TOP DIVE ZONES

The remains of a steel Barque sank in 1908 after hitting the Runnel stone.

Today she lies well broken on a light sandy bottom and is home to a wide variety of marine life.

The Enrico Parodi was a 3800 ton steamship that sank in 1916. Now she lies on a sandy bottom in about 28m (low water slack) lying West to East. She is well broken but the outline of the ship is easily seen, the two boilers stand proud with quite a bit of wreckage around them leaving a few tight swim throughs and shelter for small shoals of Bib.

Perhaps it's due to the contrast between the metal and the sand or perhaps its the 10m + vis that is frequently found here but the wreck seems bright and it always has plenty of marine life on it.
Diving must be done on neap tides and slack water.

She was a steel four masted sailing ship, sank in 1914 under tragic circumstances.

Today she still makes an interesting dive and on a sunny day the shallow depth and sandy seabed can make it very bright. There are plenty of nooks and crannies to explore and even a swim through. The ship abounds with life and large Pollack can often be seen lined up along the masts and amongst the bow girders. The sheltered aspect of the dive site makes it good for less experienced divers.

This reef has been adopted by Penzance BSAC and made into a nature trail with a guide rope circling the reef. The trail is buoyed and the line takes you down onto the bow of the SS Primrose, which unfortunately collapsed last winter but is still home to sizable shoals of bib.

Following the line from the Eastern side of the bows you leave the wreck and move onto the reef, look out for a line off to the right which is a short circular route back to the bows.

There is also a line off to the left that takes you to an iron cannon of unknown origin. Back on the main line if you follow this to the other end of the reef you can find what remains of the stern of the primrose. Follow the line back to your starting position.
A very scenic dive with both wreck and reef in a sheltered position. Suitable for most levels of experience as the base of the reef is in about 20m.

An area of granite reef extending out from Porthoustock in the North to Lowland point in the South.

It has some spectacular scenic diving, with shallow reef, pinnacles and drop off. The area is extremely tidal and has such is home to great diversity of invertebrates life, including Gorgonian sea fans, Jewel anemones, dead mans fingers and Plumerose anenomes.

The area is also close to a major shipping route and has claimed hundreds of ships most famous of these probably being SS Mohegan.

Boat access to the area is from Falmouth, Porthkerris or Porthoustock and there are several local dive centres and charter boat is that cover the area.

The areas to the North and South also provides exquisite diving, with wreck, reef and drift diving.

The Penwin is an outstanding granite reef One of the main features of the reef is a vertical granite wall blanketed with invertebrate life.

As with the whole of the Manacles area there is a profusion of marine life and the extra depth can often make for improved visibility. The area is extremely tidal and care should be taken as the surrounding seabed drops off rapidly.

The site is sheltered from north-westerly  to south-westerly winds but is exposed to easterlies. The pebbled beach is steep so a good 4WD is required for RIB launching. Alternatively, for a reasonable fee the dive centre will launch your RIB for you. Note a large car is still needed to pull the boat out of the cove and up to the main road.

The best shore diving is around the reef to the north where it is possible to cut through a small gully (just to the left of the right hand rock shown in the photo below) and around to the outside of the reef. The maximum depth on the outside of the reef is about 18m. The whole dive takes about 50 minutes at a relaxed but constant pace. However, take note of the tide when planning to dive as it flows quite strongly between the reef and the shore.

The marine life can be quite varied here, the sea bed is rock covered weed surrounded by pebbles. The usual shallow water species can be found here including wrasse, pollack, edible crabs and a resident lobster (please leave them for others to enjoy). Among the more exotic species to be found are tompot blennies, squat lobsters (best seen at night), cuttlefish and squid.

The Princess Royal was a 2000 tonne Scottish Cargo vessel, torpedoed by U-101 in 1918.

The Kintuck was a steamship which sank in 1917 after either having being torpedoed or hitting a mine, it's unclear which.

The vis. is a respectable 15m+. A magnificent male cuckoo wrasse, conger and large shoals of small bib hug the wreck. It must be said that this wreck is in good condition with the propellers and boilers still clearly visable.

The Syracusa was a 1243 ton auxiliary schooner, which sank just off Newquay with a cargo of coal, during a storm in 1897.

A delightful little wreck, this one as she still looks like a ship.

The bows are pretty well intact and were surrounded by a small shoal of pollack lined up into the current when we dived it. Aft of the bows the ship has collapsed, the sides are standing about 1 - 2m off the sea bed. The two boilers remain standing and the prop shaft is still on its mounts, leading back to the iron prop. with the rudder laying flat on the sand.

There was a large variety of life on the wreck when we dived it in late August, including ballen and cuckoo wrasse, pollack, bib and one of the party saw a john dory. Visibility was about 10m.

The whole area is rocky and can be made into a gentle drift (for the suitably qualified and experienced) but can be quite kelpy during the summer.

One particularly nice spot lies just in front of the light house.

Head into the light from the south ..... to 50 03.084N 005 34.590W taking care to avoid the Bucks just to the east. Use your sounder to find a flat area about 30m wide at about 20-25m surrounded on three sides by steeply shelving rock.

Drop about 10m and then heading south down the the rock face will bring onto sandy inlet at about 20 - 25m. The sandy inlet is surrounded on three sides by rock and provides an interresting habitat for a variety of marine life.

A magnificent granite reef running Southwest from Gull rock, on the eastern edge of Veryan Bay.

Scenic diving at its best, an area of granite reef going down onto surrounding sand at between 18 and 25 m. The walls abound with invertebrate life, including some rather nice colonies of dead men's fingers. Sea fans can also to found in deeper water. a large variety of fish life here, all the usual wrasse species can be found, including cuckoo wrasse. large pollack, dogfish, conger and a rather large mouthed angler fish.

Wicca Pools dive site is shallow, rocky and kelp covered, with plenty of nooks and crannies to explore. Visibility typically goes from 2 - 10M, depending on weather conditions. Marine life includes dogfish, lobster, sponges and ballen wrasse. Seals have also been spotted here.

I am told that this is a very pleasant spot in the summer, sheltered from the strong off shore tides and supporting a wide variety of marine life, with sunfish and basking sharks being frequent visitors. Knowing other sites in the area I can well believe it and I look forward to diving it later in the year when I'll post an update.