – the walls of jewel anenomes, groups of bass, a sea trout, enormous anchors and wreckage from long-lost ships were spectacular even in the, by then, subdued light. Once we’d all surfaced we called back to Porthgwarra for a cheeky pasty or cake (or both) and then turned around quickly for dive two in a race against the appalling weather that was forecast.
The second dive was at another iconic Cornish site, the North side of the Longships lighthouse outcrop. The descent was, ahem, challenging – a hand over hand battle down the shot line against a lively current. Some well-anchored kelp lent assistance in pulling ourselves into the lee and there we found a beautiful wall. By the time we surfaced the conditions had changed dramatically – our haste to beat the onrushing winds had been well judged. Two great dives – a fitting climax to a challenging but fulfilling week.
