Similar prevailing wind conditions meant that Wednesday was devoted to a day off for many of us. One party began the day with a run up and down the hills in torrential rain. Others used more conventional transport to explore the area.
One boat returned in the afternoon to the Alice Marie and enjoyed a large group of pollack on the shot line, the resident conger eel and numerous edible crabs in bright sunshine.
Thursday morning started early to catch the slack tide. In a by now familiar pattern the boats headed toward Lands End with an air of optimism, which was again ended by large swells offshore. Instead we nestled inshore and made a second visit of the week to Rory’s Bluff. The addition of the sun and absence of Sunday’strong currents made for a great dive around enormous boulders and gullies; life was abundant and visibility was generally very good. Jolie poked a spider crab that was missing several limbs and being devoured by a couple of starfish to confirm that it was dead (or was it just really bad at running away to a degree that would win it the Darwin award for crustacea?).
We anchored the boats in the bay at Porthgwarra to stop off at the cafe there for elevensis, twelvesis and onesis – a luxuriously long surface interval in which to snooze, dry, eat pasties and ice cream and, ironically, annoy some German tourists by our mass presence on the picnic tables. Colin’s snoring, usually only enjoyed by those sharing his accommodation, made a cameo apperance.
As we waded back out to the boats a couple of fox cubs frolicked (or did they gambol?) across the beach, leading us to remark how much more endearing they are when not emptying the contents of your bins over a London pavement. We returned to harbour via the day’s second site, The Bucks – two twinned rocks breaking the surface and flanked by a rather beautiful wall, covered with jewel anenomes and inhabited by squat lobsters and numerous fish.
After putting the boats to bed, with a friendly neap tide sparing Neil an encore demonstration of his upper body strength, John returned his car to its customary parking space at the pub and we then ended the day with another fine example of home cooking (during which Colin, referring to navigation on past dive trip, stated that “I had trouble getting out of the bar”).
