Hi everyone, only just had chance to update the journal, so here goes...
We set off late Friday night, driving through the night trying to miss the traffic, after a couple of stops we got there in time to have a cup of tea and bacon sandwich with Eddie & Christine after setting up our caravan and awning.

Phil had also driven down with Barry bringing his boat. While Julie had an afternoon nap, Connor & I explored the campsite. Eddie and Barry went off with Phil to find the launch site for the next day... they managed to sneak a quick dive in on a wreck too...

Sunday morning we went to launch the boat, the Manacles are the best dives in Cornwall and only a 10minute boat ride out of Porthkerris, Vase Rock once stood several Metres proud of the surface until the SS Mohegan, slightly off course struck her. The pinnacle was only 8m below the surface  and dropped off quite quickly to 40 metres +

Julie & Connor joined us on the boat, this is the first time Julie has seen me dive off a RIB, she’s not usually up for boat trips, but after I took her out on Steves RIB this year at Plymouth she thought she’d give it a try.

Phil & Barry set off after the first dive, and many thanks go to them for travelling the 700 mile round trip to see us and bring along the boat, in the afternoon we had a shore dive off the beach.

We didn't dive everyday, one day we went to the Poldark Mines which was well worth a visit, ask Julie what she thought!!

We met a fellow diver called Geoff, who is a BSAC Sports Diver who  lives not far from Stoney Cove and even closer to Switherland woods, he joined us for a days diving along with his partner Yvonne and their dog. He appears in the photos I have posted in the gallery. 

Alan and Elaine joined us on Thursday, we set up our tent on an adjacent pitch so it was ready for them when they arrived, we had booked a boat for Friday so we all chilled for the afternoon and went to a local restaurant for our evening meal.

Friday morning we had to be at Porthkerris for 8.00am, which seems a little harsh being up at 7 when you're on holiday but well worth it when you see the dive sites. Alan Eddie and myself left everyone sleeping soundly back at the site, and headed off in Alan’s car to the site. We had booked the boat for us but the nice people at Porthkerris said that if we didn't mind they had a couple of other people who wanted to dive too. Nick and Emma were both teachers from Birmingham, their local site being Dost Hill, I know what you're thinking... all that distance and we meet people from Stoney Cove & Dost Hill.
After a 27m dive on the Moheagan and after a short SI we had a 20m drift dive along the Manacles. We returned to shore and had only just unloaded our kit when Julie & the others arrived bringing lunch and other goodies with them. We returned to the campsite and set about packing up Eddie’s caravan and awning, he had to be back in Mansfield on Saturday as it was Laura’s 18^th birthday and she wanted to see her mum and fiancée.

Alan and I managed to get one more shore dive in on Saturday evening, Alan keeps canaries and uses Cuttlefish for the birds but said it was the first time he had seen a live one in the sea. After showering at the dive site we changed and headed up to a local pub that isn’t just for local people, Alan & Elaine had found the THREE TUNNS earlier in the afternoon and booked a table for us all.
The pub is just outside Porthkerris in a little village called St Keverne. They serve excellent steaks, Connor had a 16oz T-Bone, and anyone would think we hadn’t fed him all week but he really enjoyed it. Thanks to Alan and Elaine for a brilliant evening.

Sunday morning we packed up our caravan and put it in the storage area while we headed off to Lizard, we visited the most southerly point in England, had lunch in a local café and joined in the RNLI celebrations on the village green, Connor won Alan a can of condensed milk (Yummy).

The return journey took 7 hours including a stop in the services, which isn’t bad.

We really enjoyed the area and hope to return again, if not later in the year then definitely next year and hopefully more member too.

One more thing, a journal wouldn’t be complete without a weather report, while Ilkeston was having storms Cornwall was HOt HOT HOT but don’t worry there’s still plenty of Sun left for us in Tenerife.

Chris