THREE members of Bude Diving Club recently decided to try somewhere different to work on their buoyancy and navigation skills, writes Andy Squirrell.

On a damp Saturday morning, Andy, along with Jackie Diffey and Claire Tyler, headed off to Crackington Haven to dive what was hopefully going to be a nice flat sea. A site visit on the Friday afternoon showed clear waters and a sea as flat as a piece of Cormac tarmac. 

The morning however brought dull skies and a small swell, but neither was enough to dampen spirts so cars park fees were paid, kit readied and off we went.

A simple walk down the beach to the waters edge where final safety checks were undertaken before walking out into the small shore break. Once fins were put on, we dropped down to a two-metre depth and started to follow the sand and rock out towards Pencannow Point.

As the eyes adjusted to the 3-metre visibility, a rather large flatfish was spotted, the fish had spotted us too and as we drifted over the top flashed away into the distance.

We moved over to the rocks on the Northern side of the bay we started to come across different life, large purple and green anemones were spreading their tentacles into the tide to try and find food. Small harbour crabs scurried away to hide under the rocks and the whelks and hermit crabs vied for space on the seaweed.

Then as  we moved deeper, a large bass swam past followed by another, and another. The shoal must have been 10 deep and weren’t worried by our presence in the slightest.

Diving in shallow water is the hardest depth to control your buoyancy and the main aim of the dive was to see what we could find but also to concentrate in keeping neutrally buoyant with very little water above. The team managed it well and as the time came to turn around were given a masterclass.

I felt a tug on my fins and I turned around to see what the ladies wanted, to be met with the biggest seal face ever, grinning at me as if to say ‘Who? Me?’.

We all stopped and the seal swam around us for a few minutes, diving in to nibble a fin, playing hide and seek behind the rocks and each of the divers. Time ticked on and we had to leave as the tide was starting to turn and we reluctantly turned away from the seal’s playground and headed back to the beach for coffee and cake at the Crackington Cafe.

All in all a good training experience for the newer divers made great with the game of hide and seek.