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Land's
End on the most westerly point of England is famous for
wreck diving found along the whole coastline, some of which have
not been discovered yet. Land's End diving also offers a good
variety of interesting reef dives with impressive coral and marine
life.
Always dive according to your level of training.
Never enter the water without checking with the local dive center
for safety, additional information, level required for each dive
site and without being accompanied by a professional. All the
information provided is purely informative for our readers and
shouldn't be used as is to plan your immersion.
Some dive sites in Land's End are:
Seggy rock is located East of Logan Rock and
a little East of Porthcurnow. It offers good scenic diving and
the closest launching is Penzance. The East side
of the rock is a vertical wall dropping to about 16 metres (52
feet) and carpeted in anemones.
The floor is made of huge boulders going down
onto sand at approximately 25 metres (82 feet). The entire
area is full of dead men's fingers and one can see gorgonian
sea fans in the deeper water. On the south eastern side there
are some small caves but beware of falling boulders.
The summer months come with lots of marine life including shoals
of sand eels and hunting pollack as well as the ballen
wrasse.
The western side of the rock drops more gently
and is covered in kelp during the summer. The water gets deepers
as you go south and the reef stretches westwards.
At Logan's Gully there are two large lumps of
granite on a sandy bottom and are separated by a narrow gully
which is Logan gully.
The visibility is good and on the walls of the
gully you can see a large variety of invertebrate life.
Sand eels and pollack are regularly spotted here.
The invertebrate life is a good opportunity for macro photography.
The summer months bring basking sharks to the
area. The depth is about 10-15 metres (33-49 feet) and it's a
fairly easy dive.
The Runnel stone is made up of a spectacular
granite pinnacle rising from around 35 metres (115 feet) to about
6 metres (20 feet) of the surface with an abundance of marine
life. There are several
ship wrecks at the
Runnel Stone one of best know being the "City
of Westminster". A good part of the ship is broken and
lies on the sand at a depth of 35 metres (115 feet) and her bows
are at about 20 metres (65 feet). Around the wreckage you may
encounter lots of nooks, crannies and lobster.
The Brisons, located off Cape Cornwall form the
end of a reef that extends from the cliff south of Cape Cornwall
to the Brisons. This reef is only visible on certain tides or
when the reef makes a swell break. The fact that the reef is not
visble most of the time and is so long, has caused the wrecking
of many ships.
The Brisons has good diving with it's gullies and pinnacles.
The Pinnacles are made up of a group of steep sided rocks close
to Gurnards Head. In approximately 25 metres (82 feet) of water,
the diving here is exciting on the rocks and gullies. The sandy
bottom is home to edible crabs.
Wrecks:
The Luna is the wreckage of a barque that was
sailing from Liverpool to Wellington when she experienced difficulties
after losing her top mast and headgear in 1903. Attempts to save
her were in vain and she went down with all 17 members of crew.
Some items of the cargo she was transporting were washed ashore
and these included alcohol, soap, candles and other general items.
The wreck is well broken and she lies at about 10-15 metres (33-49
feet) in rock filled gullies.
The Enrico Perodi sunk in 1916 due to bad weather.
She lies at about 30 metres (98 feet) and is home to lots of fish
which live around the broilers and engine. Attempt to save her
failed and she finally sunk close to the Carracks.
The SS Malta went down in 1889. She was a passenger
cruiser transporting cargo as well. When she went down all passengers
and members of crew were rescued. A good part of the cargo consisting
of iron, copper, pig iron and tin plate were salvaged as well
as a huge quantity of sugar. She lies in about 10 metres (33 feet)
of water close to the cliff and although she's quite broken a
considerable part of the hull is still intact and one can still
recognise big sections of the construction. It's best to dive
this wreck late in the year or early because then the kelp isn't
so dense and the whole wreck can be seen dispersed on the rocks
and boulders
The Busby, in 1896, ran into the cliffs close
to the Coastguard station at Pendeen in foggy weather. The members
of crew were all saved. The ship was aground for a period of 3
weeks and then she was towed into deeper waters but the pumps
couldn't cope with the leaks. She was then cut loose and sunk
near the lighthouse. She lies at 30 metres (98 feet) and most
of it has been broken down with the years. There's a lot
of marine life here which includes pollack, cod, eels, wrasse
and conger eels.
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