Porthkerris

A few weeks back I drove to one of the UKs more well-known divesites, Porthkerris, about 50 minutes away, for two dives. I had only been there once before, also for two dives (not worth going all the way for just the one) when I did my PADI Advanced Open Water (I just realised that I forgot to blog about that at the time…). The pebbly shore here leads to the Drawna Rocks and it is one of the few places in Cornwall that a shoredive can get you a bit deeper than 10 meters (maybe 18 at a high tide). This allows me to see some critters that are not present at my usual haunt Silver Steps in Falmouth. One example is the North Sea Tube Anemone (Synarachnactis lloydii) above. The black pebbles are quite striking, and also a very different background then what I am used to. For the first dive I took my macro lens, as it was quite choppy, and my expectations of the viz were low (which turned out to be correct!). I practiced a bit on the Jewel Anemones (Corynactis viridis) which come in a range of beautiful colours: orange, yellow, pink, white and green. I also took a shot of a Devonshire Cupcoral (Caryophyllia smithii) which is a solitary hard coral and some detail of a boring sponge (Cliona celata), including Rissoa parva snails I later noticed (they are everywhere in the rockpools too).
For the second dive I took my weird probe lens to bother some of the Spiny Lobsters (Palinurus elegans). Finally, a Cottonspinner (Holothuria forskali), what a beaut!

2024 so far…

Above some pics of a recent, impromptu snorkel in the Helford; a catshark, a cuttlefish and a greater pipefish which I could snap with the fisheye lens while battling a raging tidal current. I have dived a lot recently, did my PADI advanced open water (to make it easier to participate in some deeper diving in the future ), finally dived Porthkerris, bought a fancy new wetlens and stepped up my iNaturalist game. I took some good photos as well, but for many of these I reckon I could replace them with an even better version. For this reason, and also because there will be plenty of rainy days at the end of the year to blog instead of dive, I will probably remain a bit quiet here for now, add to the collection of photos, and update the blog a lot more later! (P.S. I do post from time to time on instagram: @an_bollenessor.)