We left Exeter on Friday morning after kitting out Andy Ross with a regulator and cylinders at the boatshed. Apart from a traffic queue at Roach the drive down was uneventful. By noon we were at Lamorna Cove, where Clint was already parked up with Mir.

Friday 6th

The first dive of the weekend with Chris boat handling, consisted of :

• Clint and Anne
• Deb and Simon

The second wave with Clint running the boat was:

• Chris and Hillary
• Brian and Andy

The dives today were on the Bucks, which are two rocks connected by a reef system that show at low water a few hundred metres offshore from the Tater Du lighthouse.  It was a beautiful sunny day with calm seas and a good 5m vis. By 5pm all diving was done and we had arranged to meet in the evening at the local pub in Hayle  for a meal and chat about planning the weekends diving.

Saturday 7th

First dive of the day was out of Penzance on the wreck of the Hellopes in 37 metres in Mounts Bay, she was a 320 ft long 2,774 gross ton coal-laden steamship which sank on 21 December 1911.

The day started with the sight of a pair of dolphins playing in the bay just outside the harbour, we stopped and watched for a little while before continuing out to the wreck.  The cat  ‘Pamela P’ was out there already and whilst waiting for their divers to clear the wreck we went onboard for a look around her, well worth considering should we ever need a hardboat dive out ofPenzance.

With Brian boat handling the diving pairs were:

• Clint and Anne
• Chris and Deb
  

The shot was located on the stern of the ship on the port side, lots of orange fan corals littered the plates as we crossed from the port side to the starboard side, once there we headed towards the propeller and rudder, the deepest part of the wreck. As we came up on the prop it was bathed in a green glow from the surrounding water.  From here we continued up the starboard side until time dictated our departure, albeit reluctantly.

Second wave was on Low Lee Ledges, a crescent shaped reef system on the eastern side of Mounts Bay. Clint boat handled, the pairs were:

• Brian and Andrew Ross
• Pete and Nic Macve
  

The third wave was on a small reef to the East of Low Lee ledges with Chris boat handling, the pairs were:

• Deb and Hilary
• Anne and Simon

Everybody descended to our caravan later in the evening for a natter and a beer.

Sunday 8th

Mir launched out of Penzance bound for the Stannock reef which is about half a mile due South of Lamorna Cove. With Chris boathandling the pairs were:

• Deb and Andy
• Brian and Nic McVie
• Clint and Hilary

• Chris and Simon
• Anne and Pete

There was lots of life on the reef, lots of crabs, anemones, sea cucumbers and starfish the vis was around 8 metres, lovely bimble with little or no current.

Third wave was on Low Lee Ledges, with Clint boat handling, the pairs were:

• Deb and Chris
• Simon and Andy

Monday 9th

We launched out of Lamorna Cove. The first dive saw Chris boat handling with Simon and Andy on the Bucks.

The boat put back into Lamorna to drop Simon and Andy off and we turned Mir around and headed out to the Runnelstone. The pairs were:

• Debs and Chris
• Clint and Anne
  

We had of course heard tales of stunning vis and lots of life but we were amazed, it was like finning through a garden, so many huge fish, dogfish, crabs, anemones, with viz between 10 and 15 metres, beautiful golden sand at 36m, so light you didn’t need a torch,  it felt like we were back in the Red Sea – this dive has to be the highlight of the trip and we can’t wait to get back there !

Monday afternoon saw most of the group going home having had some wonderful weather and diving and yes, pasties !

Tuesday 10th

Tuesday saw Mir launch out of Penzance once more to dive on the Runnelstone whilst Deb took the girls for a bimble round Mousehole and Marazion and partaking of far too much Cornish clotted cream ice cream !

The pair were:

• Chris and Phil
• Nick and Julie

After diving the Runnelstone in the morning the RIB put into Lamorna for lunch and the second dive was to be on Low Lee Ledges with:

• Phil and Chris

Mir launched at Penzance with Chris and Phil taking the boat round to Lamorna with Alyssa and Ali onboard for the ride.  We planned to dive the Bucks.  Thanks to Phil for bringing the buoyancy aids for the girls to wear whilst onboard.

Chris boathandled and the pairs were:

• Nick and Julie
• Phil and Deb

Second dive was on the wreck of the Lincoln which was a three-masted schooner-rigged cargo steamship, she was 198 ft long with a gross tonnage of 624 tons, she sank on 5th July 1886 after hitting the Runnelstone in thick fog, she is very well broken up now although the hull is still recognisable.

Deb boat handled and the pairs were

• Chris and Phil
• Julie and Nick

The vis was green down to 15 metres due to the algae bloom which had come early, but then cleared to a respectable 10 metres. 

Thursday 12th

Thursday saw Chris, Deb and Phil dive on Hellopes again with Nick and Julie boat handling, the sea was a little lumpier than earlier in the week but safe enough to dive.  It was obvious that we had had the best of the weather and that the weather was on the change.  The vis was reasonable and we had a lovely bimble around her stern and then through between her huge boilers which stand 3 metres proud.  Nick had loaned Phil his camera and we are hopeful that some of the shots come out so that we can share them with you.

It was to be our last dive of the week and we were all very sorry to leave for home but look forward to our next trip !

Our thanks to all who made the effort to come down and have a dive with us, everybody had a wonderful time - just great diving and relaxing with our friends.  The club made a good profit from the week’s diving.

Thanks to Yasmin - who we have volunteered to be our official camerawoman, (sorry Yas) hopefully we will have some photo’s on our website soon.

My special thanks to all who volunteered to look after Alyssa and Ali whilst I went diving, your help was very much appreciated.

The weather was very kind to us, very little wind and lots of sunshine, a most pleasant way to spend an Easter Bank holiday.

Photo’s to follow.

Kind regards

Debs and Chris