Epic Boat Trip - 31/05/23

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Today we headed to Penzance to do a rib boat trip round Lands End to Hayles (next to St Ives) with Coast Boat Trips. So up and out early again. As we approached Penzance there was a huge queue of traffic going in the opposite direction at least 2 miles long. Didn’t really see anything to have caused such a queue.

Got our first glimpse of St Michaels mount as we made our way to the car park. Was very overcast today and quite a strong wind.

We’d deliberately arrived early to give ourselves time to grab an early lunch and let it go down before the boat trip at 12:15. So headed to lavenders bakery for some amazing Cornish pasties and Belgium buns. Kids had monster sausage rolls and cakes. Then we wandered around a few shops before heading to the harbour to start the boat trip. 

 

 

We were the first to arrive and were met by Eve who was really friendly and chatty, getting us suited up in waterproofs.  Jack arrived in the boat with the previous group and asked who wanted to sit at the front Robert was very vocal about wanting to sit at the front. The five of us got the best seats at the front with Robert and Sophie in the first row Amy and I second and Mel behind us. As we pootled slowly out of the harbour Amy looked most displeased and said, “this isn’t it is it?” Once out of harbour her question was answered as Jack opened up the throttles and we took off across the bay towards St Michaels mount. All of Amy’s concerns about a slow trip vanished in an instant. 

After a quick stop for photos we spun around and headed off towards lands end. The wind was strong and it was quite chilly. We were very pleased they had advised to dress warmly and with the splashing from the waves the waterproofs came into their own. The trip hugged the coast stopping regularly for Jack to give us history of the area and pointing out things of interest and Eve was telling us about the wildlife we could see.  They were both really informative funny and engaging. 

At Porthcurno we stopped in view of the Minack theatre which is an impressive structure built seemingly into the cliff side.

Along to lands end and we could clearly see the outcrops of rock covered in guano.  The we spotted a lot of seagulls over near to the Carn Bras lighthouse and shot over there to see if we might see any porpoises unfortunately not this time but we did see seals next to the lighthouse. Also in the distance we could clearly see the Wolf Rock lighthouse over 8 miles away!

On around the coast and the easterly wind meant some big waves and the boat was hitting the waves and jumping. So much fun, we were all laughing and the kids were screaming with delight. Sophie and Robert were rating every jump the boat did. I think the jump count was way over 200!

We also stopped a few more times and got a history lesson on the Cornish tin mines, you can still see the remains of the pump houses on the cliff edges. It blew my mind the tunnels stretched for 2 miles out to sea. Apparently the shortest distance between the top of the mine and the ocean floor was only 40 feet! Allegedly the miners could hear rocks been thrown about on the ocean floor above during storms!  Here is a link to an article I found after the trip on this.

The rest of the trip was amazing and as we approached Hayle the sun came out St Ives on one side and Hayle on the other looked amazing with the turquoise water. An awesome trip which we all would do again. Robert wanted to do again the next day.

We grabbed an ice cream before jumping on the bus back to Penzance. Mel wanted to visit Mullion Cove. Seeing the beautiful harbour we were in our swimming costumes in no time and joined everyone else jumping off the harbour wall and into the sea. An absolutely blissful end to a great day.


 

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