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Sunday morning, 7.30am there was a bit of a buzz in the camp as the wind was lighter and the skies a little brighter.

I had been invited down to Cornwall by Fowey diving club to join them for the spring back holiday as my partner is a member. The weekend looked like it was going to be a wash out as rain was forecast and with some strong north easterly winds I thought we may never get any diving in. We manage to launch the rib on Saturday morning at 7.30am as planned from Porthleven for a short shallow dive as we had a trainee on board and the skies looked threatening. The wind picked up so Saturday came and went, no more diving today.
 
Sunday morning, 7.30am there was a bit of a buzz in the camp as the wind was lighter and the skies a little brighter. A couple of divers from the club had driven down to the coast to have a look at the sea conditions. Looks like we might be going diving today, hooray I thought, only to have my illusions shattered by the clubs dive leader that there was a 29mph north easterly coming and it would be a little risky to launch the rib knowing that it could hit at anytime. I knew that was the end of any boat diving today until someone mentioned Lamorna cove, a swallow and sheltered cove with a good entry and exit points.

Off we went in convoy towards Penzance, car packed with all the dive gear hoping to get at least a shore dive today. Through Penzance towards Mousehole and on to Lamorna cove down these lovely country roads (horse and cart tracks) until the last part of the journey where you come round the corner on the final decent into the cove. What a site, a quaint little harbour and the sea relatively calm, just a small swell that any novice should be able to handle. The whole car park by the slip way was full of divers and dive kit. There was another club from Oxford that were staying on our camp site in St Hillary. They had risked launching their rib out of Penzance in the morning and the risk had paid off. The weather forecast was wrong, only a light breeze in the cove and the sun had broken through. We thought it best if we left it an hour so the tide was off the slip way exposing a nice sandy bottom so our entry into the water would be safer. So off to the café for a cuppa before we get in.

Out came the kit at 11ish, that dry suit that had not been worn for about a year but thought it was best to give it a go in the shallows before Mondays planned dive, check for leaks and get the weighting right.  “What’s that?” I heard someone shout. “It’s a seal!”Another said, across the car park. I go to have a look and sure as eggs are eggs there was a seal in the water. I was a little disappointed that I was still half an hour away from getting in the water and thought to myself it will be gone by the time I get in there. Down the slipway I went with the kit and on went the dry suit and in the meantime, my buddy for the dive was in his suit and carrying his kit down to the waters edge. On goes the gear, SMB attached (advisable with the amount of boat traffic) and up to the waist in water. (After having a float for a minute, as I mentioned earlier the sun had broken through and in a 7mm neoprene dry suit you start to boil!) Buddy check complete we were ready to hit the shallows at low tide in Lamorna cove. Bearing taken, we were off across the pond and its sandy bottom in search of some depth. (15 minutes later we still have a sandy bottom but have been following a nice Dover sole that has kept us entertained!).

My navigation must have been pretty good as I came across the crab pot that I had originally aimed for! I now know that I need to do a left turn and follow the coast line around at a maximum depth of 4-6 metres.

The coast line is made up from massive boulders covered in kelp and other forms of sea weed, quite a few fish including a large Pollock and several large spider crabs. As I swam or rather finned with the swell through the boulders, up and over the top of this big flattish boulder, I turn to my buddy and check he was ok. He signalled back that he was fine.  I turn my head back to face forward up through the boulders and about 3 meters ahead of us swam this large grey seal, looking at us as if to say “what are you do down here”. Not that it hung around after our encounter and I am sure it knew where we were, more than we knew where he was!

On exiting the water a couple of divers asks if we had seen the seal and I told them I had. “Well you should have!”  They replied, “As it was following and circling you most of the time you were on its patch.” Just that brief encounter with a seal in its natural environment is enough underwater pleasure for a dive weekend and more than I would have ever expected. Only a month prior to this trip I was in Cornwall at the Gweek seal sanctuary admiring there underwater skills and now in their own natural environment, superb!

Monday came and went as it was wet and windy which is what we were supposed to of had on the Sunday, so they were right just 24 hours adrift!

N.B, a point of interest, the car park attendant is on the ball. I only went for change in the café and he was looking around the car for my ticket, £3.60 for 3 hours, parking for about 50-60 cars. Also, the slipway is not the place to put your boat in if you have a family saloon, only last year someone burnt their clutch out on the slipway and then the car came to a complete halt half way up the hill on the way out of the cove, so I told! High water I would think that it would be a nice casual dive, good for training and get a good depth over the boulders and maybe a bit more sea life. 

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