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Cornwall  is famous today for its amazingly beautiful and rugged coastline, crystal clear oceans full of spectacular marine wildlife, quaint cornish cottage villages…BUT what about our heritage..what made Cornwall such a prosperous and vibrant county in years gone by?…this is what Chris and I set out to dicover when Cornish Mining World Heritage Site asked us to join them on a familiarisation day….and we thought hmmm our passengers might like to experience this too, particuarly as many of the  CMWH sites are either free to visit or have a modest entrance fee and are packed full of interesting information , retaining much of the World’s history. A good reason to visit Cornwall and very attractive activity in these financially challenging times, plus good to do after a Newquay Sea Safari or Newquay Fishing Trip ,so off we went to Wheal Martyn ( an English China Clay Mine near St Austell) and Charlestown, to test it out for you guys!life is so hard for us Crew!!!

Huge Water Wheels pumped the water and English China Clay sediment  out of the pits and along the launders for further processing. Wheal Martyn has the largest working Water Wheel in Cornwall. We  imagined the energy and noise as we stood there ,of the water and clay whooshing and crashing along route. The surrounding wooded area is strangely rather beautiful considering this was an industrialised area.

Massive Cornish type ovens called “Dries” were permanently lit to dry out the water logged English China Clay. It was an awesome sight to see how vast this oven was.

After the sediment had been processed and fine English China Clay dried out ,the heavy loads were carried by horse and cart to the local harbour…Charlestown . So off to Charlestown for us to follow the journey along and of course time for  tea and chocolate  cake .

This next bit is for those of you who caught plenty of Mackerel on our Newquay fishing trips …The vast shoals of Herrings which were caught in the good old days by local Fishermen were taken to huge Herring Presses and weighted down in circular barrels, then huge weights were applied to press the fish ready for packing and transport. The oil that came out ran down the grooves in this building and was then collected in vats and sold as lighting oil……hmmm imagine the smell you came home to when you lit ee lamp in Yer ‘ome cottage like….’ansome…fishy tastic!

Charlestown was where the English China Clay was transported by ships to all parts of the world. It was unique because of the  lock gate which was built to retain the water and keep the ships afloat which in turn allowed for the use of these huge Square Riggers. Today Charlestown is the scene for many film sets. It also has  the Charlestown Shipwreck Museum which is again a very intersting visit…especially for those intersted in diving and wreckin! We had a superb day..a proper outing and learned all about our Cornish Heritage . Look out for the Cornish Mining World Heritage Site button on our website…click onto it to learn more about it and use the interactive map to plot your route….hope you enjoy.

Inspired by our day ,we will be running a few special events of Marine Wildlife combined with Cornish Mining Heritage Boat trips on Atlantic Diver this summer…viewing the St Agnes Tin Mines from the sea and taking in the spectacular site of the geology and iconic mining engine houses perched on rugged exposed Cornish Cliff tops . Looking forward to it myself..Watch this website for event posting.

 P.S cake was indeed ‘ansome!!!

What a lovely suprise today..Chris spotted a small pod of Bottlenose Dolphins in Newquay Bay, just outside of Newquay Harbour. We identified 2 dark adults and 1 pale juvenile. They appeared to be hunting, herding the fish into shallower water by tail slapping the water’s surface. It was obviously a very serious moment as there was no play involved at all. We had a spectacular “Newquay Sea Safari”, right from the harbour wall. Today was a day I really enjoyed painting  “Bounty” 

A little juvenile seal “Radley”was hunting for fish just outside of Newquay Harbour too. Isn’t she cute??….and and of course we couldn’t forget our old favourite…”Trunk” ,a semi resident female grey seal who reguarly visits Newquay Harbour shes back…and looking gorgeous tucking into some fish frames….Welcome back!

These Bottlenose Dolphins hunting in style, porpoising high out of the sea!

Beautiful Bottlenose Dolphins were back feeding in Newquay Bay on Saturday. Lucky Brentwood Selo Sub Aqua Club were lucky enough to see them ride the "Atlantic Diver" bow wave as they approached Newquay Harbour. A pod of 5 including a juvenile / calf were foraging and herding what we think was sand eel. Occassionally they leap clean out of the water…simply AMAZING acrobatics!

After Sunday's storms, we hope they survived the unbelievable crashing waves that sank 3 boats in the harbour…devastating. The Life Boat Crew and other Harbour Users fought hard to salvage what they could. Deep respect for the sea when you see it change so quickly!

The Cutiest faces of the huge Bottlenose Dolphins as they hunted across newquay bay today and played in the bow waves of "Atlantic Diver"

Fin damage from other Bottlenose Dolphins

 Dolphins porpoising out of the sea whilst we stopped and watched from "Atlantic Diver's" top deck viewing platform…it was fintastic!!

   Botttlenose Dolphins have been seen around Newquay Bay for past few days…we have plankton at the sea surface at the moment so maybe the feeding is good here as the fish gorge . There was a pod of 7 and another of 3

     http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iWlkFDA1EZk    

Chris Chris and I completed our first Basking Shark Watch at Hella Point for the Cornwall Wildlife Trust Basking Shark Project…sadly no sharks in a force 5-6 which was quite spectacular to watch . The Scillonian braved the wild waves alongside at least 720 gannets that we counted gliding by at cliff top level..stunning. Many of the Gannets were juveniles. All in all not a day at sea but with the stunning scenary …and watching the sunrise…a very enjoyable day:0) The Plankton is still around so just waiting for some long hot days in the hope we see some Basking Sharks near Newquay. Keep watching on this site and www.atlanticdiver.co.uk to see when the sharks finally arrive.

The huge dark shape of the beautiful Bottlenose Dolphins caught our eye as we left Newquay harbour….lucky us!! This was to be the start of a very good few days seeing Bottlenose Dolphins ,Seals , Sunfish, Harbour Porpoise, Common Dolphins and Basking Sharks!

First sighting of the day began right outside Newquay Harbour, just off the Headland . Lucky Sharks Divers spotted a pod of 8 Bottlenose Dolphins actively feeding. They love "Atlantic Diver's twin hulls so much , 5 of them broke away and swam infont of the boat for a short period, surfing in the bow waves much to the delight of passengers before returning to their more important job of foraging as Atlantic Diver steamed 20 miles out to sea on our Blue Shark Cage Diving expedition.20

20 miles offshore…and far away from any possible swimmers or surfers , Would-be Shark Divers assisted preparing the "Rubbie Dubbie" ….good job this isn't smellivision!!

The warm fronts coming in from the Gulf Stream have seen the arrival of the Sunfish…we have had several sightings during the cage diving days. On most of the Blue Shark Cage Diving Trips we have had the wonderful experience of watching pod after pod of Common Dolphins, sometimes playing in Atlantic Diver's bow waves and also demonstrating their incredible hunting skills, tail lobbing and porpoising high out of the water…SPECTACULAR …with all having small calves and juveniles with them

and the adorable semi resident Grey  Seals Medallion Man , Trunk and Dr Who are mostly always there to greet us on return from our "Deep Ocean Adventure" Don't you just love this job!!!!were

Friday the 13th saw the arrival of another 7m Basking Shark. Colin Linne was skippering "Bootlegger" on a 2 hour Mackerel Fishing Trip on a reef just off Newquay Harbour when he and lucky pasengers spotted the Dorsal Fin breaking the water's surface as the huge shark fed open mouthed, filtering the Zoo Plankton through its gill rakers. Unusually the shark had a nik taken out of its Dorsal Fin which will make it easier to re identify on the Basking Shark photo ID Data Base. Many thanks to Colin and Crewman Graham for recording and forwarding these pics. Watch this space to see if the shark is already known to the Shark Trust or Cornwall Wildlife Trust.

Stunningly calm conditions at sea allowed us to have not only a superb dive but an unbelievably great view of a 5m Basking Shark whilst on the return journey to Newquay Harbour. We spotted a shiney Dorsal Fin on  "Atlantic Diver's " port side and after waiting patiently ,engines stopped ,the Gentle Giant , the second largest SHARK in the world , cruised slowly in circular patterns around us , feeding, mouth wide open, on the plankton that  lay heavy in the becalmed sea. Its cartilage bones inside its mouth were so white they were almost  iridescent!…Spooky!! The awe struck crew took pics for the Shark Trust Basking Shark fin Photo ID. Its fin was slightly damaged which will allow for easier reidentification and seemed to have some parasites dragging behind. Its snout was also scarred. A lucky sighting as it frequently feed just beneath the surface. Its always good practise to slow down when moving through these plankton rich areas ,to avoid damaging these immense and protected creatures.

Please click on link below for the Basking Shark Code of Conduct for boat users or snorkellers

http://www.baskingsharks.org/content.asp?did=26602

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Several Basking Sharks have been feeding at surface just off Newquay , for the past few days and Guilford divers were fortunate enough to be out aboard Atlantic Diver" and see them on all three days, and captured underwater images of the beautiful sharks ….with many thanks to Simon and Kate for use of the underwater pics. Many thanks too to the Newquay cCmmercial Fishermen and Charterboat Skippers who are sending in sightings.

Imagine a 7m shark swimming past, mouth closed and looking right at you…the most exhilarating experience EVER!!! The shark appeared right over the wreck and fed briefly there, long enough for divers to record for us.

Just off the Newquay Headland , this bony Ocean Sunfish breached clean out of the water , right alongside "Atlantic Diver"…it swam at the surface Dorsal Fin flapping for several minutes , giving us all chance to take some superb pics. The Sunfish are feeding off the Plankton too. We have seen several over the past few days.

The visibility above and below the sea were superb…ahhh! what a fantastic day to be at sea!

Looking forward to this week's fine weather  and to seeing what else we are going to spot.