Divers ready to go on the pontoon at Falmouth
On May 4th, 2024, thirteen members of Reading BSAC headed down to Cornwall for a week’s diving at the most southerly place in Britain. This is an annual club Easter trip, but this year it was rearranged to May due to an early Easter.
We stayed in Caravans at Sea Acres in Kuggar. The caravans boasted fantastic views of the Atlantic and a short walk to the beach.
On the Sunday morning, we drove the 40 minutes to Falmouth harbour. We launched the two club RIBS which had been towed down from Reading.
Our adventures began at St Anthony’s lighthouse as the wind would not let us get further afield. St. Anthony Lighthouse was built by Trinity House in 1835 at the eastern entrance to Falmouth Harbour, guiding vessels clear of the Manacles. This was a shallow dive 6-7m and sandy bottom. As this was many divers first sea dive of the year, it was a useful dive to get comfortable in the water again. We spotted moon snails and crabs. On the surface we refuelled on Sue’s famous sausage rolls and tucked into the boat’s nuts/sweet pots.
Of an evening, we gathered at the pub for tasty food and discussion on what we had seen that day. Neil had kindly booked pubs for every evening of the week.
On Monday, the sun was out, and it remained out for the rest of the week. The first dive was the Hera, an 85m four-mastered German steel Barque, sunk in 1914. The wreck was full of marine life. Cuttlefish, Octopus, an exceptionally large lobster, Nudibranchs, Pollocks and many more fish. The water temperature was 11 degrees with great visibility at 16m max depth.
Dinner on the last night
After lunch we dived the Bizzes. This is a series of gullies, ridges, and pinnacles, covered with the soft coral Dead Man’s Fingers.
On Tuesday we dived the Volnay. This is the wreck of a steamship that sunk while transporting ammunition and luxury goods. We had good conditions, decent visibility and a little current. The marine life around this wreck includes Cuckoo wrasse, Sea urchins and lots of Crayfish. During the dive we found lead balls from the artillery shells which the ship was carrying.
The afternoon dive was a drift dive on The Narrows. Many divers collected Scallops. Later in the week Bernard did a wonderful job cooking these up for some hungry divers.
Wednesday morning started with a strong mist, but the sun was soon out. The first dive was on The Whelps, a reef system near Gull rock. This dive drops off quite sharply to depths of 25-30m via a series of deep gullies and Plateaux. We marvelled at fan corals and dead men’s finger, crayfish, dogfish, spider crabs and lots of fish life. The second dive was a drift at Killigerran Head.
Thursday was another sunny day but with more wind. The first dive was the Hera again. The marine life was abundant, and visibility was great which enabled divers to look at areas they had not explored before despite their many visits before.
The second dive was their Corona River, a first for the Club One of the largest wrecks in Falmouth Bay. A 7807-ton oil tanker. She struck a mine in 1940, just after she had left the Harbour to carry out engine trials The wreck is very spread out with bits of twisted metal everywhere this made great hide in spots for lots of Conger eels, Lobsters and Crabs.
On final day of diving, the sun was still out but the waters were rougher, so we dived at the Narrows again on a pleasant drift dive. We headed back to the harbour to pull the boats out of the water followed by some lunch. The harbour is on the high street so there’s easy access to good fish and chips, Cornish pasties, and a good cup of tea.
Overall, we had a great sunny week of scuba diving with endless marine life and great company. Many thanks to Colin for organising the trip and all who helped.
