Falmouth Oyster Festival gets the Spirit

This year's Falmouth Oyster Festival is well underway with much to see and do - a chance to participate in celebrating traditional values that have stood the test of time - natural food taken by men using natural resources - none of your huge cages of fish being fed tons of anti-biotics or huge suction dredgers hoovering the beds here!
Currently providing much interest at the show is Pete Goss and the boys aboard the Spirit of Mystery who are spending their last few days in contact with people before they head off to Oz. They are due to leave Falmouth on Sunday and slip round the Lizard bound for Newlyn, the start point of their epic adventure. Once in Newlyn, they will head out though the gaps as soon as the wind is in the North and head South for the land down under. Navigating by the sun and stars with charts and a sextant, every effort will be made to emulate the original voyage.

In several continents around the world at the time gold fever had struck and the word spread. On November the 18th 1885, a handful of intrepid Newlyn Buccas talked themselves into seeking their share of the fortune to be had in Australia over a few beers in the Star Inn, in Newlyn - one of the more notable events after such discussions! Once underway, it will be possible to track the progress of the adventurers on their website and, unlike the Pete and his crew, know exactly where the boat is! Around Cornwall, dozens of kids involved in Pete Goss' Playing for Success project will no doubt be watching the progress of the boat as the trip unfolds.

The voyage has received much attention from the press, some of the better stories are from those who have at first hand tasted salt water on their lips in sharing the trying conditions of those that make their living by the sea. As Plato once said, "there are three sorts of men, the living, the dead, and those who go down to the sea".

Black is back!

It's hard to beat haddock in a curry, its firm flesh holds up well in a dish like this where many other white fish would disintegrate - for a different take on the usual sauce try this Meen Molee (Fish cooked in coconut milk) recipe from Saturday Kitchen......
sorting a beamer's fish it's good to see George has some young blood to bring on in the industry......
this time there's an all-girl film crew capturing the auction action in full swing ......
not seen often these days, a box of silver bream - can't remember the last time there was a box of their bigger red bream cousins on the market floor.....
which this morning is running in black - not oil but........
the ink from several tons of cuttlefish.....
here being tipped by Mr Bick......
before being whisked away by forklift to the waiting tarnsport.....
scales from sardines being landed are evident from the night....
Quayside, a refrigerated distribution company that have their roots in fish transport from Grimsby, are parked up this morning.

Hose to the hop

There's a question mark over the car park in Newlyn...

leading to the new name in oil, Hop Oils is now in town these days...

not the best way to end good hake fishing over the tide, the netter Sowenna was towed in by the Padstow netter, Charisma from the deep water at the weekend, a slow tow for well over 100 miles luckily in relatively fine weather...

still catching a few late season porbeagle sharks, the CKS put ashore a good trip of hake...

and the Defiant continues to fish well of to the South'ard...

passing the Elisabeth Veronique a couple of ghostly figures and their harbour boxes...

Lionel puts the box-washer through its paces...

slack fishing with the sardine fleet, a solitary tub from the Lyonnesse waits to go aboard the FalFish wagon...

for those hands that do dishes a pair of gloves appear to have lost their owner along the quay.

Sun, sea and swordfish steak

Looking to work late in the evening the Geordie boys have spread the trawl from the Valhalla alongside the iceworks and the transport waiting for the Crystal Sea II.....
the starboard derrick has been dropped on the Cornishman for servicing....
although the weather would appear fine to landlubbers there is a considerable sea running as is evident from this shot looking out towards the Runnelstone Reef where half a dozen of the local bass boats are working.....

not so local, a swordfish steak makes a tasty supper after a long cliff walk.

Pittman brothers head for Timbuctu

Having signed up for next year's Plymouth to Dakar challenge, the 'Crabby Crusaders', brothers Neville and Richard Pittman are hoping to raise at least £1000 for the RNMDSF when they drive a 16 year old Vauxhaul Frontera to Timbuctu! The brothers run a successful local crab processing company, Sea Food and Eat It!

Lotte and okra

In Brittany, monkfish are known as lotte. A simple dish with okra and the ever-faithful Mae Ploy greeen Thai curry paste can be made in minutes - check out the recipe courtesy of James Martin from BBCs's Saturday Kitchen.....
a regular buyer on the market at newlyn come hail or snow.......
a spotless deck under the shelter aboard the crabber Dom Bosco.

A lonesome box

Down on the beach at Sandy Cove the bass are being lured with this beauty....
slowly but surely there's a transformation taking place with the Emma.....
not too many of these about at the moment......
lending a hand to land shellfish is Robin Turner, a man who's obvioulsy not afraid to wear pink......
Wednesday morning saw a market almost devoid of fish as most of the fleet are away to sea....
you could be forgiven for thinking we live in the tropics sometimes....

looking very light in the water, the Cap Frehel from Morlaix arrived in the ealry hours.