Isles of Scilly 2016 - Part One
Arrghhh
me hearties! Tis time to slap on the eye-patch and unpack ye snorkel see.
Weigh anchor we cry. Brace the mainsail and raise the Jolly Roger.
Tis to the Scilly Isles we head in search of fun, frolics and
snorkelling plunder.
Okay,
enough of the Long John Silver stuff. In September last year,
following stories of large numbers of Mauve Stinger jellyfish being
reported in the seas around South West Britain, we were drawn to the
waters of the Scilly Isles. Undaunted by the fact that, as their name
implies, they come equipped with a painful sting we hoped to get up
close and personal with these stunning gelatinous critters. And, at
Pelistry Bay, on the Island of St Mary's are hopes were more than met. The previous winters unusually strong storms had driven
vast clouds of the Mauve Stingers food source towards the Scilly
Isles and the Jellyfish had naturally followed. What we found when we
arrived was that the waters around this bay of silver white sand
virtually pulsed with Mauve Stingers along with dozens of Compass,
Crystal and Moon Jellyfish.
Now,
with the hope that the waters were a little warmer, we returned to
Pelistry Bay to see if any of the Atlantic Ocean invaders remained as
well as seeing what other, more native species, might lurk in the
forests of kelp.
The
Bay can be reached by foot from the capital, Hugh Town, although it
will take some time and if you are carrying cameras, wetsuits, masks,
snorkels and several flasks of warming tea (the waters can be cold
around here) or are not as fit as you think you are then there is
nothing easier than making the journey in an electric golf cart.
These can be hired on a daily basis from The Scilly Cart Company for
around £40. So loading up the bright yellow carts with our
equipment, we strapped on our seat belts, slammed the pedal to the
metal and hurtled off up the road at the staggering speed of 5 mph.
Yep, golf carts are not that fast and you are going to be overtaken
by cars, lorries, bikes and the odd elderly jogger. You are not going
to look very cool either. It is, after all, a bright yellow golf cart
that makes a horrendous beeping noise when reversing and doesn't cope
that well with any of the hills on the island but they are still
great fun to weave around the country lanes on. Anyway, looking cool
isn't everything, just ask anyone who has a PADI badge sewn onto
their clothing.
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| Blue Jellyfish |
Finding
a spot to park the N.Y.C cab coloured carts, we followed the rocky
path down to the Bay. Pelistry is regarded as the best beach on the
island so tends to attract the crowd. Although, this is the Isles of
Scilly we're are talking about and a crowd down here is anything more
than two people so it never gets that busy. When we arrived, there
was a man with a dog strolling along the beach and that was it.
A
very dull person, who has lots of diving badges, once told us that
the temperature of the waters around Britain are always two months
behind the air temperature. So if you went for a dip on a warm June
day, the sea temperature would be that of a freezing cold morning in
April. This is of course turns out to be utter pig swill! Last
September the water temperature was akin to walking into a freezer
even though, if the theory was right, it should have been like diving
into a hot tub, as July 2015 was very warm. This year, a dip into the
sea in July should have been the same as walking around on a cold day
in May. It wasn't. It was in fact warmer than last year. Of course
when we say it was warmer than last year that doesn't mean it was in
fact warm. It's simply that last year the water was cold enough to
freeze the balls off a brass monkey. This year the brass monkey would
be shivering it's heart out and look decidedly blue, but it's
metallic gonads would still be attached – just.
 |
| A Wrasse darts through the kelp |
So,
making a mental note not to pay any attention to dull men in pubs
ever again we kitted up and took the plunge. No matter where we have
been in the world, there is nothing to compare to the other worldly
sensation you get when you snorkel through the kelp and seaweed
forests of the Scilly Isles. It really does feel like you are
exploring an alien jungle. In places the seaweed completely carpets
the ocean bed making it appear that the sea floor is moving back and
forth as the fronds are caught in the tidal current. Something that
can be a little disorientating if you are prone to the old Mal De
Mare. In other parts, the kelps rise up from the ocean floor to form
an impenetrable underwater maze that drives the snorkeller one way
and then another.
The
kelp may have seemed alien but the real aliens we were after were no
where to be seen. Our attention wavered somewhat. We loitered a while
watching prawns dancing beneath an overhang, we followed various
wrasse as they darted in and out of the kelp and then we came across
a small blue jellyfish. But that seemed to be that, the shoals of
jellyfish we had seen last September had clearly moved on. Just as we
were considering calling it a day, a cry went up. Actually it was a
more of a loud burble as one of our clan spotted something large and
spherical in the murky distance. There, happily drifting through the
sunken forest was a huge compass jellyfish, it's tentacles and oral
arms trailing a good metre and a half from the bell. Perhaps it had been here
for a while, a grown up version of a smaller specimen we had seen
last year or perhaps it was a newcomer. Whatever, it put the icing on
the cake of our first forage back in the bay. Cameras snapped and
film rolled (metaphorically) as we drifted with the gelatinous giant for a while
before cold and hunger took hold.
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| That Huge Compass Jellyfish |
We
emerged to find the beach was now full of families sitting on towels,
men comparing dogs and a bizarre convoy of jogging pensioners was snaking along the shore.
Alright, there was one family and that man with the dog had met a
friend but that convoy of pensioners was real - we swear. De-kitted
and several mugs of hot tea later it was back to the nippy carts.
Time to hit the pub and start talking like a pirate again.
Tis
true me hearties! In these far flung parts ye 'ave to speak like old Blackbeard 'imself or the
locals won't understand a word ye say. This is Cornwall after all and
the language down here is as different to English as Latin is to
Swahili. Mines a jar of frothy swill ye scurvy swab and make it quick damn
ya eyes....
More pictures and video will be posted on our flickr and youtube pages over the next few weeks so check back again.
