This post was produced by National Geographic Traveller (UK).
It's called the ‘sunshine zone'– paradoxically, I feel, since as I examine the boat's side into the steely-blue water lapping versus the hull, all I see is a dark, strange mass. This uppermost world of the ocean is more officially called the ‘epipelagic', where the sun has the ability to permeate and trigger life into a menagerie of marine plants and animals– like the seagrass noticeable on my port side, or the little fish and molluscs scooped up by the black-feathered shags moving to starboard. The ‘twilight zone' is what lies underneath that– a shadowy world of ocean giants like whales, sharks and enormous squid. Endeavor even much deeper for the midnight and abyssal zones, about which researchers understand really little. Their threatening blackness hide organisms you might swear were interplanetary. Captain Keith will not be taking us there– thank goodness– as much as going to Cornwall's remote west feels as though you've reached the ends of the earth.
Today, Cornwall's famous sea captain is taking us on a trip from Falmouth Bay to the craggy shoreline of the Lizard Peninsula aboard catamaran The Spirit of the SeasAs I settle into my seat, I hear a gaggle of twitchers chatter about the sea birds we're most likely to identify– skuas, phalaropes, razorbills and others– while a wide-eyed couple at the front of the boat anxiously swallow the sea illness tablets they forgot to take 2 hours earlier. Beth, a young Bristolian female sitting beside me, confesses she's not so thinking about the bird sightings, what she's truly anticipating is the opportunity to identify a humpback whale.
“Whales are being found in Cornish waters increasingly more recently,” Captain Keith states in his pre-departure short, puffing out his chest with pride, “consisting of the odd humpback– however that's unusual.” Beth blinks away her dissatisfaction. “I've found over 40 beautiful minke and fin whales this year alone, however, so keep your eyes peeled.”
The higher number of whales is a sure indication of healing, we're informed. Mindful management of shipping and fishing practices in this seaside county has actually tossed a lifeline to these threatened megafauna, in addition to other marine life. And tangibly so, due to the fact that as quickly as we're far from the estuary, we're catapulted into a ‘work-up'– that's captain talk for a searching exploration that takes off to the surface area. We're surrounded on all sides by torpedo-like Atlantic bluefin tuna introducing their strong, silver bodies into the air– the crescent shape of their tail fins apparent. Having actually been fished to near oblivion up until the 1960s, tuna fishing has actually been strictly controlled in the UK since, the craze we're seeing suggests much better times for the 1,500 pound monsters.
We continue to The Manacles, paradise for setting down birds, hell for passing ships. These fangs of razor-sharp rock extending from the reef listed below us sank the HMS Primrose In 1809– with simply one of the 126 team enduring– and lots of other vessels.
