Our hard boat had been organised by In Deep dive centre , who did a fine job in dropping us in and fetching us out again , but who failed to serve up the advertised Cornish pasties . This pastry paucity was , supposedly , another casualty of the pandemic . The good divers of Burntwood were unimpressed when the skipper announced , by way of consolation , that they would be reintroducing the pasties ‘ next week ’.
Our final Plymouth dive was the venerable wreck of the Glen Strathallan . I ’ ll resist the opportunity for a fulsome wreck tour and just report that there ’ s a boiler , and some bits of machinery . I ’ m sure we missed an opportunity to explore further , but we found a cuttlefish pretty much at the end of the shot , and spent much of the dive following it . Navigation by cephalopod .
After two nights above the boozer , we quit our shared cell and checked into separate double rooms at the Premier Inn , booked and paid for months previously for a bargain £ 35 each . Say what you like about chain hotels , the beds are sumptuous and you don ’ t get the niggling feeling you could be sleeping in some sort of crime scene . I sank back into the cool sheets and dreamed of a ship covered in white coral .
Bib on the Glen Strathallan
Spider crab guarding the boiler
UKDIVING
Blown Out
Our first full day at Porthkerris saw a parade of black swells thumping against the beach , the residue of the previous day ’ s storm . Left to our devices , Saeed and I took on the hike from Porthkerris to Roskillys Ice Cream Farm . There was no way I was leaving Saeed in charge of navigation , so I led the way , equipped only with an Ordnance Survey app and a sense of optimism .
Several hours of detours and angry recriminations later , we arrived at the idyllic setting of Roskillys , serenaded by the herd of Jersey cows , who greeted us with hysterical lowing , perhaps in the belief that Saeed was some dairy deity , arrived to set them free .
We arrived back at Porthkerris in time for sundowners , weighed down with fast carbs and only slightly delayed by a temporary meltdown in navigation caused by bickering among the ranks .
Porthkerris Cove 45