Quality assured on Monday's market

It's business as usual down in Newlyn this morning - though on the New Quay the Spirit of Mystery waits to set sail for Australia. She could leave today, so it's worth checking with Pete Goss' blog on a regular basis - on a side note, thanks for letting the Mystery camp know that the artist Pete mentioned in his blog was in fact Mark Curtis' father Roger.....

In these dark mornings the lights are on in W Harvey's crab processing building down Newlyn Coombe.....
a shot of mixed quality fish this morning from Jake Freethy on the Go for it included both herring, red and grey mullet ...
a stack of squid leave their tell-tale mark on the market floor.....
the buyers are about to descend on a good shot of quality John Dorys from the Twilight's trip.....
a single squid the length of a box, not quite a monster from the deep but big enough!.....
top bass handline fisherman Dennis Pascoe eyes up the landings from the rest of the bass fleet working the Runnelstone Reef over the weekend....
CEFAS works closely with the local boats......
Samways, yet another company to take advantage of the vinyl graphics that make possible these enormous attention grabbing images on the sides of their fish wagons......
in for the weekend, the Crystal Sea II - check up on her progress through their website.

Spitit of Mystery looks to the forecast

Waiting for the tide to move on the Sea Spray sits on the hard.....
after being towed in by the Sennen lifeboat the Colette of Yealm rests on a pontoon berth, the only visiting yacht in the harbour.....

the almost horizontal Cornish flag aboard the Spirit of Mystery; as predicted, the winds have picked up from the South West and justified Pete Goss' move to bring the boat round early from Falmouth - she's looking to sail as the forecast improves sometime on Tuesday.....

Trans-ocean connections

Around the coast nothing is far from having a direct connection with fishing, many a local trawler has come fast on one of the numerous trans-Atlantic cables (one of the originals is visible in the picture) that criss-cross the seabed off Cornwall all round the Western Approaches - visitors to the museum at the old Cable & Wireless training school can get the full story...
just off Pedn Vounder beach is a small sandbar that appears at low water....
within a short walk of the beach at portcurno one of many unique attractions in the area, the Minack boasts probably the most dramatic backdrops to any theatre stage in the world - though, as of the next few weeks theatregoers will no longer be able to watch the QE2 - she often passed Lands End and the Scillies at sunset and was easliy visible from your seat at the Minack - visitor tip at the Minack, always bring something to sit on, a blanket and a thermos....
making her way slowly to Newlyn, the Sennen Lifeboat tows the yacht, Colette of Yealm from off Pendeen where she had fouled her propellor....
most South West Coast Path walkers would miss the local bass fleet hard at work just inside the Runnelstone Buoy....
looking west towards Portgwarra over one of Cornwall's most secluded beaches at porth Chapel, above which nestles St Leavn's Holy Well.....
the giant pebble beach east side of Porthgwarra....
as the sun breaks through the heavy a cloud a buzzard circles over Gwennap Head, the National Coastwatch lookout station....

after all the exercise, fresh squid in the evening from a Jamie Oilver recipe courtesy of Edwin on the Cathryn - onion, chilli, parsley and Linguine pasta.

A day of tradition

Still some way to go but the new colour scheme is evident aboard the crabber, Emma Louise....

waiting to sail, beamers in the dawning light...

first to the iceworks for the next neap tide, the netter Sowenna takes ice and fuel...

the Excellent alongside the quay afloat despite a number of leaks, now caulked...

after a solid trip the boxes wait to go back aboard the Billy Rowney...

with one important job to go the Spirit of Mystery is almost ready for the off...

some of the local gigs get in late season practice sessions, making the most of the fine weather...

including the girls...

and the only Breeze evident on the water this morning....

off for a day's angling...

last major job completed courtesy of Marine Instruments from Falmouth, the Spirit has just had her compass swung, no more than a degree out on any point it seems...

probably the last time she will head back through the gaps of her 'home' port for many, many months...

and a chance for friends and relatives to sail in Cornish waters...

Craig the compass swinger finishes off the certification paperwork...

and a spar is moved to allow the boat to sit comfortably outside local lugger, the Ripple...

the boys will want more wind than this on sailing day, planned for next Tuesday.

Spirited in early

With the sense of the urgency building hourly, the Mystery team decided that the boat should be in Newlyn ready for the off next week owing to the poor weather forecast. Earlier today the Spirit of Mystery left the Falmouth and the Oyster Festival and steamed round the Lizard across Mounts Bay to Newlyn. Tonight, she lays outside the recently restored local lugger Ripple, Pete Goss' brother Andy is seen here chatting with Geordie skipper Colin off the seiner/trawler Valhalla......
further up the quay, the George Johannes has a clean set of boxes waiting on the quay, if they go for the cuttles on the next trip the scene won't be quite so colourful!

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.