Charlestown Shipwreck Museum

Excellent museum! Lots of old dive gear and an amazing variety of artefacts: cargo, personal belongings, ammunition, fittings, and shipwreck memorabilia. Also displays about Charleston, the quay and village life (with mannequins etc).

A couple of things from the centre included this 1920s German diving suit. The ballbearing joints seized up at depth and it became completely immobile far before its intended operating depth. Used more as observation bell, than for anything fiddly. The German divers that brought it over to Britain for a job didn't think much of it themselves - and were apparently a bit wary of it! The bulge round the middle is a ballast tank.

And I liked this early dive computer - and the box with the skinny bird (with the weight belt hanging off her). It's didn't look too much bigger than the one Paul L lent me to try when I was learning to dive!

The centre was very good value and we could have spent longer there. Yas was a bit weary, but my ears were quite painful and was unable to appreciate as much as I might have.

The earache was from an ear infection (trapped water and so on). By the time we left Charlestown I really wanted to get something for it, but the very heavy traffic stopped us getting into town (St Austell) so I went to Boots the Chemist in Bodmin. That was a complete waste of time. The lady at the pharmacy counter said there was nothing they would give me and I went away feeling a bit stupid for thinking they would help me - if not for the pain, for the infection; as well as half deaf, in pain, and with a tiring drive ahead of me (after even more paracetamol and ibuprofen I managed a little sleep in a layby).

Back home I made some ear drops from surgical spirit and white vinegar (50/50); these would have to do the weekend until I could get a prescription. [A few days later Yasmin got some Swim Ear too to try - it smells just like tape cassette cleaning fluid and costs £5 a bottle! I think my homemade stuff will be just as good for getting rid of trapped water after a dive/swimming.