St Mary's Bay

Weather not too bad, hazy sun, slight southerly breeze, but the visibility was poor owing to the spring tide. Timing my swims for slack water (supposed to be 2hrs before, or 4hrs after high tide) didn't help much. Yas now has wetsuit, boots, and fins, and tried everything out on a short swim near the beach. But poor visibility and continual mask fogging problems, despite lots of spit and rubbing, made it less than fun for her [toothpaste didn't help but a switch to a different type/fit looks like it might].

Swam to Mussel Rock, in the southern part of the bay, not far from the shore; around here there were ballan wrasse, a bass, sprats and a few spider crabs. On a longer second swim over to the north side of the bay to explore the rocks there, found a good sized (and living) compass jellyfish (~10-15cm). Didn't see much else becuase of the poor vis. But underwater scenery might be good. Plants in the bay about Mussel rock included very large (~2.5m) S.multicum and kelps (esp. furbelows). Plenty of wracks, c. officinalis on Mussel Rock itself.

I wore usual stuff: FJ/boots/X3s/2kg and used a spearfishing sled-type plastic float as marker while swimming around Mussel Rock. I anchored it with grapnel anchor, which soon lodged fast under a rock; was able to swim down and sort ok. Next time I used a bag of stones, far better for rocky/overgrown places and can be filled at the beach. The float can't be paddled on but, it's easy to push or tow. Highly visible and handy for holding things [after second trip to St Mary's I sorted out A-flag for it].

Also tried out some neoprene gloves and hood - both wrong type [embarrassingly poor choices and hadn't checked mask fit with hood]. Free car park below Sharkham Point. Ought to go back on neap tide. Good sized beach unlikely to get very crowded.