There's millions of barrels of oil in the Bay

Time to be extra vigilant as the clamping zone extends down the New Quay - you have been warned......
top of the range Beneteau Oceanis yacht Maja flies the Noewegian flag......
while the crew aboard a local classic yacht get the "it was this big" story.....
plenty of insects on the wing to keep this fella fed......
and chilled distribution is a must as the summer temperature climbs in to the 20s.....the biggest of two huge tankers currently at anchor off in deep water, at 105,000 tons deadweight, launched this year, the Saetta at 245m in length and looking fully laden waits for somewhere to go with her cargo of oil.....

Penlee private party

Its an alien world off Sandy Cove as novice divers get their first taste of the our underwater world......
a first for the biggest venue in the west, all set for local fish merchant Robin Turner's daughter's wedding reception being held tomorrow in Penlee Quarry......
bass poles at the ready.......
down comes the mizzen after a day hauling gear for the Little Pearl.......
view from one side of Newlyn Orion Gallery........
and acrosss Bolitho Garden's dog haven on Newlyn Green.....
"at a distance to the forground".......
looking across the forground to the reception desk and details on the current exhibition from Lawrence Weiner's.

Now, what happened to Squirrel's number?

Methinks this is a job for our man at Squirrel Signs - to remedy call Squirrel Signs on 01736 787487 or drop by at, Seacroft, Trewellard, Pendeen, Penzance, Cornwall TR19 7SR.......
and here is the man himself at work numbering the Achieve......
just a prawn at Twilight, another good haul of lovely langoustine just in time for the weekend's BBQs - Pete Tonkin will have plenty available in the shop opposite the fish market.......
even a box of good sized tails is up for auction.....
always keen on quality, Smarts have collared another line caught bass from the Sprigs of Heather......
lets hope the restaurants in the South West have heeded skipper Phil Mitchell's plea and are looking to put hake on all their menus, a big shot from the Ajax means that there will be plenty to go round......
at seven in the morning there's always time for a cuppa in the Mission.......
or if you fancy one, a pint on the Star will only set you back £2 after 7pm this evening......
as usual the Swordfish makes the most of local produce.

Penlle lifeboat pics courtesy of Wayne Davey

On the end of a long tow, the Nellie makes slow progress courtesy of the 'red' team on the Amanda
meanwhile, the yacht Galatea takes part in an exercise with the Ivan Ellen under skipper Patch Harvey.

Gulls gather as bait goes aboard the crabber

Ray cuttings are headed for the bait bin aboard the crabber Emma Louise......
not what you want wrapped around you prop, the Mattanja picked up a substantial amount of gill net when hauling her scallop gear waits for the diver's attentions.......
back aboard the boat, refurbished derricks are now in place on the Lisa.......
ever ready to snatch scraps from the quay, the gulls home in on the bait boxes....
one of the oldest boats in the firm's fleet is over on the hard for some restorative work.

Fine for the firm, just short of three quarters of a million pounds

"A British fishing firm has been ordered to hand over more than £700,000 by a judge after cheating on quotas by lying about the type of fish it had caught.

The case centred on six vessels belonging to W Stevenson and Son, based in the Cornish port of Newlyn, which deliberately over-fished protected fish stocks for financial gain.", so goes the headline on the BBC news web site.

The firm has said it will continue to fight what it sees as an unjust quota system through the proper channels and Brussels. The story is covered in national and local papers, Western Morning News and the Daily Telegraph.

"Not the end of the line for us", say chefs

Follow up news on the back of Monday's tuna story and the film end of the line - here is some encouraging news for the industry and those involved in fishing responsibly.

Mystery on the move

Down under, the Spirit of Mystery is on the move again as she makes her way slowly up the East coast of Oz on her way to Sydney's July Boat Show.

There is a chance to buy the original painting of the Spirit of Mystery by Cornish asrtist Glyn Macey at auction online at the moment - the sale of the painting will help raise money for Pete Goss' educational charity, Playing for Success.

The gunslinger's in town again

Lamorna under skipper David Pascoe passes the Mount on the way in......
a bit of sailing history in the harbour - restored in immaculate condition, the yacht Gunslinger, a survivor of the infamous 1979 Fastnet Yacht Race in which fifteen people lost their lives, the yacht features in an illustrated book covering the race - Fastnet, Force 10 - the race was hit by hurricane strength winds over Saturday night - only two local boats, longliners were at sea, the Girl Patricia and the Girl Pat III - Michael Willimas, skipper of the Girl Patricia recalls the midnight watch coming down from the wheelhouse saying the forecast was terrible but there was no wind at all on top, by the time Michael had gone up top to assess the situation the wind had already picked up - 24 hours later, on Sunday night, several Breton trawlers (out of a huge fleet of prawn trawlers from St Guenole, Loctudy and Guilvenec working west of the Scillies ) arrived in Newlyn, one under tow, the others towing disabled yachts they had come across..... a motley collection of boats, including the now beautifully restored Pioneer, once worked by Cyril Gascoigne from which he dived for sea urchins (when they were all the rage), the urchins were bagged at sea and taken to Penzance dockside where they were cleaned in tubs of caustic soda......
a bit pf proud to be British flying atop the mast of the well restored steel yact Elizabeth.....
a few old salts chew the fat over a few net bins on the pontoon.....
first time on the slip for Ocean Fish's highly successful ringnetter Resolute.

Fine weather as the days head towards the equinoxal spring tide

With a gentle draft it may be showing Force 1 on the anenometer, but to all intents and purposes, the Bay was a flat calm providing an easy job for the chef de la cuisine aboard the Anglian Princess at anchor......

even a Golwan mermaid barely moves in the breeze.....

the invisible man takes a break in the garage......

you get to choose the finest local cod or haddock Chez Jackie in the Red Lion overlooking the harbour.....

pretty as a picture, the Lentern Rose retrieves her boxes from the market......

looks like the only ripples in the water are alongside the St Piran and Excellent......

fine weather and a neap tide mean that the harbour is almost devoid of boats......

its all in the timing if you need to get a good shot, catching the bow wave of the Go for It.

Poles are in - and this time we are not talking migrant

"Pole and line are fine!" that's what top trawlerman turned tuna tiger Shaun Edwards tells us.....

They say there's no such thing as adverse publicity, but, in the case of that generated by the much over-hyped and senstaionalist film, 'End of the Line' and the attention of the media focussed on tuna in particluar, maybe the Cornish tuna boys can make good use of the coverage and capitalise on the fact that they use pole and line to fish for 'Cornish' tuna - bring on the BBQ weather they say.
Nova Spero bound in heavy with a fishroom full of tuna last year.

Monday's quality market offering

Bongo'd up and ready to go, freshly landed crab from the Dom Bosco wait for the viver transport ot come alongside.....
a good shot of high quality fish from the beamer Trevessa, with large Dovers making almost £20 per kilo last week these turbot are likely to command an even bgger price......
you don't have to own yellow wellies to buy on Newlyn fish market, but it helps.....
the resident scavenging gulls have made a mess over the weekend......
this aluminium hulled visiting yacht has come across the pond......
a good deal more distance than this Portuguese vivier lorry has had to travel. Once again the market for brown crab is proving fickle so these fish will be heading back top Portugal by road. Years ago there were a number of big Spanish vivier boats that picked up live crab from the ports.